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the Mars Desert in Utah

The Bentonite Hills consist of blue, red, purple, and green clays created by volcanic ash, giving the hills a rainbow color. While many places in Utah are known to look like Mars, such as Goblin Valley State Park and the Bonneville Salt Flats, people are usually referring to the rainbow mountains of the Bentonite Hills and Hanksville, Utah, when they are talking about “Mars,” Utah. Utah’s rainbow mountains near Hanksville, Utah, rightfully earn the nickname of “Mars” for two reasons.

One, because the area’s extraterrestrial rainbow mountains make you feel like you are on a foreign planet.

And, two, because the Mars Desert Research Station (a Mars research station run by the US-registered non-profit called The Mars Society) is located in a little nook of the colorful hills outside of Hanksville, Utah.

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Uploaded on May 6, 2023
Taken on March 31, 2022