BBC Focus 02.2020

MOVINGRECREATING SPACE ON EARTHTECHNOLOGY

FEATURE

￿

GOING UNDERGROUND

CAVESPROJECT,SARDINIA,ITALY

Stressaffectsperformance.Andwithsomuchat

stake– yourmission,yourspacecraft,thelives

ofyouandyourcrew– spaceis probablythe

moststressfulenvironmentthereis.Assuch,any

prospectiveastronautneedstobeabletoperform

underpressure.Whichis wheretheEuropean

SpaceAgency’sCAVESprojectcomesin.

CAVESis anannualtwo-weekcourseinwhich

astronautsfromallovertheworldlearnhowto

worktogetherbyventuringdeepintothecaves

beneathSloveniaortheislandofSardinia,

stayingundergroundforsixconsecutivedays.

Livingandworkinginsucha confined

environmenttestseveryone’spatiencetothe

limit,astheylearntonavigate,usetoolsand

maintainthecontinuousvigilanceneededto

keepeachothersafe– the same skills required

during a spacewalk.

￿

HIGH AND DRY

ARADS,ATACAMADESERT,CHILE

TheAtacamaDesertreachesanaltitudeofup
to4,000metres.It getslessthan 15 millimetres
ofrainfalla year,onaverage,andis persistently
exposedtostrongultravioletraysfromtheSun.
It’soneoftheharshest,driestplacesonEarth,but
it’snotdevoidoflife.Therearemicrobeshidden
inrocksandburiedunderground,justasthere
couldbeonMars,whichis whyNASAcomeshere
totestwaysofsearchingforthem.
Between 2016 and2019,theAtacamaRover
AstrobiologyDrillingStudies(ARADS)project
cameheretotesttheK-REX2rover(above).
UnlikeexistingMartianrovers,whichcanonly
collectsamplesfromthesurfaceorjustbelowit,
thisprototypeis moreadvanced.It’sequipped
witha reactive‘smart’drill,adjustingthe
pressureneededtoborethroughdifferenttypesof
geologyandcollect samples from depths of up to
two metres.

byR O BB A N I N O

(@robertbanino)

Robis a freelancescience

journalist based in Bristol. NASA/ARADS, ESA