Blog written by Dr. Lucas Rehnberg, InnovaSpace SGen Hub Coordinator In the build up to the AMADEE-18 mission in Oman in February 2018, the Austrian Space Forum is in the thick of preparation with the leadership team and the analogue astronauts (AA) undergoing intensive training. But not only this, the Austrian Space Forum, with all the excitement surrounding AMADEE-18, organised an additional weekend of training for the volunteers that are so eager to take part; this came in the form of Analog Mission Basic Training (AMBT) for AMADEE-18. I myself got caught up in this and am honoured to have taken part in this training to join fellow Mars pioneers and space enthusiasts on this endeavour to help pave the way for a future mission to Mars. The training weekend recently took place in the beautiful city of Innsbruck, Austria, just before the opening of the Christmas markets. In this quiet city surrounded by the Alps, an international group of young scientists with a shared passion for space gathered for training. What struck me immediately was the range of nations and backgrounds of all the volunteers that were involved. There were undergraduate science students, psychologists, IT experts, doctors and space engineers, to name a few. And these individuals came from across Europe and even as far as Oman to be a part of this mission. True to its mission goals, the Austrian Space Forum, with projects like AMADEE-18, is providing outreach and opportunities for young professionals and students to engage in space life sciences by providing hands on experience. The gathering of this group of volunteers shows how space has this universal appeal, able to be cross-generations and truly be multi-disciplinary. Lead by its President, Dr. Gernot Grömer, and the leadership team, we began our training in earnest. This training had been a fairly new innovation of the Austrian Space Forum, born from years of experience of conducting these analogue missions. With technology and software evolving so rapidly, it is easy to see how between missions individuals would need to re-validate or completely learn new skills and familiarise themselves with the latest changes in order to run a safe and efficient analogue mission. To this end, this training was developed in order to set a new standard of training for the volunteers and participants in these analogue missions. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Outer Space Treaty, and considering the InnovaSpace overarching principle that advocates for a Space Without Borders, Vice-President of the Brazilian Association of Aeronautical and Space Law, José Monserrat Filho,* was invited to write a commentary on this topic. Space Law was born out of the Cold War and lucky that it was! Were this not the case, its beginnings would have been much more complicated. What was discussed before was the warlike power of space. When Space Law was born, with the launch of Sputnik I by the former USSR, on October 4, 1957, the United States had already been developing since 1956 the Corona, the first spy satellite. Just imagine if the Corona had been the first satellite in history. The Space Age would have begun under the direct impact of the Cold War - ready to boil over. Still, it was the Soviets who launched the first satellite, and the United States had to lower the ball and think of peace, to face the red danger coming from Moscow, who were now owners of the first intercontinental ballistic missile that had launched Sputnik into orbit, and could reach far enough for the USA to feel threatened. However, the USSR had been devastated by the battles throughout Europe from World War II and could not contemplate another major conflict so soon, and the United States, great winners of that War, had to overcome the pioneering space advances of the Soviets, advances that put the American population in fear. All in all, it was a big dogfight.
Blog written by Dr. Thais Russomano, Scientific Director, InnovaSpace
An interplanetary journey still seems to be a distant dream. Space agencies and private companies seek to solve the problems that still plague scientists on the ground: how to minimize the effects of cosmic radiation and the lack of Earth's gravity on a voyage to Mars?
The designer Thomas Missé, however, is not concerned about the health of the astronauts on a mission to the red planet - this worry he will leave to the space physicians. For Missé, what matters are the furniture and decoration of the houses on Mars, when one day human beings inhabit our cosmic neighbour. One of the most recent works of Missé is a Martian chair. Made of carbon fibre, it is lightweight and compact. The idea is based on a simple calculation. It costs around 5 thousand euros to transport 1 kg of weight into space, therefore, a chair weighing just 500 grams unquestionably presents a great advantage.
Missé also took into account the Martian hypogravity environment. Mars has a lower mass than our planet, which generates a smaller gravitational force than found on Earth. Anyone who weighs 90kg here will weigh just 34kg on Martian soil. Considering this, Missé offset the legs off his chair design by 8 degrees, claiming this will give greater stability in reduced gravity.
The areas of space architecture and design have seen increasing growth as greater thought goes into how to create space environments for Lunar and Mars habitats. Extraterrestrial homes and furniture will need to combine strength, functionality, comfort, low weight and small size - quite a challenge! And there is yet another key ingredient that must be added. These dwellings will need to be more than just houses - they will need to be homes - cosmic homes for astronauts! (English translation of an article originally published in Portuguese in the newspaper Diário Popular Pelotas) |
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