This week I have had the pleasure of joining the Austrian Space Forum in Innsbruck as part of an internship program combined with the Space Generation Advisory Council based in Vienna. It has been very fortunate that the internship falls at the same time as the C Selection of the Analog Astronauts for 2015, as this has allowed me to gain a great understanding of the core projects that OeWF run as well as work alongside the candidates for the coming year.

Some of the work I’ve completed has involved the Aouda.X suit with the redesign of the outer gloves and testing of the exoskeleton. As part of the analog astronaut selection, tests include physical endurance whilst in the resistive components of the suit. I was able to be a guinea pig for one of these tests, trialing the combination of restricted physical movement during exercise and the effect that has on your fine motor skills. Essentially, running up and down 7 floors of stairs with 30kg on the back twice and rewiring a controller in between. The level of detail which has gone into the design to replicate what the astronauts would actually experience is very intriguing and it was a great experience to witness this first hand.

Jacob Hacker (left) helps analog atronaut candidate with the exoskeleton for the resistive tests. (c) OeWF (Paul Santek)

The OeWF has also been involved in the Tiuterra Crystal project with Swarovski in Innsbruck. This brings rocks samples from around the world and a Martian meteorite into a single sample which was then fused into a large crystal. This highly unique and intriguing item was produced in 100 variants, which I was fortunate enough to work with in the distribution to some lucky individuals around the world.

With the analog astronaut selection occurring over the weekend, Ive been exposed to the medical and physical tests which the candidates go through, particularly at the ISAG (Institute for Sport, Alpine and Tourism Medicine), and through a good forest run I got to join in the snow on Sunday morning. Nice way to warm up for the day!

I must also note that the OeWF in Innsbruck has a spectacular view from the office, the mountains are just beyond the large glass windows, with the flight path into Innsbruck running in
between. It has been a great place to work for the past week.

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Jacob Hacker