Engagement, enthusiasm and passion…

All this characterizes the spirit of the Austrian Space Forum and the spirit of each individual member.

But actually what exactly is the Austrian Space Forum?

The Austrian Space Forum is an Austrian network for aerospace specialists and people, who are interested in space.

We are strengthening the Austrian space sector with public relations, technical workshops, conferences and our own space activities.

Our main focus is on astronomy, Mars- spaceflight, Earth observation and astrobiology.

The Forum has got some very active members and some of them even pursue their interests professionally. For over 10 years we are trying to pass our enthusiasm for space and spaceflight on to other people and to contribute to research with our activities and projects, like our interdisciplinary research program PolAres.

Das MediaCom- Team im MCC. (c) ÖWF (Katja Zanella- Kux)
Our current research program PolAres consists of

* A Scout phase, a geographical and logistical assessment of sites in Europe and the arctic, who are suitable for analog research,
* our stratospheric balloon series Passepartout, by which we can test hardware components in an environment, that’s similar to Mars,
* our Rover Phileas and
* our probably largest project, the space suit simulator Aouda, with which we are performing the simulated Mars mission in the Spanish desert Rio Tinto.

But already in the past we could pursue our passion with our project AustroMars, in which six astronauts simulated a Mars Analogue Expedition at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah (USA).

The ASF…. an organization that exists for and because of its passion.