Mission to Mars 2017: UCL Crew 178 en route to Mars via the Utah desert

Press release

 

Mission to Mars 2017: UCL Crew 178 en route to Mars via the Utah desert

 

Mission to Mars Crew 178 is composed of seven UCL students and mentored by Frank De Winne, a Belgian astronaut and the first European commander of the International Space Station. This is the ninth UCL crew to take part in the adventure, which for them will entail 15 days of simulated life on Mars and seven scientific experiments.

 

The goal is to simulate a scientific mission on Mars via a base in the Utah desert. Six students will conduct experiments for testing equipment and procedures in conditions that could occur during Martian exploration. The project’s main goal is to identify difficulties scientists might have to overcome to successfully carry out their experiments on the red planet.

 

Crew 178 is the ninth crew to take part under the name of ‘UCL Mission to Mars’, and includes a bioengineer, five engineers, an astrophysicist and a biologist.

 

Mission experiments:

 

Info : www.ucltomars.org

Calogero Montedoro, vice commander and press officer : calogero.montedoro@uclouvain.be, mobile on request

Aurian d’Avernas, first officer : contact@ucltomars.org, mobile on request

Published on March 30, 2017