Aouda.X-spacesuit: Working on an indian princess
29. August 2009
Update on an upgrade: Aouda.X is currently being prepared for the upcoming glacier tests at the Pasterze region in Austria. A team of engineers of the Austrian Space Forum and students from the Technical School Fulpmes are focussing on getting Aouda.X ready for her first tests in a remote location.
So what's new in comparison with the comissioning tests in Kramsach in early July 2009? - Well, first there is a new team member, at least a virtual one: MARVIN stands for "Mars Analogue Research Versatile Information Network" and is the software agent behind the data analysis. "At this moment, it is only able to interpret a few basic measurement data and have it transferred from the sensors to the central processing unit and -via 5 GHz wireless LAN - to the operations console, OPS for short", explains Stefan Hauth. "However, the intriguing thing is, that MARVIN will be expanded into a much more powerful and versatile field assistent which shall help the astronaut to accomplish great field science under very safe conditions.""Building a spacesuit simulator is a very demanding and highly interdisciplinary task", project manager Gernot Groemer adds, "we have a bunch of very talented young people and experienced staff members here at the Technical School and we're all learning here a lot while we proceed with the upgrade programme."
Aouda.X -named after the indian princess from Jules Vernes' novel "Around the world in 80 days"- will be outfitted with new mechanical boot and glove interfaces, including a boot heater system. Why that? "Well, there's a really COOL test we're going to run in a few weeks from now", Stefan Hauth, "although we cannot reveal to many details yet, it seems we've found a very unusual partner to do perform an deep temperature operational test with Aouda.X." - So stay tuned!
PolAres Schedule Update
Between 01 - 28. February 2013, the Austrian Space Forum will conduct an integrated Mars analog field simulation in the northern Sahara near Erfoud, Morocco. Directed by a Mission Support Center in Austria, a small field crew will conduct experiments preparing for future human Mars missions mainly in the fields of engineering, planetary surface operations, astrobiology, geophysics/geology, life sciences and other.
This field mission is supported by the Ibn-Battuta-Center at the University of Marrakesh, Morocco. The Austrian Space Forum now solicitates proposals to be reviewed by a selection panel. The deadline for submissions is 15. June 2012, the announcement of the successful experiments will be released on 15. July 2012.
Detail
The analysis of Mars analogue environments on Earth is of paramount importance for the interpretation of the data from past, present and future orbital and landed missions, as well as mission planning (both robotic and human). Sedimentary environments in particular attract strong interest because they can retain the palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental history of the planet and under the right conditions may harbour fossil or present life signatures.
Date: 25. - 27. October 2012
Location: Conference Centre of the Hotel Meridien N'Fis at Marrakech, Morocco Organization: European Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, International Association of Sedimentologits, Ibn Battuta Centre, IRSPS, Universite Cadi Ayyad.
Between 01 - 28. February 2013, the Austrian Space Forum will conduct an integrated Mars analog field simulation in the northern Sahara near Erfoud, Morocco. Directed by a Mission Support Center in Austria, a small field crew will conduct experiments preparing for future human Mars missions mainly in the fields of engineering, planetary surface operations, astrobiology, geophysics/geology, life sciences and other.
