Cliffbot CRV

Between 01 - 28. February 2013, the Austrian Space Forum – in partnership with the Ibn Battuta Center in Marrakesh - conducted an integrated Mars analog field simulation in the northern Sahara near Erfoud, Morocco. Directed by a Mission Support Center in Austria, a 10-person field crew performed experiments preparing for future human Mars missions in the fields of engineering, planetary surface operations, astrobiology, geophysics/geology, life sciences and other.

This field mission was

• an opportunity to study equipment behavior involving the simultaneous usage of various instruments with the option of a human-in-the-loop,
• a platform for testing life-detection techniques, performing terrain tests for rovers and study concepts of enhancing the situational awareness of remote support teams.
• studying the northern Sahara as a model region for Martian deserts and extreme life,
• serving as an outreach platform to enhance the visibility of planetary sciences