[2] [3] The station is located on Devon Island, a Mars analog environment and polar desert, approximately 165 kilometres (103 mi) north east of the hamlet of Resolute in Nunavut, Canada.

[citation needed] The establishment of a human Mars exploration analog research station on Devon Island was first proposed by Pascal Lee in April 1998.

[6] Kurt Micheels and Robert Zubrin conducted a scouting expedition to Devon Island as part of the 1999 field season of NASA's Haughton Mars Project (HMP), in order to gain the information needed to plan operations and to determine an optimum site for station construction.

An appropriate site was selected on a ridge overlooking the Haughton crater, which was named Haynes Ridge by Robert Zubrin in honor of the late Professor Robert Haynes of York University, a founding member of the Mars Society and seminal thinker on issues concerning the terraforming of Mars.

[6] The station's structure was fabricated between January 2000 and June 2000 by Infrastructures Composites International (Infracomp) under the direction of John Kunz, using a unique type of fiberglass honeycomb construction technology.

The station's components were transported by truck to Moffett Field, California and loaded onto three C-130 aircraft operated by the U.S. Marine Corps 4th Air Delivery Battalion.

It was originally intended that he focus on the interior build-out of the station, but instead played a key role in erecting the structure and was appointed by Robert Zubrin as replacement project manager.

Enlisting the help of volunteers from HMP and members of a Japanese TV crew, six of the wall segments were transported from their landing location within the crater to the construction site.

[7] Individuals from HMP, the Discovery Channel film team and a number of journalists on-site assisted with the interior build-out of the station, which was only partially completed.

Robert Zubrin gave the concluding remarks and dedicated the station to those whose cause it will ultimately serve, a people who are yet to be, the pioneers of Mars.

It consisted of Pascal Lee, Marc Boucher, Frank Schubert, Charles Cockell, Bob Nesson and Robert Zubrin.

It was commanded by Dr. Carol Stoker, and included Larry Lemke, Bill Clancey, Darlene Lim, Marc Boucher, and Bob Nesson.

The crew used a prototype Mars space suit supplied by Hamilton Sundstrand to conduct several EVAs, communications were established with the Mission Support group in Denver, and a list of items for correction, installation or improvement were identified with the habitat and its systems.

The habitat is stabilized by ground trusses and steel guy-wires, making the FMARS more stable than MDRS in high wind.

The upper deck's shared space is used for both computing and dining, and the galley consists of a stove, microwave, and a water container.

[10]: 104–105 The Mars Society sends researchers to live and work at the station typically for one month during the arctic summer.

Typically 1 to 2 months prior to departing for the Canadian Arctic, the crew gathers for an initial face-to-face meeting and training session in Colorado.

Communications between the station and off-island researchers are subject to a time delay (typically 20 minutes) which mimics that of actual radio traffic between Earth and Mars.

Crew members are also required to write periodic reports to document conducted research, to advise on the status of engineering systems, and to capture details related to other aspects of operations.

On the second floor are six crew rooms with bunks, a common area, and a kitchen equipped with a gas stove, refrigerator, microwave, oven and a sink.

There is also a loft area accessed by ladder from the second floor which provides storage space and can accommodate a bunk for a seventh crew member.

Also on the campus is a greywater sump, a SmartAsh incinerator, secondary containment areas for storage of barrels of gasoline, diesel fuel, and waste oil, and a satellite dish that provides the station's internet connection.