Mission Mars: Journey to the Red Planet is trained in Peuerbach

“The first people who will set foot on Mars have already been born, that’s quite realistic,” says Anika Mehlis. The scientist leads a crew of six that will simulate a Mars mission and carry out numerous experiments in Armenia for four weeks in March 2024. The first training for this expedition takes place from Thursday to Sunday in Peuerbach on the occasion of the Communale “Kosmos. Neue Welten”. On Saturday, the public interested in space also has free access to the test site in the Ecklmair sand pit.

international team

Mehlis emphasizes that the landing on the Red Planet depends on political and economic factors, “but if technological progress continues as it has in the past ten or twenty years, the end of the 2030s is a realistic timeframe,” says the environmental engineer and microbiologist . Preparing for such a mission on Earth and being part of the big picture is a nice feeling, says Mehlis. The “analogue astronaut” is a member of the Austrian Space Forum (ÖWF), which is involved in the Mars simulation “AMADEE-24”.

“We simulate a four-week mission on Mars after landing on the planet and carry out many experiments in the fields of geology, medicine and psychology, among other things,” explains Mehlis. Your colleagues are mathematicians, astronomers and engineers, each with their own area of ​​expertise but supposed to be able to carry out all the experiments. There is also training in first aid or for emergencies, for example if a fire should break out. The crew will spend four weeks in isolation. Outside the station, where only the six analogue astronauts are, a team of ten to twelve more people provide support. The mission is also accompanied from a control center in Vienna. A total of 200 scientists from 25 countries are involved.

Starting tomorrow, the test runs for the experiments will take place in the small town in the Grieskirchen district, and the processes are to be improved. The aim is also for the international team to get to know each other better and for the interaction between people and technology to be perfected.

50-pound space suits

Incidentally, the gravitational pull on Mars is only a third of that on Earth, but you wouldn’t levitate. A woman weighing 60 kilos would therefore only weigh 20 kilos on Mars. However, the necessary space suit weighs around 50 kilos.

The space suit prototypes can be seen up close in Peuerbach, as can the Mars rover. A meet & greet with analog astronauts, rover parades and space suit demonstrations are on the program every one to two hours. Admission is free. Registration is requested: communale.at/anmeldung/ready-for-space

program

The training of the analog astronauts for the Mars mission can be observed at close range on Saturday, September 2, from 9.30 a.m. to 6 p.m. A free shuttle service is offered throughout the day between Peuerbach Castle and the Ecklmair sand pit.

In the Kids’ Corner of the Austrian Space Forum, young researchers can make water rockets, remotely control a Mars rover prototype and find out what life in space feels like in a children’s space suit.