The Austrian Space Forum (ÖWF) is a non-profit organization based in Innsbruck, Austria. It engages in educational outreach and public science communication, especially aimed at schools and young audiences with an interest in space exploration. Founded in 1999, the association brings together space enthusiasts and professionals from various disciplines who collaborate on Mars analog research and planetary science activities. The forum is particularly known for coordinating field simulations in remote regions, often involving international participants and interdisciplinary teams.

PolAres

Between 2007 and 2017, the Austrian Space Forum conducted a series of Mars analogue activities under the “PolAres” program. These efforts included technical and procedural tests for future human-robotic planetary missions. A primary focus was the development and field deployment of the Aouda.X spacesuit simulator, designed to support research in simulated extraterrestrial environments.

Rio Tinto Simulation 2011

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

analogue field simulation in Southern Spain in April 2011, together with international experiments including ESA eurobot vehicle.

AMADEE-15 – Kaunertal Glacier Mission

In 2015, the Austrian Space Forum conducted the AMADEE-15 Mars analogue mission in the Kaunertal glacier region in Austria. The campaign focused on field tests for robotic operations, geoscientific sampling and remote support workflows. Several scientific results were published in peer-reviewed journals, including Acta Astronautica and Icarus.Grömer et al., 2016Markovski et al., 2017Lichenometry study, 2017

ADLER-1 cubesat

Launched on January 13, 2022, 22:51 UTC, the ADLER-1

cubesat A CubeSat is a class of small satellite with a form factor of cubes. CubeSats have a mass of no more than per unit,, url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5418c831e4b0fa4ecac1bacd/t/5f24997b6deea10cc52bb016/1596234122437/CDS+REV14+2020-07-3 ...

orbits Earth at an altitude of about 500 km to detect

space debris Space debris (also known as space junk, space pollution, space waste, space trash, space garbage, or cosmic debris) are defunct human-made objects in spaceprincipally in Earth orbitwhich no longer serve a useful function. These include dere ...

with particle sizes "in the micrometer range" for at least one year. The cubesat is 30x10x10 cm by size and was launched with the

LauncherOne LauncherOne was a two-stage orbital launch vehicle developed and flown by Virgin Orbit that had operational flights from 2021 to 2023, after being in development from 2007 to 2020. It was an air-launched rocket, designed to carry smallsat ...

rocket by

Virgin Orbit Virgin Orbit was a company within the Virgin Group that provided launch services for small satellites. The company was formed in 2017 as a spin-off of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourism venture to develop and market the LauncherOn ...

from

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The acronym ADLER is composed of ''Austria Debris Detection Low Earth (Orbit) Reconnoiter.'' The probe's main instrument, the Austrian Particle Impact Detector (APID), was developed at the OeWF laboratory in Innsbruck. The entire ADLER-1 project cost a larger six-figure euro amount and was privately funded, by Findus Venture GmbH, Austria. The company Spire Global, California contributed its Lemur class small satellite and is responsible for the launch logistics as well as the operation of the small satellite.Spire Whitepaper about ADLER-1
accessed 28 January 2022

References

External links

*{{Official website Spacesuits Human analog missions Space policy Space program of Austria