Six aspiring analog astronauts are training this weekend in Wels, Upper Austria, to prepare for future Mars mission simulations. The group will take part in the Amadee-27 mission, which runs from April 5 to April 18, 2027, at the Monsaraz Analog Research Station (MARS) in Portugal, where they will practice the interplay between humans and robots on the Red Planet.
The Austrian Space Forum (ÖWF) offered a look at the preparations on Friday at the premises of the logistics company Gebrüder Weiss in Wels. The event gave observers an insight into how the crew is being readied for conditions that simulate a Mars environment, with a particular focus on the cooperation between people and robotic systems that future crews will depend on.
Analog missions such as Amadee-27 are designed to recreate the constraints of human spaceflight on Earth. Participants live and work in an isolated facility and follow procedures modeled on those planned for crewed expeditions to Mars, while researchers collect data on how people and machines work together under such pressure. Because real Mars missions would involve long communication delays and limited resupply, the rehearsals give planners a way to test daily routines, workload and decision-making before anyone leaves Earth.
The Monsaraz station in the Alentejo region of Portugal is the setting for the mission, and the training in Austria forms part of the broader preparation for the spring 2027 deployment. The Amadee missions have been run in this line of simulation work for several years, and each iteration is intended to build on lessons from the previous one. The program brings together researchers, engineers and students, and its organizers present it as a practical way to test operational concepts that may be needed on future crewed flights to the Red Planet.
Visitors to the Friday event at Gebrüder Weiss were able to see the preparations first-hand, and the forum used the occasion to highlight the role of Austrian participation in international space research. The Wels venue, a logistics firm's site, underlined how the simulation work draws on expertise far beyond traditional aerospace, from transport and planning to technology support.
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