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BLOGS VLOGS & VIEWS

Mergulho no Treinamento de Astronautas

16/5/2022

 

Tiyoko Hashimoto

Instrutora de mergulho livre, mergulho autônomo e mergulhadora em formação no mergulho profissional raso LinkedIn Profile

O mergulho faz parte de uma série de habilidades para quem busca a carreira astronáutica. Por quê?
A água é cerca de 800 vezes mais densa que o ar, o que dificulta a movimentação subaquática, exigindo além de mais esforço, uma movimentação mais lenta para evitar fadiga que pode levar mergulhadores inexperientes a até abortar o mergulho.
Além disso, a flutuabilidade neutra, ou seja, a capacidade de "boiar" na água permite que o praticante tenha a sensação semelhante à da microgravidade.
Para fazer uso da flutuabilidade neutra como treinamento, as agências espaciais têm usado, ao longo dos anos, laboratórios subaquáticos como o NBL (Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory), localizado em Houston, no Texas, Estados Unidos e que faz parte do complexo da NASA. Segundo a NASA, possui 61,21 metros de comprimento, 30,90 de largura e 12,12 metros de profundidade e permite treinamentos como caminhadas espaciais, comunicação e segurança, além de permitir testes com equipamentos de vídeo e trajes espaciais.
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Neutral Buoyancy Lab - Credit:NASA
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Spacewalk training session - Credit:NASA
Na ESA (Agência Espacial Europeia), em Colônia, Alemanha, os astronautas são certificados no nível de mergulhadores de resgate. Esse conhecimento, segundo a ESA, permite melhor desempenho dos astronautas nas caminhadas espaciais e permite que previnam problemas e saibam lidar com emergências de modo adequado.
De acordo com a NASA, os astronautas utilizam nitrox (mistura de nitrogênio com uma porcentagem maior de oxigênio, também conhecido como ar enriquecido no mergulho) durante as sessões de treinamento no NBL.
No mergulho dependente saturado não há perda de ar, nem se solta bolhas, como ocorre no mergulho recreativo. Todo o material exalado durante um mergulho saturado, que pode ir até 320 metros de profundidade, é recaptado, reciclado, para depois ser usado novamente na respiração. Isso ocorre porque o gás em questão, além do oxigênio, é o hélio,  que tem um custo bastante elevado.
​Alguns filmes de grande bilheteria, como Armageddon (1998) do diretor Michael Bay, já se aproximaram do tema de usar plataformas de petróleo como referência de um universo remoto; esse é um outro ponto importante em que se associa o uso do mergulho no treinamento de astronautas: o isolamento social e físico.
Debaixo d'água usa-se comunicação por meio de sinais padronizados mundialmente e segue-se protocolos simples e claros para a comunicação não verbal. Os equipamentos de astronautas e mergulhadores profissionais profundos possuem fonia, ou seja, um equipamento que permite a comunicação oral.
Em situações extremas, no entanto, quando a fonia se rompe ou há interferências impossibilitando a comunicação, a comunicação não-oral ainda se mostra importante, como podemos observar em uma cena de extremo stress do filme baseado em fatos reais, Last Breath (2019), em que um mergulhador profissional se vê sozinho no fundo do Mar do Norte sem suprimento de ar aos 90 metros de profundidade.
​O filme reflete também mais uma equivalência utilizada durante os treinamentos de mergulho nos de astronáutica: o preparo mental.
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Film: Armageddon (1998) - Director: Michael Bay
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Film: Last Breath (2019) - Directors: Richard da Costa & Alex Parkinson
            Durante um mergulho, facilmente as coisas podem sair errado e, para cada situação de emergência, há um protocolo a ser seguido. As causas dos acidentes de mergulho, segundo o presidente da DAN (Divers Alert Network), em 88% das fatalidades ocorreram na primeira viagem de mergulho, sendo que o maior fator foi o erro humano.
Entende-se que o treinamento de astronautas na água permite uma maior familiaridade do profissional com os procedimentos necessários em cada tarefa, o que significa redução nos custos operacionais, maior confiança e segurança para a realização das missões bem como maior probabilidade de sucesso.
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This blog is promoted and supported by the AquaMundo Working Group

Mars Rovers - A Brief Summary by Ermis Divinis

3/5/2022

 
Our thanks go to space enthusiast Ermis Divinis, aged 11, who used his digital media skills to create this fun summary of the Mars rovers, which have provided the scientific community with so much valuable data about the Red Planet. Enjoy!
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Subtitles currently available in English, Finnish, French, German, Portuguese & Romanian - click the settings cog at bottom of the video and choose subtitle language from the choices.

​Video also published at Kids2.space

From Earth to Mars – Mars Colony Hackathon

18/4/2022

 

Anna Karahan

European Space Foundation - ERC Coordinator & Inspiration Zone producer
Rover Challenge
 - Contact: a.karahan@spacefdn.com

It’s 2077
We have been expanding our presence on Mars for several decades now, which involves trial missions, in-depth research, terrain checking, the first human landing on the surface of the Red Planet and the creation of a scientific base. 
Driven by curiosity and the desire to learn and expand the human possibilities of adapting to new living conditions, we decide to establish colonies on Mars.
The inhabitants of the new Martian city-states are not accidental. They were selected based on their health, intellectual and psychological abilities as well as the skills they will contribute to building a new society, drawing on the lessons learned from the mistakes made on Earth...
​Warsaw, 4-6 March 2022
25 students, divided into interdisciplinary groups, begin working on the project of five Martian colonies. They include representatives of geology, law, architecture, design, and culture. Supported by mentors, they try to find answers to the following question: What location on Mars will be the most appropriate for their colony, considering the possibility of easy landing and take-off, access to a water source, as well as the scientific and soil-forming potential of the area?
In terms of architecture and design, they must remember about the impact of temperature, sandstorms, harmful radiation, and meteorite strikes, but also make sure the colonies are self-sufficient and provide shelter for thousands of people. Also in the spotlight are such important questions as: How will our senses react on Mars? What do we, as humans, need to survive in an extreme environment?
The Mars Colony Hackathon participants also discuss whether they want to transfer to Mars the current Earth culture as well as the economic and political status quo, or... on the contrary? Should they take the current trends in sustainability, climate change, inequality, diversity, and the impact of technology on people into account? What values, traditions and rituals will accompany them?
​Another sol of 2077 begins.
There are already five colonies on Mars: IGNIS, MARIS, MONADA, M.O.D. AND WEST COAST COLONY. They are all self-sufficient, but willingly cooperate with one another and with Earth in the exchange of goods, know-how as well as education and tourism. They all signed a non-aggression pact.
Goods are transported by centrifugal force technology, and people move between colonies on sub-orbital rocket flights. In the close vicinity, inhabitants travel by rovers.
We visit the IGNIS colony, located in the Athabasca Valley in the Elysium Planitia region.
It arose from a research colony founded in the 2040s by the International Organisation whose inhabitants revolted and declared independence. The main IGNIS doctrine in international relations is not getting involved in the political affairs on Earth. Its inhabitants live in symbiosis with nature, and they base their sustainable development on science. They obtain water thanks from the nearby pingos, and their source of energy is a cosmic solar power plant in a geostationary orbit, sending energy in the form of high-frequency radio beams. The power plant has movable panels, which enable the plant to draw energy throughout the day and night. The inhabitants expect that at a later stage the development of the energy sector will be based on small modular reactors (SMR). The IGNIS system is a hybrid of the republic and direct democracy. Everything that is produced in the colony as well as all the tools and items that the inhabitants use belong to the republic and are used on a shared basis.
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We continue our journey to visit the MARIS colony, located in Valles Marineris.
As a result of human activities on Earth, the climate crisis deepened, natural resources were depleted, and biodiversity was disappearing. In the social field, we were affected by wars, social inequality, discrimination, and polarisation. The human condition was also deteriorating because of loneliness and civilisation diseases. The founders of MARIS wanted to change that, so they decided to create their Martian colony – a new community based on responsibility and integrity of human beings with the planet, community, and themselves. The local habitat is famous for its hydroponic crops and baths with saunas. The community cares about good mood and mental health of every citizen, which ensures the proper functioning of the entire colony. Therefore, apart from integration, a common dining room, kitchen, or medical, educational and laboratory space, it places great emphasis on providing the inhabitants with private space. As guests, we are invited to one of the capsule-rooms that function as bedrooms. We immediately experience thermal comfort and silence. We can also regulate the amount of light. The whole room is finished with a soft material and there is a pleasant smell in the air...
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Next sol we travel to the northernmost colony of MONADA, located between Mamers Valles and Deutronilus Mensae.
In some philosophical systems, a monad is a basic substance, on the one hand elemental, permeated with individuality, and on the other hand, rich in various types of capital. It gives almost unlimited development opportunities. The MONADA inhabitants treat their colony as an organism which, having a huge and varied potential, can not only develop independently, but also establish relationships with other entities in the world, which is a continuous collection of elementary substances.
Its architectural solutions are also based on spherical units, which are self-sufficient and independent in a crisis, but for the sake of proper functioning of the society they connect with one another to form a network. Each unit has the necessary sectors located on different levels: industry, food production, public utilities, such as hospitals, schools, and religious places, as well as housing. Light runs through each sphere from above and cascades across the room. The radial layout of rooms and internal space can be modified by moving the walls.
The colony has one of the largest deposits of magnesium-rich sulphur oxide and olivine as well as access to several rubble glaciers which constitute the source of water. MONADA sells its medicines, steel, solutions related to design and architecture, including modular furniture, “my personal sun” lamps, personalised “Martian wallpapers”, aromatic postcards from Mars as well as a patented circulation system and inter-colonial rover loading system both to the countries on Earth and the Martian colonies.
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​The next stop on our Martian journey is M.O.D. (Martian allotments), located in Dao Vallis.
It is an international, democratic colony, still dependent on the Earth for the supply of certain raw materials and resources.
It was built of modular segments created with a 3D printer and completely hidden under the surface of Martian regolith. The main element of the individual residential modules are internal allotments used for garden cultivation, experimenting, and relaxation. The colony focuses on simplicity and minimalism in limited Martian conditions, hence the white walls of the rooms and easy-to-modify segments. The virtual reality used in the colony, however, allows its inhabitants to create an environment that gives a sense of greater security, avatars, or everyday outfits to express themselves and their individual style. Special overalls worn by the inhabitants check their vital functions, hormone levels, and work-life balance simultaneously.
M.O.D. conducts intensive research to increase recyclability and the best possible use of limited Martian resources as well as to develop production and plantations that provide the colony with food and vital products.
The joint work of the M.O.D. inhabitants strengthen intergenerational ties, giving an opportunity for integration and talks. Each of the inhabitants undergoes compulsory training to be able to work in various sectors of the habitat if necessary.
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​WEST COAST COLONY, located in the Olympus Mont region, is the last stop of our trip.
Separation of powers, peaceful space exploration, cognition and science, high level of education, cooperation between humans and artificial intelligence, transhumanism, and bionics – these are the bases of its functioning.
The area chosen by the inhabitants for their colony is convenient not only in terms of living, but also for geological research. The magnesium- and iron-rich basalt rocks present here are a good raw material for construction and the production of soil fertilisers. The colony bases its economy and exports on them.
The colony is highly automated. Robots are used in the transport of raw materials and products from/to factories, the production of modular elements for housing, cultivation, services, and even administration.
The West Coast Colony inhabitants believe that as humans we have certain limitations, and we must constantly overcome our weaknesses. Therefore, they focus on transhumanism and gene improvement in such a way as to adapt the human body to the difficult Martian conditions. They also place great emphasis on inclusiveness, cultural and social life, common rituals as well as education and learning the truth about the universe. The colony also includes green zones for rest and recreation with plants brought from Earth...
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Warsaw, 6 March 2022
We are going back to Earth. There is a war going on across our eastern border and climate change brings us intense winds, rains, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions...
Some people question the sense of organising such design and humanist workshops or hackathons. But maybe travelling to Mars in our imagination will help us see and express what we do not like here on Earth, change the things that should be changed or even adopt a completely different approach to things we know? Is it not thanks to our dreams and imagination that we are able to look into the future and create the world we want to live in? Not only on Mars, but also here on our planet Earth...

The Mars Colony Hackathon was organised by the US Embassy and ​​the European Space Foundation in cooperation with the Polish Space Agency and Venture Café. The workshop took place on 4-6 March 2022 at the Cambridge Innovation Centre in Warsaw.

Congratulations to the winning team members: MONADA – Julia Jeka, Karolina Kruszewska, Tomasz Leonik, Oliwia Mandrela and Kamil Serafin.
*Blog also published on the European Space Foundation website
This blog is promoted and supported by the:
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Awakening - an emotionally oriented future astronaut training subject

11/4/2022

 

Author: Chris Yuan

Member of the InnovaSpace Board of Advisors; CoFounder Planet Expedition Commander Academy (PECA), Explorers Club member, Space Dreamer...

​"Bang bang bang, bang bang," there was a knocking sound from the water.
This is an 18-foot-deep pool in the diving hall of Nanning City Gymnasium in Guangxi. Two PECA (Planet Expedition Command Academy) trainees: Hannah and Selina, wearing scuba diving gear, are stitching together a satellite model underwater, which is designed with PVC pipes of different colours that are removable and can be spliced ​​together. This training involves scuba divers simulating the role of space station EVA astronauts, capturing and repairing damaged satellites. The person under training must maintain neutral buoyancy during the whole process and retain sober analytical and hands-on ability under the conditions of maintaining air consumption, completing the assembly of the satellite model and bringing it out of the water.
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Hannah & Selina working together to construct a model underwater
Hannah and Selina are mother and daughter, and Selina had just graduated from college and planned to have a gap year. The pair chose to participate in the 3-month PECA general training course. The scene just described was their training subject for PECA's second physical space, Ocean Planet: astronauts completing space missions in a simulated weightless state. They started from scratch and had already successfully completed the first physical space: Earth-Mountain Exploration, in which they completed a 10-day cross-country horseback trek on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and finally entered Tibet on horseback, after completing 235 kilometres of horseback riding.
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Finally they arrived in Guangxi, China and experienced a lot of confined water training, cave diving, to adapt to the exploration of the underwater world, and simulate future space travel. ​Selina had no previous experience with such a wide range of different exploration types, and when asked if she worried about whether she would be up to the challenges of the training, she said: "I chose to take this step, that is, I chose to face the unknown changes."
The PECA curriculum has been seeking a path that connects the ordinary person at one end, with at the other end the coming age of great sailing for civilian space exploration (see also previous blog).
Space exploration in the minds of most people is a national strategy, a game for a few people financially supported by the government, and super-rich people. Several of my friends have asked me a similar question, a pointed question:
"How do you think that space travel can become a majority movement in the future? How is their training program different from official astronauts?"
Allow me to start with a story.
Fifteen years ago, I rode a mountain bike alone from the Ger-mud area of ​​Qinghai to Lhasa, Tibet, and then continued on until I reached the base camp of Mount Everest. This is the highest road in the world. My journey lasted 40 days,  was 2200km and ended at the highest altitude of the Everest Base Camp. I later wrote a book "Through Your Eyes, See My Soul - 40 Days of Everest Ride". Some readers asked me the same question:
"What is the most important prerequisite for a beginner who will ride the Qinghai-Tibet line? Sufficient money or physical reserves?"
After thinking carefully, I replied: Neither of the two you mentioned are the most important, the most important thing is the ambition you have to go, it's the determination, it's the emotion. With that first push, money and other things follow."
Think about it, it took only 66 years from the Wright brothers first successful test flight of their plane to the landing of a man on the Moon!

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O novo Lobo do mar, o velho esportista do ar

28/3/2022

 

Author: Nelson Vinagre

​Aerospace Exercise Physiology & Rehabilitation Lead; Coordinator, Portuguese Hub - InnovaSpace

​Não sou tão velho assim nem tão novo, mas já vivi suficientemente para ter muitas experiências em ambientes extremos e radicais, onde pudéssemos observar a resposta fisiológica do corpo humano exposto a estas diferentes situações.
Em minha história esportiva, trago a natação como base de meu treinamento fisiológico, onde durante anos treinei para competições e depois que me tornei educador físico, treinador, instrutor em salvamento aquático e pesquisador nas áreas do treinamento. Assim, pude compreender ainda melhor muitas reações que se passavam comigo e com as pessoas com quem eu trabalhava.
Como hobby e amante do esporte, fiz parte de uma geração que ajudou a quebrar os tabus da imagem do surf, que era considerado esporte de malandro, e que hoje veio a se tornar esporte olímpico e modalidade profissional.  Nos anos 90, além de ter realizados treinamentos de mergulho com garrafa, na famosa Escola Superior de Esportes de Colônia/Alemanha (Deutsche Sport Hochschule), pude realizar mergulhos na costa brasileira tanto com garrafa quanto com snorkel no Pantanal, em Bonito, no Mato Grosso do Sul, em meio as Piraputangas.
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Paralelamente a vida acadêmica que se iniciava, a partir dos 17 anos me dedicava intensamente as lides aéreas, onde pretendia me tornar aeronauta e piloto profissional de linhas aéreas. Foram muitos anos de dedicação teórico-prática, fazendo minhas licenças de piloto planador, privado, comercial, instrumentos, multi-motor, rebocador e agrícola, que me remeteram a algumas centenas de horas de voo e ainda mais pousos e decolagens, especialmente pela operação de planadores, que exigia de mim, como rebocador, múltiplas subidas e descidas em curto espaço de tempo. Nessa situação, apesar de estarmos atuando dentro de uma altitude fisiológica, certamente impunha ao meu organismo um condicionamento físico razoável dado pela resposta hemodinâmica, proprioceptiva, vestibular...
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​Nos diferentes locais onde atuei profissionalmente, pude perceber que sou plenamente adaptável a distintos ambientes. Parti de Porto Alegre 1993 rumo a Serra Gaúcha, que além de ser uma das regiões mais frias do Brasil, encontra-se a 1000m de altitude, requerendo de nosso organismo certa adaptação em relação ao nível do mar. Na busca de novos desafios desportivos, inovadores e de interação com o meio, lá estávamos a descobrir nova modalidade que no Brasil ainda não havia ressonância, o rafting que pela primeira vez realizava uma competição no Vale do Paranhana.
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​Depois desse período de “treinamento e exposição a temperaturas mais baixas” por 14 meses,  mudei-me para a Alemanha em função do estágio acadêmico no departamento de esportes de inverno da famosa Escola de Colônia, em pleno inverno, tendo que me adaptar abruptamente do auge do verão brasileiro para temperaturas constantemente abaixo de zero e uma realidade climática completamente diferente a encontrada no Brasil, ainda que viesse de uma região sub tropical.
Na década seguinte e com novos desafios acadêmicos profissionais no Brasil, tive a incumbência de coordenar um curso na Amazônia Ocidental, mais precisamente no Estado de Rondônia, próximo à fronteira do Brasil com a Bolívia, onde as temperaturas se aproximavam da casa dos 44 graus Celsius e a umidade relativa média do ar era superior aos 70%, para não falarmos das questões da saturação de litometeoros no ar, ocasionado pela fumaça em excesso gerada por grandes queimadas.
Novas fronteiras acadêmicas e desportivas surgiram e, de volta a Alemanha, tive a possibilidade de aprofundar minha carreira profissional junto à Agência Espacial Alemã (DLR) e ao Departamento de Medicina Desportiva da Universidade de Göttingen. Com ambas instituições, realizei meu aprofundamento cientifico junto aos desportos adaptados e inclusivos. Já são mais de 14 anos enxergando o movimento humano sobre outra perspectiva, seja do ponto de vista das limitações fisiológica e biomecânicas, seja psicossocial, seja das transferências tecnológicas, mas acima de tudo, partindo da percepção de um continuum desenvolvimental.
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Novos ventos, literalmente, desta vez me levaram ao ponto mais Ocidental da Europa, de onde escrevo este mais recente relato de experiencia desportiva de minha vida, a regata marítima que, diga-se de passagem, em muito tem a ver com o voo à vela. Essa nova experiencia me remeteu a um novo ambiente, do qual se pode extrair inúmeras reações comportamentais (psycho-enviroment behavior) e fisiológicas, a partir uma vivência que em muito pode nos ajudar na realização de novos experimentos e a entender o que se passa fisiologicamente com nosso organismo nos processos de desorientação espacial e os efeitos indesejáveis por ela gerados.

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Fools dreaming - the story of astronauts who simulated SPACE walking in China...

13/2/2022

 

Author: Chris Yuan

CoFounder Planet Expedition Commander Academy, Explorers Club member, and Space Dreamer...

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​Looking up at the stars and yearning to explore the unknown depths of space must have been written by God into human genes.
Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in western China have many inaccessible and barren desert landforms, similar to the Moon and Mars. When arriving in these geographic environments and looking up at the distant stars and gleaming Milky Way in the night sky, many tourists say: "I only know now that we live in the universe, this place is so alien!".
Although China is a country with developed aerospace in the world, the aerospace industry is more like a symbol of pride for the country and the nation. Ordinary people do not have many paths to truly experience space exploration. But the role of the "genes" of human space exploration is powerful.
Since 2019, the abandoned oil base in Delingha City, Qinghai, China, and the Gobi Desert of the Great Highway in Xinjiang, some tourism agencies and private companies have begun to build some buildings that simulate alien habitats to receive and develop some groups of tourists. summer camp students. For self-driving tourists who come here, most of them will stop for a short time and rent a prop spacesuit to take pictures. The price of renting a spacesuit is 75-150 US dollars an hour.
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​仰望星空和向往探索未知的太空应该是上帝写在某些人类基因里的奥秘。
中国西部的新疆,内蒙古,以及青藏高原有着许多人迹罕至,寸草不生的戈壁,沙漠,雅丹地貌,类似月球和火星的地貌。
许多游客到达这些地理环境,在黑夜中看到头顶久违的星空闪烁,熠熠生辉的银河时,他们就会说:“我现在才知道我们是生活在宇宙之中,这个地方太像在外星了!”
中国虽然是世界上航天发达的国家,航天事业更像是国家和民族的骄傲象征,普通人并没有多少路径可以去真实体验太空探索。但是人类太空探索的“基因”的作用是强大的。
自2019年开始,中国青海德令哈市辖区的废弃的石油基地,新疆的大海道的戈壁滩上,一些旅游机构,私人企业开始建造一些模拟外星栖息地的建筑来接待开发一些一些成团的夏令营学生。对于慕名而来的的自驾车游客,他们多半会短暂停留,租一套道具宇航服拍照留念,出租宇航服的价格在75-150美元一小时。
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The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, also known as Earth’s Third Pole, is at high altitude and has strong ultraviolet rays. Since 2019, we have designed and planned the "Future Astronaut Training Camp", the predecessor of today's PECA (Planet Expedition Command Academy). In this program, the design, construction and wearing of a prop spacesuit to simulate an extraterrestrial walk is the finale of the training camp graduation.
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​青藏高原是地球的第三极,海拔高,紫外线强。自2019年开始,我们设计和策划了“未来宇航员训练营”,就是今天的PECA(Planet Expedition Command Academy) 的前身。在这个计划中,外星栖息地的设计,建造和穿道具宇航服模拟外星行走是训练营毕业的压轴戏。
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“Science On Board”: Space Research Begins Underwater

12/1/2022

 

Author: Karin Brünnemann, PMP®

Karin Brünnemann is PMI Slovakia’s first interplanetary project manager. Karin has more than 25 years of experience managing global strategic projects. She helps companies during phases of cultural change and digital transformation. Apart from being a PMP®, Karin is also a certified trainer for intercultural management. She is currently using her project management expertise in her work as a Flight Planner for the Austrian Space Forum’s AMADEE-20 analog Mars mission.

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​The Hydronaut project is an underwater habitat that started operations in 2020 and is currently the scene for analog space research.  Dr. Miroslav Rozloznik, a Flight Planner for the Austrian Space Forum, conducted an underwater analog space mission in 2021 that was fully dedicated to science. The week-long mission, in which three analog astronauts participated, included a two-day underwater stay, and featured an EVA. Scientist-on-Board, Dr. Miroslav Rozloznik from Slovakia, conducted numerous experiments in the areas of physiology, microbiology, medicine, and space psychology.
 
Dr. Rozloznik explained “Conducting underwater analog missions complements Moon or Mars simulations in land-based habitats. While we might not be able to test rovers, drones, or rock sampling procedures, the feeling in the underwater habitat is much more space-like. I felt very detached from Earth, even the support diver appeared like an alien, when he was looking into our porthole, dressed in his diving suit. The underwater habitat also offers the possibility to simulate more complex conditions like long periods of darkness, or variation in temperature and humidity. Furthermore, the ‘psychological safety net’ of being able to open the door and get help in case something happens, is not there. We can leave the habitat but will face several hours of decompression in cold water before we are back in a safe environment.”

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A diver during EVA. Image credit: @Hydronautproject
Part of the underwater experiments focused on the internal environment of the habitat, gathering data relating to air quality, temperature, humidity, and the microbiology of the habitat. Another area of research was dedicated to the medical and physiological well-being of the divers. Dr. Rozloznik tested novel diagnostic instruments, for example, a remote stethoscope that transmitted real-time heartbeat and breathing rates to a doctor located in the mission control center. Such equipment will be very useful for future space exploration and also has many applications for telemedicine on Earth. The crew also tested various biosensors, allowing for comparison and cross-link between physiological, neurophysiological, and psychological measurements.
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Hydronaut Mission 2 crew, from right: Frantisek Harant, Matyas Sanda and Dr. Miroslav Rozloznik. Image credit: Petr Toman @Hydronautproject
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During medical check-up. Image credit: Petr Toman @Hydronautproject

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Humanity’s Most Challenging Project: From Project Manager on Earth to Flight Planner for an analog Mars mission

3/1/2022

 

Author: Karin Brünnemann, PMP®

Karin Brünnemann is PMI Slovakia’s first interplanetary project manager. Karin has more than 25 years of experience managing global strategic projects. She helps companies during phases of cultural change and digital transformation. Apart from being a PMP®, Karin is also a certified trainer for intercultural management. She is currently using her project management expertise in her work as a Flight Planner for the Austrian Space Forum’s AMADEE-20 analog Mars mission.

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Following the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing (July 20, 1969) and more recent progress in space technology, interest in space activities has increased again. Agencies like NASA and ESA, space organizations in China or India, as well as some private companies, have plans to send humans to Mars. Such a mission to Mars obviously needs diligent preparation. Vehicles, tools, and space suits have to be tested, experiments and procedures need to be assessed. Most importantly, we have to understand the impact a journey to Mars will have on the astronauts who will travel there. To evaluate all these factors and to train future astronauts, organizations like the Austrian Space Forum, have been organizing analog Mars missions for some years already. An analog Mars mission is a mission on earth in a Mars-like environment, where analog astronauts test space suits, tools, vehicles, and procedures that will in the future be used on expeditions to our neighbouring planet.
​The AMADEE-20 analog Mars mission took place in Israel’s Negev desert during October 2021. Over the course of four weeks, an international crew of six analog astronauts conducted a number of experiments to study human behaviour and well-being; tested technical equipment, vehicles, and space suits; and deployed platforms and procedures in the areas of geoscience and life detection. A further aim of this Mars simulation was the development of a state-of-the-art Mission Support structure. I joined the AMADEE-20 team as a Flight Planner two years ago. In this role, I have been using my project management skills to help prepare and conduct scientific experiments as a member of the Mission Support team. Each experiment can be viewed as a subproject in itself and needs to be managed meticulously.
PictureSarah Feilmayr/OeWF (Austrian Space Forum)©
​There are many similarities between my work as a Project Manager on Earth and my assignment as a Flight Planner for the analog Mars mission. To begin with, a Mars mission, whether simulated or real, is of course, a project. It is humanity’s most challenging, complex, risky, and expensive project. Like any other project, it can be divided into process groups. I started work on the AMADEE-20 Mars simulation during the planning process. One of my main tasks as a Flight Planner at this stage was to obtain a full and very detailed description of the experiments (subprojects) I had been assigned to. The output of these descriptions are documents comparable to a project charter. Since time “on Mars” is very limited during the mission, resources have to be assigned very carefully to the different experiments (subprojects) in order not to run into any resource conflicts. Furthermore, just like international projects on Earth, (analog) astronauts and Mission Support team members will experience cross-cultural differences and will be trained to handle them.

One major difference between the projects I am normally working on, and this Mars simulation is the detail to which experiments (subprojects) have to be managed. Usually, I plan tasks for my project teams on a daily basis. For analog Mars projects, we have to plan tasks in time slots of 15 minutes. During a simulated and later real Mars mission, astronauts must wear space suits to protect themselves from the hostile environment on our neighbouring planet. As it takes a long time to put on a space suit and as they are very heavy and not comfortable to wear and work in, the time the astronauts can spend outside their habitat is very limited and therefore, very valuable and must be scheduled in great detail. Another difference is the high risk to human life and well-being, as well as to the safety of the usually very expensive equipment. Communication also poses a big challenge. The entire team has to almost learn a new language, consisting of many acronyms specific to space exploration. Simple Earth-words like “yes” and “no” are not used, since they can easily be misunderstood; we use “affirmative” and “negative” instead to express approval or disagreement.
Despite these differences, as a certified PMP® and trained analog Mars Mission Support team member, I am well prepared to take on this challenge. And as a Project Manager, I am of course, very much enjoying to expand my skills beyond Earth and to be part of creating the future of space travel and project management.
 
If you want to learn more about this analog Mars mission, please visit https://oewf.org/en/portfolio/amadee-20/. If you want to learn more about project management for analog Mars missions, please contact me at karin@4CEE.eu or https://www.linkedin.com/in/karinbrunnemann/.
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Mars panorama taken by Exploration Rover Spirit (2005). Image source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Inhabiting Mars, the Red Planet...

16/11/2021

 
Introduction from Eija Salmi, Secretary General, Cumulus Assoc. & Thais Russomano, CEO, InnovaSpace:
During the 21st century outer space has become a topic for discussion by passionate people in design universities worldwide. Some institutions have piloted initiatives and have ongoing activities in the art, design and media curriculum focused on space, considering how design can contribute to overcoming the challenges humanity will encounter when exploring this new frontier. We know for certain that living off-Earth will bring multiple challenges that require innovative solutions if we are to inhabit another planet. The field of design will be an essential element in facilitating space life, just as it is present everywhere in our lives here on Earth, whether on its own or collaboratively with other disciplines, such as medicine, engineering etc. Design education and research plays a massive role not only for the design profession, but also for business, industry and other institutional stakeholders in the space era to ensure a good, healthy and secure space future.

The aim of this blog today, written by Dr Dolly Daou, is to share knowledge and inspire all of us to rise to the challenges of humanity’s tomorrow in outer space – inspired by design. This is the first in a series!
​Enjoy and please do share on your social media!     
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Planet Earth. Air, water, and soil. Sunset, Melbourne, Australia. Photo credit ©Dolly Daou
On Planet Earth, we have been accustomed to living our lives conditioned by daily habits; we eat, sleep, cook, work, walk, build, interact according to our environments, grounded by gravity. Culturally, we differ in customs, in habits, we eat different food, we live differently, we speak different languages, however what unifies us is the relationship between our physiology and our topography. This relationship is the result of the universal gravity system and the evolution of beings and their environment on Planet Earth, the Blue Planet. The colour blue refers to the interaction of solar rays with the gases of Earth's atmosphere. Similarly, Planet Mars is known as the Red Planet in reference to the mass of red soil that covers its surface. The colour coding of both planets reflects the relationship between our biological existence and our environmental characteristics, which influence our daily habits and our survival traits on these planets.

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A fundamental Comparison between the Tiangong and ISS ORBITING SPACE STATIONS...

24/10/2021

 

Author: Elias de Andrade Jr.

Director, Institute of Space Commerce, Austin, Texas, USA

The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) is scheduled to complete its first space station in the next two years. With its Tiangong, Chinese Space Station (CSS), China has also raised many questions on how its capabilities are comparable and competitive with the International Space Station (ISS) also due to be decommissioned by 2024. The space race is on, and the CSS is a landmark of independent human flight capability that is just the beginning for China.
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Rendering of Tiangong Space Station, October 2021; Credit: Wikipedia CC
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In the past ten years of research and development of space technology, China has enjoyed various opportunities to be a superpower in outer space. Steady economic growth rate and increase of its GPD enabling government funding are some of them. It has also developed its own national space technology with spacecraft launching capabilities, and its space activities are in accordance with the current international legal framework.
On October 16, 2021, three Chinese Astronauts in the Shenzhou mission entered the Tiangong for a six month stay, its longest mission in history. China has launched 12 spacecraft, plus the Tiangong 1, and the Tiangong 2 Space Laboratory. The country has trained and sent 11 astronauts to outer space 14 times and returned them safely to Earth. The design life expectancy of the 5-module station is 10 years with possibility of extension.

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