Bremen Human Space Exploration Seminar

Guest: Dr.-Ing. Christiane Heinicke

Moon and Mars Base Analog,
ZARM – Center of Applied Space Technology and Microgravity,
University of Bremen, Germany

The surface Mars is characterized by a low-pressure non-breathable atmosphere, space radiation, and a thick layer of abrasive and toxic dust. Humans who want to live on Mars for an extended period of time will therefore depend on a so-called habitat which, by definition, provides habitable conditions within the hostile environment. In this presentation, I will give an overview of my research on critical habitat components, including the life support system and the airlock. The latter allows the astronauts to venture out on the planetary surface, while simultaneously reducing the risk of contamination with biological matter.  An important aspect of my work is the astronauts’ support – both through carefully designed user interfaces and through Mission Control back on Earth – with operating and controlling these complex systems reliably even and especially when under stress.

Dr.-Ing. Christiane Heinicke is the scientific coordinator of the “Humans on Mars” initiative and PI of the project “The Living Habitat”. She heads the Moon and Mars Base Analog (MaMBA) laboratory at the ZARM, which was constructed in 2019 and has since been used for various operational and psychological studies. Christiane Heinicke has participated in various Mars analog missions, including the NASA-funded HI-SEAS IV mission (366 days) and the first analog mission with a physically disabled crew member, ICAres-1 (14 days).

Bremen Human Space Exploration Seminar

The seminar takes place every third Wednesday of the month at 13:30 CET/CEST online via zoom and consists of a 40-minute talk followed by a 40-minute discussion.

The zoom link for the meeting will be send via email to all registered members of the space-exploration mailing list. You can register here.