It was discussed, debated and planned until the brains were cooking and cooled by a spectacular thunderstorm. Essential meeting points were the determinations for the positioning for the research program PolAres and the two successful balloon launches, directed by Michael Taraba, as well as current or upcoming grant applications were reviewed.
Sun & Space: Board- meeting of the Austrian Space Forum in Rome
26. June 2010
Sun, beach, sea and not to forget culture! Rome offers all of this. But not only because of this reason the board- meeting took place on June 26th in Italy. Alexander Soucek was host for this working meeting.
The board discussed about the Outreach- project in Upper Austria “Eye in the Sky” with the topic earth observation, in which the two speakers of the ASF Eva Hauth and Othmar Coser impressed more than 2500 students and developed other projects.
The Chief Financial Officer Bettina Frischauf brought the organizational part of the Board- meeting to the point: Without the many helpers of the ASF the organization wouldn’t have been able to manage all of its achievements. The board- team would like to thank all of the team- members and assistants. The following "Thank you" goes to Alexander Soucek because of his hospitality. The travel costs were paid by the board- members themselves.
PolAres Schedule Update
15. June 2012: Deadline Announcement of Opportunity MARS2013 25.-27. Oct. 2012: 3rd Conference on Terrestial Mars Analogues 01 - 28. February 2013: Morocco Mars Simulation
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.
