Before the first humans fly to Mars, their equipment must undergo comprehensive technical tests on Earth. Already in March 2024, test runs involving "analog astronauts" will begin in Armenia.
If billionaire and entrepreneur Ilon Musk succeeds, people will have to land on Mars in 10 years at the latest. However, before the spaceship sends the first colonists to the Red Planet, their equipment and technical systems must go through many tests on Earth, because after starting the engines there will be no way back.
It is not the first time the Austrian Space Forum conducts analog field tests of the Martian equipment in the most remote corners of the Earth: in 2018 "analog astronauts" have already visited the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula, in 2020 they "landed" in Israel, and in March 2024 are going to visit a rocky plateau in Armenia.
As reported by the Austrian scientific portal Futurezone.at, the crew of the new mission is already defined: it will include two women and four men from Austria, Germany, Israel, Italy and Britain, with the first time in 14 simulations, the team will be headed by a woman. Just in case, there are also two spare "analog astronauts": they will replace the main ones in case of emergencies.
The test will run for a month: this will be the largest and most complex Martian simulation of the year, so Gernot Grömer, director of ACF, hopes for the full support of the international scientific community. The Armenian side is also enthusiastic about the future mission: According to Hayk Margarian, director of the National Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Armenia has long space traditions, as almost a third of the Soviet space technology was developed there.
Armenia is now experiencing its "space spring": a little less than a year ago, this small republic with a population of 2.8 million people sent its first satellite into space, and Margarian hopes that the ACF initiative will benefit Armenian industrial and educational sectors, in particular by drawing the attention of young people to the prospects of space research.