Oman’s Mars mission closer to reality
Key experiments will include the testing of the OeWF’s Aouda spacesuit, test drives of rovers on Mars, fatigue and energy monitoring tests
MUSCAT: Astronauts from the Austrian Space Forum are looking forward to their month-long Mars simulation mission in Oman.
Titled AMADEE-18, the mission, which begins on February 4, will see scientists and researchers from the OeWF (Oesterreiches Weltraum Forum) and other universities conduct a series of experiments in the desert near the town of Marmul in the Dhofar region, which has a landscape very similar to that of the Red Planet.
“With an array of over a dozen experiments, AMADEE-18 will provide an unprecedented level of scientific return for the community,” said Kartik Kumar, analogue astronaut, Austrian Space Forum.
“Being in Oman gives us the opportunity to test some of the key workflows that will make a journey to Mars a success, and ultimately, this brings us one step closer to the most important endeavour of our generation–setting foot on the Red Planet.”
Key experiments will include the testing of the OeWF’s Aouda spacesuit, test drives of rovers, fatigue and energy monitoring tests, and a trial run of a mobile greenhouse, which will be used to grow food for astronauts in space.
“At AMADEE-18, we will be performing a record number of scien- tific experiments, and these range from astrobiology to geology, so we will be testing all the experiments that we will run on Mars, and it’s really exciting to be included in the scientific experiments we will perform on every mission for the Austrian Space Forum,” noted Joao Lousada, another astronaut at the OeWF.
“With every mission at the Austrian Space Forum, we see the complexity grow more and more,” he added. “With AMADEE-18, we will be going to Oman where the terrain is similar to that on Mars, so it’s really interesting from a geological point of view that we will be doing this high-fidelity mission in Oman. With this many experiments, and having such opportunities in going to the Omani desert, we are definitely getting closer to what it’ll be like on Mars, and slowly paving the steps to one day land men on Mars.”
Innsbruck
Equipment to be used by the OeWF has already left for Oman, and the astronauts, who will be travelling to the Sultanate, are currently undergoing training at the Austrian Space Forum headquarter in Innsbruck.
“As a researcher, I am very hap- py to be a part of the AMADEE-18 mission, where we are going to collect valuable data to explore new worlds,” remarked Dr Carmen Kohler. “The realistic Martian environment will help us maintain scientific integrity, and high-fidelity scientific research will bring us closer to Mars, and that is where we want to go.
“During the mission at AMADEE-18, we will be performing almost 20 experiments that have been peer-reviewed before, so the quality of the science that we will be taking back from Oman will be great,” added Inigo Munoz Elorza, another astronaut. “We will be liv- ing in the middle of the desert in Oman for four weeks, with three of us being in isolation, with no signs of civilisation close to us, and even the features of the desert (and Mars) are pretty much alike, so the simulation of really being on Mars during these four weeks will be really high during AMADEE-18.
“If we consider the location, and the amount of quality science that we will be doing, this is bringing us one step closer to Mars,” he pointed out. “February will be the closest we can experience to performing experiments on Mars, which will be the AMADEE-18 mission in Oman.”