Frits de Jong (Crew Medical Support Office, CMSO) and his team welcomed the eight members of the space forum with several presentations where the work done at the centre in cologne (especially the medical operations departement) was portrayed. “We talked for about three hours about operative aspects of space travel,” resumes Martin Knoflach (PolAres Operations Office) “and also presented our own work in much detail. Interestingly the way how the inclusion of external research teams - we call them Remote Science Support - is performed has many similarities.”
The Austrian Space Forum visits the Astronaut Centre in Cologne
16.11.2010
ESA’s European Astronaut Center (EAC) was the goal of a visit by a PolAres delegation. It is the central piece of manned european space travel: since the early nineties, both astronauts training takes place here as well as operational care during missions is performed from the EAC. A report of this fascinating and productive visit.
ASF Crew discussing OPS matters with Frits De Jong
After the talks the flight control consoles were shown to the space forum group by the CMSO-team. Current imaging and telemetric data from the International Space Station are transmitted to this station. The most important software-tools and console-appliances were all part of this detailed view behind the scenes of ESA. Reports from everyday working live at this console were also given.
“A highlight was definetively the visit of the astronaut trainingscentre at the EAC,” mentions Götz Nordmeyer (PolAres Medical Operations), “where we got a detailed guided tour of the Sojus-trainer, the Columbus module and also the Neutral Buoancy Facility, or the diving pool of the EAC.”
Martin Knoflach, Reinhard Tlustos and Ulrich Lugar
in Sojus MockUp
Also Gernot Grömer was very pleased with this visit - it was an intimate view into the the work of CMSO where the space forum could learn a lot, but also interest in the work done by the forum could be raised. The possibility of directly transfering telemetric data during the Rio Tinto-expedition in April 2011 was discussed in order to enable CMSO team members to look into the work of the field team and MCC.
A short meeting with Henning Krause of the german centre for Air- and Space Travel concluded the visit. Olivia Haider, representing the PolAres Mediateam, used this occasion to discuss Social media activities in space flight.
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.
