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Mars research to reach new heights at SFU
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Contact:
Andrew Blaber, 604.291.3276; ablaber@sfu.ca
Stephen Braham, 604.291.7981; polywarp@sfu.ca
Marianne Meadahl, Media & PR, 604.291.4323
Andrew Blaber, 604.291.3276; ablaber@sfu.ca
Stephen Braham, 604.291.7981; polywarp@sfu.ca
Marianne Meadahl, Media & PR, 604.291.4323
February 4, 2004
SFU could soon have a new role in furthering space exploration. Funding through the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the B.C. knowledge development fund has enabled expansion of the school of kinesiology’s environmental physiology unit, making it possible to attain the atmospheric pressure found on Mars.
SFU is the only Canadian university to house such a facility, which serves as a high altitude chamber for testing such conditions as altitude sickness. The unit is capable of achieving an atmospheric pressure of one per cent of a standard earth sea level (equivalent to that found on Mars). That means testing equipment such as space suits and even small rovers in the bullet-like, eight-metre long by two-metre diameter chamber under Mars-like conditions will now be possible. One per cent of atmospheric pressure is similar to the air found at an altitude of 33.5 kilometres.
The upgrade involved the installation of a more powerful vacuum pump to generate this extremely low pressure. The previous level for the chamber was an atmospheric pressure equivalent to around 9.0 kilometres (slightly higher than Mt. Everest).
"The goal of space missions is to send up necessary and reliable equipment, and the success rate in doing so, up until the current Spirit and Opportunity rovers, has been very low," says Andrew Blaber, director of SFU’s aerospace physiology laboratory. "Obviously we can’t send humans under the current conditions. But as technology improves, we can further success by testing new equipment and improvements to space suits and other apparatus under similar atmospheric conditions."
Blaber and a team of researchers will also look at the effects of long durations of weightlessness on human physiology in astronauts returning from space. They will undertake pre-flight tests to simulate conditions and work towards finding ways to best treat astronauts upon their return.
The university’s ability to undertake Mars related research also has the attention of SFU communication adjunct professor Stephen Braham, who works on human moon-Mars mission planning and exploration with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. Braham is interested in using the facility as a test-bed for wireless communications. He is the Canadian principal investigator for the NASA Haughton-Mars project on Devon Island, where researchers are studying conditions at a Mars-like crater.
—30—
(digital photo of Blaber and the unit is available)
Websites:
Canadian Space Agency: www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/
SFU Kinesiology Physiology Lab: www.sfu.ca/epu/
NASA-Devon Island: www.arctic-mars.org/about/devon.html
SFU is the only Canadian university to house such a facility, which serves as a high altitude chamber for testing such conditions as altitude sickness. The unit is capable of achieving an atmospheric pressure of one per cent of a standard earth sea level (equivalent to that found on Mars). That means testing equipment such as space suits and even small rovers in the bullet-like, eight-metre long by two-metre diameter chamber under Mars-like conditions will now be possible. One per cent of atmospheric pressure is similar to the air found at an altitude of 33.5 kilometres.
The upgrade involved the installation of a more powerful vacuum pump to generate this extremely low pressure. The previous level for the chamber was an atmospheric pressure equivalent to around 9.0 kilometres (slightly higher than Mt. Everest).
"The goal of space missions is to send up necessary and reliable equipment, and the success rate in doing so, up until the current Spirit and Opportunity rovers, has been very low," says Andrew Blaber, director of SFU’s aerospace physiology laboratory. "Obviously we can’t send humans under the current conditions. But as technology improves, we can further success by testing new equipment and improvements to space suits and other apparatus under similar atmospheric conditions."
Blaber and a team of researchers will also look at the effects of long durations of weightlessness on human physiology in astronauts returning from space. They will undertake pre-flight tests to simulate conditions and work towards finding ways to best treat astronauts upon their return.
The university’s ability to undertake Mars related research also has the attention of SFU communication adjunct professor Stephen Braham, who works on human moon-Mars mission planning and exploration with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. Braham is interested in using the facility as a test-bed for wireless communications. He is the Canadian principal investigator for the NASA Haughton-Mars project on Devon Island, where researchers are studying conditions at a Mars-like crater.
—30—
(digital photo of Blaber and the unit is available)
Websites:
Canadian Space Agency: www.space.gc.ca/asc/eng/
SFU Kinesiology Physiology Lab: www.sfu.ca/epu/
NASA-Devon Island: www.arctic-mars.org/about/devon.html