M.A.R.S. - Modular Analog Research Station

M.A.R.S. – Modular Analog Research Station

Post author:Adam Nawrot
Post published:10 January 2017
Reading time:2 mins read

Since 2015, we have been involved in the project whose aim is to build the first analog Martian station in Poland. The originator and the driving force behind this idea is Agata Kołodziejczyk, but formulating a plan, implementing it and developing the project would not have been possible without the engagement of many people, companies and institutions.

The project is called M.A.R.S. (Modular Analog Research Station) and – as part of it – work is underway in Rzepiennik Biskupi to construct a research station, designed specifically for testing new technologies and training astronauts during simulated space missions, with the participants being almost totally isolated from the outside world.

Martian station M.A.R.S. in Rzepiennik Biskupi (1 Jan 2017)
© Agata Kołodziejczyk

M.A.R.S. constitutes an excellent base for conducting psychological, medical, biological and technical projects, whose results may later be used during lunar missions and the intended mission to Mars.

More information about the project is to be found on Facebook.

Tags: analog, astronauts, cosmos, MARS, project, research station, Rzepiennik, technology

Adam Nawrot

geomorphologist, hydrologist

A keen DIYer, wilderness enthusiast, Doctor of Earth Sciences. He took his first steps in science at the Faculty of Geographical and Geological Sciences of Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Later on, he also spent several months at the University of Luxembourg, the University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) and the University of Oslo. Currently, he works at the Department of Polar and Marine Research of the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences.

The activity that gives him more professional satisfaction than anything else is fieldwork, and his taste for harsh conditions means that he gladly does research and gets involved in projects carried out in mountainous regions and in the Far North, mainly in Spitsbergen. His love affair with this part of the world started in 2005. Since then, he has taken part in numerous fieldwork expeditions to the Arctic and twice overwintered at the Polish Polar Station Hornsund, including once as the expedition leader. He is also responsible for the programme of environmental monitoring conducted by the Station.

He enjoys new challenges, as a result of which in 2015 he spent a few months in India, where he gained personal experience of decidedly non-polar conditions while working at a local school as an IT teacher. Since 2017, he has actively participated in the efforts aimed at reviving the A.B. Dobrowolski Polish Antarctic Station. What usually helps him get out of trouble is his unshakeable faith in dynamic planning and a bright personality.

As the founder and president of forScience Foundation, he is responsible for formalities, reports and budgets. He is also a gold mine of ideas for new projects, which we hope will soon see the light of day.

Barbara Jóźwiak

educator, educational manager, translator

A free spirit, plant lover, great fan of high mountains and long-distance walking trails, demon for work. Her practical skills and outdoor experience, as well as deep cultural sensitivity and respect for broadly-understood diversity developed during numerous, often self-organised travels, which offered a whole new perspective on the places she visited and people she met on the way.

As a philologist by training, she spent several years working in education. Soon after receiving a degree, she went abroad, which marked the beginning of a terrific adventure and gave rise to a lasting fascination with the countries and cultures of Central Asia. For several years she worked as a teacher of English and educational manager at International House schools in Russia and Kazakhstan, and as a volunteer teacher in remote corners of India, spending breaks between contracts roaming the roads, routes and paths of Asia. The experience played a major part in shaping her current outlook on education and life in general.

In 2013, she first visited Svalbard and two years later spent a month at the Polish Polar Station Hornsund, trying her hand at project fieldwork. Afterwards, she returned to Poland, where she got temporarily involved with the British Council. She also worked as a freelance translator, cooperating, among others, with the Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Faculty of Earth Sciences of the University of Silesia.

Nowadays, she devotes the majority of her time to the forScience Foundation, where she gets involved in initiatives combining science and education with environmental protection and the preservation of cultural heritage. Apart from taking active part in project preparation and execution, she handles everything that qualifies as the written word, from project proposals, through everyday e-mails, to posts which you can read on this website and the Foundation’s Facebook page.

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Project ICEBERG

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And there you have it!

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