Get-together: Analogue missions was a unique event that took place on the 3rd of March at the Czech Aerospace Research Centre in Prague. The event drew over 40 attendees from six different countries, featured 13 speakers, and sparked many engaging discussions and questions.
The event was kicked off by Aleš Svoboda's opening remarks, the reserve ESA astronaut talked about the importance of analogue missions and his experiences from survival training. Miroslav Rozložník from the Hydronaut Project presented their European Mobile Underwater Research and Training Facility. Newly incubated ESA BIC Czech Republic startup ICEE.Space mentioned their experiences from several analogue missions CHILL-ICE. Another startup, Entrant, shared their visions for the future. Lucie Ráčková mentioned main focus will be on microgravity-friendly and extreme environment-friendly smart garment. Modern Assembly Residential System, or simply MARS Buildings, presented its vision of housing and habitats for analogue missions in the future.
During the second panel, the importance of research and health was discussed. The Biomechanics and Assistive Technologies Research Group from the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering CTU in Prague helped Hydronaut during their analogue mission. Dr. Vratislav Šálený (Brno University of Technology, BUT) gave a speech about his work connected to habitats, especially the new HELP habitat. Martin Lulák had a unique inside into the research expeditions to Arctica and Antarctica and pointed out the similarities with the analogue missions. Hungarian startup MindRove incubated in ESA BIC Hungary introduced its product – wearable biosensors and a tablet application.
The third session was dedicated to foreign speakers and their projects. LunAres Research Station, an analog research station for crewed space mission simulation, was presented by Leszek Orzechowski. Another project Astroland, European Moon Mars analogue training and scientific space lab, was showcased by Manuel Leira Casanueva. Sahba El-Shawa laid out two main goals of the Jordan Space Research Initiative: the establishment of an analogue R&D facility in Jordan and fostering technological research initiatives and organizing the first analogue mission in Jordan this year. Gernot Grömer, Director of the Austrian Space Forum, introduced the Analog Mars Missions, specifically AMADEE-20, Mars Mission Simulation in Israel in 2021. Eleonore Poli from CHASM (Conference on Human Analogue Space Missions) focused on current issues for analogue missions, which are mainly lack of communication, funding, and public awareness.
The organizer of the event was ESA BIC Czech Republic, whose operator is the CzechInvest agency. ESA BIC Czech Republic wants to thank all participants for a wonderful time full of inspiring projects and ideas.