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{{short description|Container simulating the atmosphere of Mars}}
[[File:Martian conditions in miniature (7494313830) (2).jpg|thumb|A small Mars jar at the [[German Aerospace Center]] (2012)]]
A '''Mars jar''' or '''Mars simulation chamber''' is a container that simulates the [[Atmosphere of Mars|atmosphere of the planet Mars]]. It is used in [[astrobiology]] experiments to determine what kind of [[life on Mars]] might be viable.
== Features ==
Mars jars have evolved from simple glass containers that resembled [[Jar|kitchen jars]] in the 1950s to sophisticated temperature-controlled [[Pressure vessel|pressure vessels]] that are now more commonly called "Mars environmental simulation chamber" or "Mars atmosphere simulation chamber".<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Scoles|first=Sarah|date=2020-07-24|title=The Doctor From Nazi Germany and the Roots of the Hunt for Life on Mars|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/24/science/mars-jars-strughold.html|access-date=2020-07-24|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In such devices, a variety of aspects of the Martian environment can be replicated, such as atmospheric composition and pressure, surface materials, temperature cycles and solar radiation.
== History ==
[[File:1957 US Air Force Mars jars.jpg|thumb|Mars jars in 1957 in the U.S. Air Force's School of Aviation Medicine, Department of Microbiology]]
The concept and the name "Mars jar" originate with [[Hubertus Strughold]], a German physiologist and pioneering space medicine researcher. Strughold described Mars jars in his 1953 publication ''The Green and Red Planet: A Physiological Study of the Possibility of Life on Mars'', in which he also coined the term "astrobiology". By 1956, Mars jars were part of U.S. Air Force research projects into crewed Mars missions.<ref name=":0" />
The concept was popularized outside military circles in 1957 by the biologist [[Joshua Lederberg]], who proposed it to NASA leaders, and then by the astrophysicist and science educator [[Carl Sagan]], who featured Mars jars in his TV shows.<ref name=":0" /> According to the science historian Jordan Bimm, Strughold's work was not mentioned in later descriptions of Mars jars because civilian scientists wanted to avoid association with the military and with Strughold's involvement in [[Nazi human experimentation|human experimentation in Nazi Germany]].<ref name=":0" />
== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Astrobiology]]
[[Category:Atmosphere of Mars]]
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