Exploring a valley and caves on Mars, searching for life: These are the goals of the German research initiative VaMEx. The Professorship for Space Technology at the University of Würzburg is involved.
moreVaMEx3-MarsSymphony
Project Overview
Demonstration of communication technologies and sensor systems in realistic exploration scenarios with regard to a future Mars mission in the Valles Marineris region.
The project is part of the VaMEx initiative at DLR.
Project Start: 1st August 2024
End: 31st July 2026
Funding Code (FKZ): 50RK2451A
Contact:
- Clemens Riegler (Project Manager)
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hakan Kayal
In the context of VaMEx3, the MarsSymphony project aims to simulate a realistic exploration scenario for Mars, in which a ground-based rover is used in a realistic analog mission for cave exploration. The overall objectives of the project include the development and implementation of innovative communication technologies, in particular the integration of a stationary gateway to demonstrate and test solutions for challenges in non-line-of-sight (nLOS) communication between a rover and the space segment.
The integration of a camera system for sky observation on the gateway represents an important development step towards a detection system for short-term phenomena in the Martian atmosphere and for research into Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). At the same time, the performance of the gateway's scheduling algorithms can be comprehensively demonstrated with this payload.
A network of distributed sensors also contributes to increase the scientific benefit. This network is carried to the ground by autorotation. As part of the field test scenario, the technologies will be tested under realistic conditions in order to gain insights for future space missions and advance the possibilities of interplanetary exploration.
Open theses in the research project VaMEx3-MarsSymphony
MT/BT/PA: Modular Measurement Platform for Autorotation Simulation Validation
Design and Implementation of an Autorotation System (AuRo-System) equipped with sensors to gather flight data. The AuRo-System will be deployed by a drone and fall to the ground. During this phase attached sensors shall gather flight performance data. This data will be compared against results of an already existing Autorotation Model and Simulation. The platform shall be versatile w.r.t. blade length, number of blades, system mass among others.
Start: anytime
Language: English
Contact: clemens.riegler@uni-wuerzburg.de
BT/PA: Concept for a Mars Orbiter for the Exploration of Valles Marineris
A large number of exploration systems (rovers, drones, etc.) are currently being developed for the exploration of Valles Marineris on Mars. A gateway will collect the data from the individual systems and transmit it to Earth via a Mars orbiter. Your task is to perform a mission analysis for this satellite with the aim of maximizing the amount of experiment data that can be transferred to Earth. For this purpose, an orbit analysis should be performed first to identify possible orbits that guarantee regular contact times with Earth and the selected landing sites in Valles Marineris on a regular basis. This analysis can for example be done using NASA's General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT). Based on the orbit analysis, a concept for the Mars orbiter should then be elaborated.
Start: anytime
Language: German/English
Contact: andreas.maurer@uni-wuerzburg.de
