OeWF analog missions follow three priorities: safety, science and simulation. After making sure that missions are performed safely and no one gets hurt, the prime objective is to advance scientific understanding by conducting experiments, analyzing the data and sharing the results. What sounds easy in principle is more complicated in practice, and the process usually requires a significant amount of time. While AMADEE-15 happened more than a year ago already, we can now finally announce that our paper on the mission has been published in the prestigious scientific journal Acta Astronautica.

Analog astronauts with the Puli rover (c) OeWF (Claudia Stix)

The paper does not cover the results of the individual experiments, but rather describes the mission itself, including the geological context and environmental conditions of the field site, the mission architecture, the operational workflows and the experiments conducted. It also introduces performance indicators to measure mission success which can be transferred to analog missions in general, not just those of the OeWF. Finally, it discusses several results from a mission management point-of-view, such as terrain variability and planning, programmatic lessons learned and mission benchmarking.

You can find the paper here.

The paper was authored by OeWF members Gernot Groemer, Anna Losiak, Alexander Soucek, Clemens Plank, Laura Zanardini, Nina Sejkora and Sebastian Sams who were supported by 100 researchers, engineers, medical doctors and highly skilled volunteers from 19 nations enabling the AMADEE-15 mission. Partial support for Anna Losiak during the AMADEE-15 mission was also provided by NCN grant 2013/08/S/ST10/00586.

Analog astronaut with the ballon carried camera (BCC) (c) OeWF (Paul Santek)

Download the unedited version of the paper here:

With every mission, we learn a little more – not just about human-robotic exploration of Mars, but about analog missions themselves. AMADEE-15 built on lessons learned from 11 previous OeWF missions, and the next one will build on the lessons learned from AMADEE-15. As space agencies around the world prepare to send humans beyond Low-Earth orbit once again, we will continue to contribute to these efforts. Stay tuned for the next mission!

Acta Astronautica is a peer-reviewed journal published by Elsevier and sponsored by the International Academy of Astronautics which features articles in the fields of engineering, life and social space sciences and space technology that focus on “the peaceful scientific exploration of space, its exploitation for human welfare and progress and the conception, design, development and operation of space-borne and Earth-based systems.”