Our analogue astronauts will be very busy during the mission! As in a real space mission, they will have maintenance and outreach to do, but also scientific experiments to perform. Asclepios collaborates with many laboratories, companies and scientists who put their systems in our base, so that the astronauts conduct their experiments in situ. The results will hopefully be useful to the scientific community and to space exploration. These experiments can be classified into four main areas: Life Science & Med, Environment & Physics, Engineering, and Engineering & Management.
LIFE SCIENCE & MED
ENVIRONMENT & PHYSICS
ENGINEERING
ENGINEERING & MANAGEMENT
Sleep Dysregulation
Figures
Diet
fNIRS
Medication Management
Social Interactions
TURTLE
Soil Periods
Hydration
Astro Casco
Lexicon
Deployable Solar Reflector
Tower Structure
Tower Sensor
Casing
Spectometer
Astrolink
Air Quality
Asclepios SPEL
LIFE SCIENCE & MED
Sleep Dysregulation
Partner: Mark Rosenberg, SGAC
Science Officer: Ilaria
Experiment overview: The proposed experiment by the SGAC is proposing a project to study, research and design innovative new ideas to enhance the wellbeing of astronauts during the Asclepios II mission in July 2023. Further objectives are to assess how intermittent light exposure simulating orbital sunrises will affect sleep activity and how suboptimal sleep will affect physical and cognitive assessments.
Figures
Partner: Nicolas Soulard, SGAC
Science Officer: Chiara
Experiment overview: The Diversity and Gender Equality Project Group of SGAC wants to implement concrete actions in order to achieve gender equality and embrace diversity in the aerospace sector. The main goal of the FIGURES project is to contribute to closing the gender gap in human spaceflight and exploration through experiments that can be implemented in current and future analogue missions. The long-term objective is to expand the experiment.
Diet
Partner: Stavroula Chaloulakou and Kristine Jane Atienza, SGAC
Science Officer: Simon
Experiment overview: The Diet Experiment by the SGAC focuses on astronauts nutrition and factors that effect their nutritional choices and how appetite is of great significance to comprehend their thoughts and attitude towards nutrition and find alternative solutions that meet astronauts needs. Questionnaire and surveys collect data to find nutritional countermeasures for major problems and complications that astronauts face such as bone mass and muscle mass loss.
fNIRS
Partner: Jessica Studer, Uni Bern
Science Officer: Ilaria
Experiment overview: The fNIRS experiment is a quantitative study on the evaluation of mental workload in an isolated, confined environment using portable functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The primary objectives are the evaluation the feasibility of a portable functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) device as an imaging method for brain oxygenation alterations caused by increased workload activity in an isolated, confined environment.
Medication Management
Partner: Li Shean Toh, University of Nottingham
Science Officer: Ilaria
Experiment overview: Human physiology and medication profiles undergo extensive alternations in space and understanding and optimizing how medication is used to address health problems is necessary to the sustained presence of humans in space. This experiment explores the experiences and needs of medication management in a space analogue missions, establish user requirements for the use of medical kits and to produce design solutions for the medical kit in emergencies.
Social Interactions
Partner: Jeremy Roumian, Human Adaptation Institute
Science Officer: Simon
Experiment overview:Human behavior analysis is an important part in understanding and improving mission / crew management. The Human Adaptation Institute propose a complete protocol to study social interactions in a confined environment on the six astronauts of the Asclepios 2022 mission. This consists of questionnaire before departure, halfway through the analog mission, at the end of the mission and an interview by video or face-to-face in the month following the mission.
ENVIRONMENT & PHYSICS
TURTLE
Partner: Paolo Pino, SGAC
Science Officer: Nicolás S
Experiment overview: A specialised group of the SGAC proposes an experiment to evaluate and exhibit prototypes and techniques for a sustainable lunar habitat. Its objectives are the investigations for crop cultivation, observing the the effect of regolith particle shape and size of crop productivity. The experiment can measure some indicators of productivity for a single corp grown in two or three soils with equal chemical composition but differering in size or shape of their particle.
Soil Periods
Partner: Estefanía Alejandra Aguilar Gonzále, UDEC
Science Officer: Nicolás S
Experiment overview: "This project intends to analyze the feasibility of calculating the soil period in space environments using the horizontal to vertical spectral ratio analysis (H/V) developed by Nakamura in 1989 using microtremor measurements.
The further intention is to optimize the methodology to adapt it for space applications.
ENGINEERING
Hydration
Partner: George Lordos, Massachusets Institute of Technology
Science Officer: Chiara
Experiment overview: HYDRATION III (High-Yield Dihydrogen-monoxide Retrieval And Terrain Identification On New worlds) is MIT's remotely operable, semi-autonomous pathfinder system to drill boreholes, melt subsurface ice deposits in place and collect the water using a peristaltic pump with a regenerative filter. The ASCLEPIOS II mission will assist the MIT team to validate system performance in three key strategic directions which are in focus for 2022-23.
Astro Casco
Partner: Sebasthian Ogalde
Science Officer: Simon
Experiment overview:The Astro_Casco experiment aims to improve the design of the spacesuit helmets of the previous mission and be used during the EVAS. These objectives involve to increase observability by recording and sending in real time vital information to MCC and to improve the conditions in which the EVA is performed by offering a cooling system to maintain a comfortable temperature during the mission.
LEXICON
Partner: Saba Mohammadi Yengeje , Polispace
Science Officer: Chiara
Experiment overview: The LEXICON Experiment by Polispace is devoted to water mining in lunar habitat. This includes the collection of dust to extract mineral, reduce waste of solid water mixed with the regolith and the collection of Lunar Regolith as a by-product of the excavation process. During an EVA the LEXICON-prototype shall be installed and tested by the analog astroanaut crew.
Deployable Solar Reflector
Partner: Vipul Mani, TU Berlin
Science Officer: Nico
Experiment overview: This experiment takes inspiration from the principles of origami to design, model, and fabricate a deployable solar reflector for lunar applications, which can later be mounted on a robotic arm to reflect sunlight onto a region of interest.
Tower Structure (extreme condition connectors)
Partner: EPFL
Experiment overview: The tower experiment was intended to be performed during Asclepios missions in collaboration with EPFL. The purpose of this tower is to make atmospheric measurments in celestial bodies or on earth in extreme environments. These include specifications meant for analog mission such as details in engineering, usability and measuring details.
Tower Sensor
Partner: EPFL
Experiment overview: The goal of this box is to provide flexibility by converting AC or DC input power into AC or DC output power in a centralized manner and be able to connect the measuring instruments of the tower to the grid or to a DC solar panel/battery. This power box was also built to be waterproof and to be able to work normally in harsh environments in order to simulate the weather conditions during a mission on another celestial body in the most accurate way.
Casing
Partner: EPFL
Experiment overview: This project established by EPFL students is especially meant for analog missions. Its objective is to protect equipment form extreme environment by encasing it in auto-regulating temperature box. During EVAs, using the equipment in a case that can automatically change temperature depending on the outside environment will ensure that everything works properly.
Spectrometer
Partner: EPFL
Experiment overview: This experiment aims to detect the presence of water on the lunar surface by simulating it during analog astronaut missions. Identifying the presence of water sources thanks to a spectrometer attached to a lunar rover would open the possibility of eliminating the need for astronauts to bring their drinking supplies, oxygen and fuel.
AstroLink
Partner: EPFL
Experiment overview: Building an Astrolink I, the software used to manage the mission - inventory, storage of procedures, planning and transfer data between the analogue base and the MCC. This project aims at allowing for direct communication by adding video, voice and text modules.
Air Quality
Partner: EPFL
Experiment overview: The specific project objective is to understand the level of indoor air quality and thermal comfort in a simulated spacecraft cabin occupied by human subjects. We will then use the results to propose an optimal ventilation strategy with regard to well-being and safety of crew members - all which can ultimately lead to improved health outcomes of crew members.
ENGINEERING & MANAGEMENT
Asclepios SPEL
Partner: Veronica Orlandi, EPFL
Experiment overview: The goal of this project is to create a method of design and selection for the scientific projects eligible for the future Asclepios mission. A preliminary study on the future of research for human space exploration is required. A case study on the first two Asclepios missions will be done to verify the validity of the method.
Our analogue astronauts will be very busy during the mission! As in a real space mission, they will have maintenance and outreach to do, but also scientific experiments to perform. Asclepios collaborates with many laboratories, companies and scientists who put their systems in our base, so that the astronauts conduct their experiments in situ. The results will hopefully be useful to the scientific community and to space exploration. These experiments can be classified into four main areas: Life Science & Med, Environment & Physics, Engineering, and Engineering & Management.
LIFE SCIENCE & MED
Sleep Dysregulation
Figures
Diet
fNIRS
Medication Management
Social Interactions
ENVIRONMENT & PHYSICS
TURTLE
Soil Periods
ENGINEERING
Hydration
Astro Casco
Lexicon
Solar Array & Reflector
Tower Structure
Tower Sensor
Casing
Spectometer
Astrolink
Air Quality
ENGINEERING & MANAGEMENT
Asclepios SPEL
LIFE SCIENCE & MED
Sleep Dysregulation
Partner: Mark Rosenberg, SGAC
Science Officer: Ilaria
Experiment overview: The proposed experiment by the SGAC is proposing a project to study, research and design innovative new ideas to enhance the wellbeing of astronauts during the Asclepios II mission in July 2023. Further objectives are to assess how intermittent light exposure simulating orbital sunrises will affect sleep activity and how suboptimal sleep will affect physical and cognitive assessments.
Figures
Partner: Nicolas Soulard, SGAC
Science Officer: Chiara
Experiment overview: The Diversity and Gender Equality Project Group of SGAC wants to implement concrete actions in order to achieve gender equality and embrace diversity in the aerospace sector. The main goal of the FIGURES project is to contribute to closing the gender gap in human spaceflight and exploration through experiments that can be implemented in current and future analogue missions. The long-term objective is to expand the experiment.
Diet
Partner: Stavroula Chaloulakou and Kristine Jane Atienza, SGAC
Science Officer: Simon
Experiment overview: The Diet Experiment by the SGAC focuses on astronauts nutrition and factors that effect their nutritional choices and how appetite is of great significance to comprehend their thoughts and attitude towards nutrition and find alternative solutions that meet astronauts needs. Questionnaire and surveys collect data to find nutritional countermeasures for major problems and complications that astronauts face such as bone mass and muscle mass loss.
Social Interactions
Partner: Jeremy Roumian, Human Adaptation Institute
Science Officer: Simon
Experiment overview:Human behavior analysis is an important part in understanding and improving mission / crew management. The Human Adaptation Institute propose a complete protocol to study social interactions in a confined environment on the six astronauts of the Asclepios 2022 mission. This consists of questionnaire before departure, halfway through the analog mission, at the end of the mission and an interview by video or face-to-face in the month following the mission.
fNIRS
Partner: Jessica Studer, Uni Bern
Science Officer: Ilaria
Experiment overview: The fNIRS experiment is a quantitative study on the evaluation of mental workload in an isolated, confined environment using portable functional near-infrared spectroscopy. The primary objectives are the evaluation the feasibility of a portable functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) device as an imaging method for brain oxygenation alterations caused by increased workload activity in an isolated, confined environment.
Medication Management
Partner: Li Shean Toh, University of Nottingham
Science Officer: Ilaria
Experiment overview: Human physiology and medication profiles undergo extensive alternations in space and understanding and optimizing how medication is used to address health problems is necessary to the sustained presence of humans in space. This experiment explores the experiences and needs of medication management in a space analogue missions, establish user requirements for the use of medical kits and to produce design solutions for the medical kit in emergencies.
ENVIRONMENT & PHYSICS
TURTLE
Partner: Paolo Pino, SGAC
Science Officer: Nicolás S
Experiment overview: A specialised group of the SGAC proposes an experiment to evaluate and exhibit prototypes and techniques for a sustainable lunar habitat. Its objectives are the investigations for crop cultivation, observing the the effect of regolith particle shape and size of crop productivity. The experiment can measure some indicators of productivity for a single corp grown in two or three soils with equal chemical composition but differering in size or shape of their particle.
Soil Periods
Partner: Estefanía Alejandra Aguilar Gonzále, UDEC
Science Officer: Nicolás S
Experiment overview: "This project intends to analyze the feasibility of calculating the soil period in space environments using the horizontal to vertical spectral ratio analysis (H/V) developed by Nakamura in 1989 using microtremor measurements.
The further intention is to optimize the methodology to adapt it for space applications.
ENGINEERING
Hydration
Partner: George Lordos, Massachusets Institute of Technology
Science Officer: Chiara
Experiment overview: HYDRATION III (High-Yield Dihydrogen-monoxide Retrieval And Terrain Identification On New worlds) is MIT's remotely operable, semi-autonomous pathfinder system to drill boreholes, melt subsurface ice deposits in place and collect the water using a peristaltic pump with a regenerative filter. The ASCLEPIOS II mission will assist the MIT team to validate system performance in three key strategic directions which are in focus for 2022-23.
Astro Casco
Partner: Sebasthian Ogalde
Science Officer: Simon
Experiment overview:The Astro_Casco experiment aims to improve the design of the spacesuit helmets of the previous mission and be used during the EVAS. These objectives involve to increase observability by recording and sending in real time vital information to MCC and to improve the conditions in which the EVA is performed by offering a cooling system to maintain a comfortable temperature during the mission.
LEXICON
Partner: Saba Mohammadi Yengeje , Polispace
Science Officer: Chiara
Experiment overview: The LEXICON Experiment by Polispace is devoted to water mining in lunar habitat. This includes the collection of dust to extract mineral, reduce waste of solid water mixed with the regolith and the collection of Lunar Regolith as a by-product of the excavation process. During an EVA the LEXICON-prototype shall be installed and tested by the analog astroanaut crew.
Solar Array & Reflector
Partner: Vipul Mani, TU Berlin
Science Officer: Nico
Experiment overview: This experiment takes inspiration from the principles of origami to design, model and fabricate a unfoldable solar panel array which can be mounted on a robotic arm to convert solar energy into electricity. The entire mechanism will also have a sun sensor and a steering motor that will tilt the solar panel array in the direction of the sun, as it moves across the sky.
Tower Structure (extreme condition connectors)
Partner: EPFL
Experiment overview: The tower experiment was intended to be performed during Asclepios missions in collaboration with EPFL. The purpose of this tower is to make atmospheric measurments in celestial bodies or on earth in extreme environments. These include specifications meant for analog mission such as details in engineering, usability and measuring details.
Tower Sensor
Partner: EPFL
Experiment overview: The goal of this box is to provide flexibility by converting AC or DC input power into AC or DC output power in a centralized manner and be able to connect the measuring instruments of the tower to the grid or to a DC solar panel/battery. This power box was also built to be waterproof and to be able to work normally in harsh environments in order to simulate the weather conditions during a mission on another celestial body in the most accurate way.
Casing
Partner: EPFL
Experiment overview: This project established by EPFL students is especially meant for analog missions. Its objective is to protect equipment form extreme environment by encasing it in auto-regulating temperature box. During EVAs, using the equipment in a case that can automatically change temperature depending on the outside environment will ensure that everything works properly.
Spectrometer
Partner: EPFL
Experiment overview: This experiment aims to detect the presence of water on the lunar surface by simulating it during analog astronaut missions. Identifying the presence of water sources thanks to a spectrometer attached to a lunar rover would open the possibility of eliminating the need for astronauts to bring their drinking supplies, oxygen and fuel.
AstroLink
Partner: EPFL
Experiment overview: Building an Astrolink I, the software used to manage the mission - inventory, storage of procedures, planning and transfer data between the analogue base and the MCC. This project aims at allowing for direct communication by adding video, voice and text modules.
Air Quality
Partner: EPFL
Experiment overview: The specific project objective is to understand the level of indoor air quality and thermal comfort in a simulated spacecraft cabin occupied by human subjects. We will then use the results to propose an optimal ventilation strategy with regard to well-being and safety of crew members - all which can ultimately lead to improved health outcomes of crew members.
ENGINEERING & MANAGEMENT
Asclepios SPEL
Partner: Veronica Orlandi, EPFL
Experiment overview: The goal of this project is to create a method of design and selection for the scientific projects eligible for the future Asclepios mission. A preliminary study on the future of research for human space exploration is required. A case study on the first two Asclepios missions will be done to verify the validity of the method.