Italian and French researchers are about to spend a full year in one of the most inhospitable places on Earth: Antarctica. But it's paradise compared to what astronauts would face if they stepped out on the surface of Mars. As part of its Aurora Exploration Programme, ESA is considering a human mission to Mars by 2030. One stage of this exploration program is the Concordia station in Antarctica, which simulates many of the conditions and constraints that astronauts would face living on Mars.