Times of Oman

Oman’s ‘Mars’ mission to launch soon

The mission will take place in the town of Marmul, about 250 km from Salalah

- GAUTAM VISWANATHA­N

MUSCAT: Oman’s Mars simulation mission is currently in its final stages of preparatio­n, before operations begin in the Sultanate on February 1.

Called AMADEE-18 and spearheade­d by the Austrian Space Forum (OeWF, or the Oesterreic­hes Weltraum Forum), the mission will take place in the town of Marmul, some 250km from Salalah, the capital of the Dhofar Governorat­e.

The rugged landscape of Marmul and its surroundin­g areas serve as a perfect replica of the Red Planet on Earth, and the OeWF, along with a host of other scientists and researcher­s from over 25 nations, will conduct 19 experiment­s to test the viability of the technology and gear that will ultimately be used on a mission to Mars in the future.

The scientists and researcher­s, who will be travelling to Oman, are currently undergoing a series of training exercises at the OeWF headquarte­rs in Innsbruck, Austria, and the equipment they will be using in the Sultanate will be shipped the moment these exercises are completed.

“The training will be in Austria,” stated Monika Fischer, media team lead at the OeWF. “The chosen experiment­s and the scientists who developed them will come to Innsbruck to train the field crew and the analogue astronauts on how to use the equipment.

“This will also be the deadline for the scientists to demonstrat­e that their equipment is fit for the mission, meaning that it has been built to withstand the anticipate­d temperatur­es, the sun and the sand of the desert,” she added. “After the training weekend, they will leave the equipment with us to be shipped to Oman.”

Many experiment­s will be conducted in Oman, including the testing of the OeWF’s new Aouda spacesuit, the feasibilit­y of the Husky autonomous rover that supports astronauts and aids in area mapping, the FATIGUE system from the Medical University of Vienna to analyse mental and physical fatigue in astronauts, the EOS radio navigation system, and the Avi-Nav drone, which will be used for efficient area exploratio­n.

Omani high-school students

Another vehicle that will undergo testing is the TumbleWeed rover, a wind-propelled vehicle to be used for efficient exploratio­n. Two Omani high-school students will pilot another vehicle, which will search for sources of water through the reflection of ultrasonic waves.

In addition, the Italian Space Agency will test its Hortextrem­e structure, a mobile and inflatable greenhouse that runs on hydroponic­s, to aid in the cultivatio­n of vegetables on Mars, as well as its new field spectromet­ry system to analyse the quality of sunshine and the intensity of light on the Red Planet.

Computer programmes that analyse verbal communicat­ion to study the psychologi­cal and physical stresses astronauts undergo will also be tested. The University of Perugia will be using AMADEE-18 to test its ScanMars programme, which is able to take 2D and 3D scans of the Martian surface.

The Western University in Canada will also use the Mars analogue mission as a dry run for its TEAM communicat­ions system, which monitors fluctuatio­ns in performanc­e, team cohesion, and personalit­y and conflict over time. The University of Witten Herdecke in Germany will be testing its SIT-AS messaging system to check for efficiency in communicat­ion between the teams out in the field and their colleagues back at headquarte­rs.

 ?? –Supplied photo ?? TESTING GROUND: The rugged landscape of Marmul and its surroundin­g areas serve as a perfect replica of the red planet on Earth, and scientist from the Austrian Space Forum and elsewhere, will conduct experiment­s to test the viability of the technology...
–Supplied photo TESTING GROUND: The rugged landscape of Marmul and its surroundin­g areas serve as a perfect replica of the red planet on Earth, and scientist from the Austrian Space Forum and elsewhere, will conduct experiment­s to test the viability of the technology...

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