Bohemia Interactive, the creators of the award-winning Arma™ series and DayZ™, today released the first portion of their Expedition One content update for Take On™ Mars. Serving as the codename for Take On Mars’ manned mission to Mars, Expedition One enables people to explore the Red Planet, and establish a self-sufficient human habitat.

Today’s update lands the first human marsonauts to Take On Mars. With access to a manned science buggy, featuring an interactive 3D GUI, one of their first objectives will be to explore the huge new Cydonia Mensae location, which spans 8x8 kilometer of Martian terrain. A 3D printer enables marsonauts to construct various parts, which can be put together via the Habitat Construction System to form buildings and installations (changelog).

The next portion of Take On Mars’ Expedition One content update will include resource extraction/transfer, habitat pressurization, and marsonaut vitals - and is scheduled for release in May 2014.

For those who are new to Bohemia Interactive’s manned mission to Mars; Expedition One brings players to Mars to perform a multitude of scientific experiments, construct habitats spanning from shelters to entire installations, and search for viable sources of oxygen, water, and raw materials. Due to the limited amount of supplies the space shuttle can carry, one of the most significant challenges for the marsonauts will simply be surviving the harsh Martian environment. As such, participants will have to actively manage their oxygen levels, food stocks, grow plants, and operate drilling rigs in the search for new resources. Unpressurized and pressurized manned vehicles will be at their disposal to increase their mobility across the vast alien terrain.

To enroll for the manned mission, people can now join for the Early Access version of Take On Mars on Steam for the reduced price of 13.99 EUR/ 17.99 USD/ 11.99 GBP.