International Astronautical Congress

Dr Fridolin Wild presented our astronaut training and wearable technology work at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Washington DC, October 21-25, 2019. The paper is entitled ‘Enhancing Crew Training for Exploration Missions: The Wekit Experience’, and it reports on trial results of the solution using a Mars physical surface simulator at project partner Altec’s facilities in Turin, Italy. At the moment, astronauts train 18-24 months, with deep space missions (such as to Mars) predicted to increase training needs to about six years. With the WEKIT solution, the training duration necessary can be reduced, additionally providing support to the crew when communication with Ground is not available, increasing their autonomy. The session in Washington DC was opened by a panel of astronauts, featuring seven different astronauts and cosmonauts from NASA, ESA, and JAXTA, before turning to the paper presentations. The session was well received.