Caves of Mars Project
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The Caves of Mars Project is a NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts funded program to assess the best place to situate the research and habitation modules that a manned mission to Mars would require.
Caves and other underground structures, including lava tubes, canyon overhangs, and other Martian cavities would be ideal for manned missions, for they would provide considerable shielding from both the elements and intense radiation that a Mars mission would expose astronauts to. They would also offer easy access to minerals, gasses, ices, and any subterranean life that the crew of such a mission would probably be searching for.
The program also studies designs for inflatable modules and other such structures that would aid the astronauts.
