While long a popular place of wonder, there is now additional emphasis about spending time on Mars, if you’re a robot (Opportunity, Curiosity), a one-way ticket holder (Mars One), or an accidental resident (Mark Watney). (Statistically, it’s a good bet that Mark or one of his crew mates would have spent time in Indiana.) Whether you were fabricated in a clean room (robotics), or spent time as a baby (human exploration), your ability to thrive on Mars represents the integration of expertise and experience from a variety of scientific and engineering disciplines. How do you handle being on your own, or dealing with a bad day? This talk covers important concepts (and misconceptions) including analogs, autonomy, resilience, and “human error”. These issues are not just important for doing well on other planets. Examine the interaction between humans on a team during a Prolonged space exploration mission, and how this differs from the interaction between humans and AI on the same mission.