AU receives European Space Agency funding towards a future large scale Planetary Test Facility

The European Space Agency (ESA) has awarded a contract to the Institute of Physics and Astronomy (the Planetary Environment Facilities), Aarhus University to develop new technologies to enable the construction of a future large scale test facility.

This facility would allow the simulation of the Martian or Lunar environments on a scale large enough to house astronauts, robots and even entire habitats allowing realistic testing for the manned missions which are planned to the Moon and Mars.

The new technologies to be developed will allow for cheap and effective construction of large scale vacuum chambers (several thousand cubic meters).  Such facilities will be necessary for the large scale and ambitious space exploration programs supported by Denmark and laid out by ESA in collaboration with NASA. These include the Mars sample return mission, the manned missions to the moon, including the new space station Lunar gateway, and eventually manned missions to Mars. 

This project has been made possible through the activities of the Space partnership Space Exploration Denmark initiated by the Danish Ministry for Higher Education and  Research.

Contact:

Planetology research and industrial testing in Mars environment (au.dk)

Jonathan Merrison

Senior Researcher

Institute of Physics and Astronomy

Aarhus University

Ny Munkegade 120, building 1520

Aarhus 8000C

Denmark

Mob. ++45 23959887

Email: merrison@phys.au.dk