bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Agence France-Presse

Inside a huge crater in Israel’s sun-baked Negev desert, a team wearing spacesuits ventures forth on a mission to simulate conditions on Mars.
The Austrian Space Forum has set up a pretend Martian base with the Israeli space agency at Makhtesh Ramon, a 500-metre (1,600-foot) deep, 40km (25 mile) wide crater.
The six so-called “analogue astronauts” will live in isolation in the virtual station until the end of the month.
“It’s a dream come true,” Israeli Alon Tenzer, 36, said. “It’s something we’ve been working on for years.”
The participants – from Austria, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain – all had to pass gruelling physical and psychological tests.
During their mission, they will conduct tests including on a drone prototype that functions without GPS, and on automated wind- and solar-powered mapping vehicles.
The mission will also aim to study human behaviour and the effect of isolation on the astronauts.
“The group’s cohesion and their ability to work together are crucial for surviving on Mars,” said Gernot Groemer, the Austrian mission supervisor.

“It’s like a marriage, except in a marriage you can leave but on Mars you can’t.”
The Austrian Space Forum, a private organisation made up of aerospace specialists, has already organised 12 missions, the most recent in Oman in 2018.
Chinese scientists eye hypersonic drone flight on Mars
The Israel project is part of mission Amadee-20, which was expected to kick off last year but was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The forum has partnered with Israeli research centre D-MARS to construct the solar-powered base.
German astronaut Anika Mehlis, the only woman on the team, said how happy she was to be part of the project.

“My father took me to the space museum when I was little,” she said. “When I saw that the forum was looking for analogue astronauts, I told myself I had to apply.”
Mehlis, a trained microbiologist, will study a scenario where bacteria from Earth infect potential life forms that may be found on Mars, saying this “would be a huge problem”.
Mars rocks collected by Perseverance rover boost case for alien life
Visually, the surrounding desert resembles the Red Planet with its stony wilderness and orange hues, though thankfully not in terms of atmospheric conditions.
“Over here, we have temperatures of about 25-30 degrees Celsius, but on Mars the temperature is minus 60 degrees Celsius and the atmosphere is not fit for breathing,” said Groemer.


The interior of the base is austere, with a small kitchen and bunk beds. Most of the space is reserved for scientific experiments.
Nasa envisions the first human mission to Mars will launch in 2030.
A number of recent Mars probes have captivated astronomy fans across the world with robotic rovers like Nasa’s Perseverance and, for the first time, the helicopter Ingenuity, offering a glance of the planet’s surface. But a manned mission is likely more than a decade off.
China releases new Mars images
“What we are doing here is preparing a large mission, the largest voyage our society has ever taken, as Mars and Earth are 380 million kilometres apart at their extreme point,” said Groemer.
“I believe the very first human to walk on Mars is already born and we are the shipbuilders to enable this journey.”
Additional reporting by Reuters


Moon landing successful for private US spaceship Blue Ghost

China’s Tiangong space station will host Pakistani astronaut as first foreign visitor

European satellite launcher set for first commercial blast-off

Singer Katy Perry and Bezos’ fiancée to fly to space on Blue Origin rocket

Space

Scientists simulate life on Mars in Israeli desert

Two members from the team walk in spacesuits during a training mission. Photo: AFP

This picture taken on October 10, 2021 shows an aerial view of a habitat where astronauts from a team from Europe and Israel will participate in a training mission for planet Mars at a site that simulates an off-site station at the Ramon Crater in Mitzpe Ramon in Israel's southern Negev desert. - Six astronauts from Portugal, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Israel will be cut off from the world for a month, from October 4-31, only able leave their habitat in spacesuits as if they were on Mars. Their mission, the AMADEE-20 Mars simulation, will be carried out in a Martian terrestrial analog and directed by a dedicated Mission Support Center in Austria, to conduct experiments ahead of future human and robotic Mars exploration missions. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

A team of six astronauts from (L to R) Spain, Israel, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and Portugal pose for a group photo before starting a training mission for planet Mars at a site that simulates an off-site station at the Ramon Crater in Mitzpe Ramon in Israel's southern Negev desert on October 10, 2021. - Six astronauts from Portugal, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Israel will be cut off from the world for a month, from October 4-31, only able leave their habitat in spacesuits as if they were on Mars. Their mission, the AMADEE-20 Mars simulation, will be carried out in a Martian terrestrial analog and directed by a dedicated Mission Support Center in Austria, to conduct experiments ahead of future human and robotic Mars exploration missions. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Chinese scientists eye hypersonic drone flight on Mars

Nasa’s Ingenuity helicopter is viewed by the Perseverance rover’s rear Hazard Camera on April 4, 2021. A hypersonic drone proposed by Chinese scientists would use magnesium as fuel. Photo: Nasa

Members of the NASA Mars Helicopter team inspect the flight model (the actual vehicle going to the Red Planet), inside the Space Simulator, a 25-foot-wide (7.62-meter-wide) vacuum chamber at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, on Feb. 1, 2019. 01FEB19 Photo: NASA

Mars rocks collected by Perseverance rover boost case for alien life

An image taken by Nasa’s Perseverance rover on Tuesday shows two holes where the rover's drill obtained chalk-size samples from a Martian rock. Nasa/JPL-Caltech handout via AFP

Sample tube number 266, which was used to collect the first sample of Martian rock by NASA's Perseverance rover, is seen at NASA?s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, California, U.S., 2020. NASA/JPL-CALTECH/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. MUST ON SCREEN COURTESY NASA/JPL-CALTECH

News

World

Middle East


Team of six simulating what it will be like to live for about a month on the red planet
Project being run by Austrian Space Forum, Israel Space Agency and D-MARS



A team of six – five men and one woman – has begun simulating what it will be like to live for about a month on the red planet.


Israel

Scientists simulate life on Mars in Israeli desert

Team of six simulating what it will be like to live for about a month on the red planet Project being run by Austrian Space Forum, Israel Space Agency and D-MARS

Team of six simulating what it will be like to live for about a month on the red planet

Project being run by Austrian Space Forum, Israel Space Agency and D-MARS