A Cochrane cartoonist is taking knowledge gained during an unusual trip to “Mars” back to classrooms on Earth. Dan Barnfield joined a desert research station in Utah last month as part of the Mars Society’s Spaceward Bound program. The program trains educators and future astronauts at a research station designed to simulate the surface of the Red Planet. “They bring educators out there to get the interest in STEM and science so they can bring it back to their schools and do a bunch of interesting programs,” Barnfield told CTV News. “They didn’t ask for a cartoonist or anything like that, (but) my sales pitch was that I could add cartooning and flair to their lessons.” Barnfield, creator of the upcoming animated series Blast Off!, used the trip to learn about scientific research that he could break down and explain to young Albertans. He is now back in classrooms at least once a week, sharing some of the research and experiences from his time in Utah. “The idea being that I can kind of get them excited and show them what it was that I was actually looking for,” he said. “It was very enlightening, and just the passion that those educators brought to the simulation and to the project in general was just overwhelming.” The Mars simulation involves continuous research and observational work conducted by a team of so-called analog astronauts. “That’s somebody who does simulation work on the ground,” Barnfield said. “(While we were there), we had to live as if we were actually on Mars. We had no contact with any of the outside world, and you can’t see anything around you aside from just the barren landscape. If we did go outside, we had to use a Mars spacesuit with an air pack and drive rovers.” Barnfield says he plans to use his experiences to incorporate more art-related lessons into his classroom visits and eventually into Blast Off!. The family-friendly series follows children as they explore their communities and learn about important topics, such as recycling, before returning to a fictional space station colony to put their lessons into action. The series is set to premiere next fall.
