MCG Ph.D. candidate Eleonore is again hitting the news headline. There were some media sources, including Le Temps, ma RTS, SWI swissinfo, and Canal9, showcasing her recent 8-day analogue space mission with some other analogue astronauts at Grimselpass, Switzerland, in July.
In 2019, Eleonore was selected as an analogue astronaut and commander for the Asclepios I Genesis crew. Asclepios is a student led organisation that recreates Moon environments for the simulation of space missions. The project had over 100 students involved and 250 000 Swiss francs of budget. The analogue astronauts such as Eleonore were selected on a similar scheme as the astronauts for the European Space Agency, and trained in a similar fashion, with extreme environment training camps, space history, public speaking, health and safety, crew psychology. As part of 6 astronauts, they spent 8 days in the analogue moon base installed in an isolated area at Grimsel Test Site (GTS), without seeing direct sunlight or going out without a spacesuit. They followed a strict flight plan, and performed experiments, such as creating bioplastics, filtrating soil for future farming on Martian soil as well as performing geological mapping for unknown terrain exploration. The experiments will all serve on future space settlements as on the Moon and Mars, and had to be tested during the mission to observe the feasibility of such experiments with limited equipment and reduced conditions unlike the conditioned laboratories of Universities. For almost years, Eleonore and her crew were trained in performing the experiments, psychology, public speaking, extreme environment survival, first aid and health and safety, space history and nutrition.
As an engineer and material scientist, Eleonore was fascinated by the environment of the base. The mission took place about 1730 m asl, 450 m under a mountain, at 1.5 km away from the exterior to the tunnel system, close to the Grimselpass in the Bernese Alps. The Grimsel Test Site is far from being isolated: scientists from around the world come to this place in the mountains to perform research for many decades and the site is in the vicinity of dams and KWO facilities, an important hydro power plant in the region. Surrounded by mountains, lakes and waterfalls, the place is dreamlike and yet hides an unanticipated research paradise…
NAGRA head Dr. Ingo Blechschmidt mentions: "Numerous international research projects from all geoscientific and engineering fields provide information about the crystalline rock as a possible host formation for future deep geological repositories for radioactive waste, about the function of the engineered safety barriers and about the transport behaviour of contaminants in the barriers and in the rock. In addition, research projects, for example on geothermal energy or other basic research, are also carried out at the site with partners from universities or private companies. The Grimsel Test Site is an internationally recognised research, development and demonstration platform where know-how is generated and exchanged."
After spending 8 days in the base inside the tunnel, going out only while wearing a spacesuit and following a strict flight-plan, Eleonore is still (or even more so!) in love with the site, and recommends it as a place for research and engineering. She was impressed by the resilience and leadership of the project creators and founders, as well as all the Asclepios members that made the mission possible, who were as young as 18 years old and all juggling with studies and the project.
Find more about Asclepios : asclepios.ch
Find more about GTS : https://www.grimsel.com/