Mission to Mars 2015

In April 2015, six students from the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL), including two engineers from the Polytechnic School of Louvain (EPL) will live on Mars during two weeks...

On Mars? Not really, in fact they will leave for the Utah desert (USA) and stay there in a Mars-analog base called the « Mars Desert Research Station » (MDRS), owned by the Mars Society. The Mars Society is an American non-profit lobby which promotes Mars exploration and possesses 4 Mars-analog bases around the world.

Crew 153, the UCL's 2015 team, is the fifth to stay at the MDRS, and the third to take part in the « Mission to Mars UCL » project, which aims to send students from UCL each year in order to contribute to research on Mars' exploration. The next step will be to send a human being to walk on Mars !

The goal of these simulations is to carry out scientific experiments in an area which is (very) similar to Mars' surface. The Utah desert, with its extreme temperatures, its aridity and relief is a perfectly adapted place. The program focuses on the simulation aspects (restricted resources, freeze-dried food, compulsory spacesuits, confined space,...). The research carried out there will be used to determine the difficulties and issues that future astronomers will have to face. The UCL's 2015 crew will carry out 6 experiments in the fields of engineering, geology, astrophysics, biology and literature. They will model a drained streambed, study the spectrum of celestial objects, map the quality of a communication signal, detect and identify bacteria, study the remanent magnetic field of the ground and write a video-novel.

If you wish to learn more about the mission, don't hesitate to browse through their website. You will find their logbook including all their adventures, a description of each experiment and the presentation of each crew-member.

Publié le 10 mars 2015