Friday 19 / April / 2024
Muscat: Oman is among the final list of countries being selected to host the Austrian Space Forum’s next Mars analogue mission “AMADEE-18.”
The main purpose of a Mars simulation on Earth is to prepare for future missions to the Red Planet. To perform the experiments, the Austrian Space Forum (OeWF) is one of the five research groups worldwide to develop the prototype spacesuit “Aouda” which is worn by OeWF’s Analogue-Astronauts during its missions.
In 2015, the OeWF and international partners conducted the 11th analogue mission AMADEE-15—a two-week Mars simulation mission on a rock glacier in the Kaunertal, Austria that resembles the Martian terrain. The OeWF location scouts are being led by Mars expert Dr. Gernot Grömer, president of the OeWF, and Alexander Soucek, OeWF board member, who will be in Oman along with other experts from the organisation from March 17 to 21.
Dr Grömer emphasised the importance of the Mars Analogue Missions. “Through testing equipment, software, procedures and workflows that will be implemented in future human missions to Mars, we try to find out what is not yet working and what needs to be redesigned or rethought. After all, it’s better to find the flaw in Mars-equipment here on Earth rather than on Mars where spare parts are a 6-month journey away at best,”he explained. Hosting this mission would increase Oman’s visibility as a hi-tech nation with a vibrant research sector, which is soon to engage with cutting edge space exploration. It would also add to the country’s reputation as an internationally connected regional research and development nation. The Austrian Space Forum is a network for aerospace engineers, scientists and people with a passion for space.
