Österreichisches Weltraum Forum / Austrian Space Forum

Das größte Event zum Internationalen Jahr der Astronomie in Westösterreich mit 90.000 Besucher in fünf Tagen -- so lässt sich die Sonderschau "Abenteuer Kosmos" anlässlich der Innsbrucker Herbstmesse zusammenfassen.
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Im Rahmen der UN World Space Week richtete das ÖWF im Auftrag des Büros für Weltraumangelegenheiten der Vereinten Nationen im Planetarium Wien das "Abenteuer Weltraum" aus. Etwa 300 Besucher erlagen am 4. Oktober der Faszination Raumfahrt in einem bunten Mix aus Vorträgen, Astronomie/Raumfahrt-Aktivitäten zum Anfassen und einem echten Astronauten.Bereits zwei Tage vorher richtete das Forum in der Rotunda des Vienna International Centers für Schulkinder und Angehörige von UN-Angestellten eine Event aus, bei dem eine Mars-Reise ebenso beleuchtet wurde wie was Astronauten in der Schwerelosigkeit alles machen.Das Planetariums-Event -- unterstützt von der Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft, dem Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie sowie der Office for Outer Space Affairs- bot einen Vortragsmarathon von DI Norbert Frischauf: Im Kuppelsaal des Planetariums führte er interaktiv mit dem ISS-Simulator durch den Alltag der Raumstation. Fast fünf Stunden durchgehender Vortrag und Frage/Antwort-Session, dazu eine Doppelconference mit dem "Stargast" des Tages, Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor. Der erste und bislang einzige malaysische Astronaut gab Autogramme, stand für Interviews zur Verfügung und erzählte aus erster Hand von seinem Flug im Oktober 2007 zur Raumstation.
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Die Österreichische Forschungsförderungsgesellschaft (FFG) ist die nationale Förderstelle für anwendungsorientierte und wirtschaftsnahe Forschung. Österreichische Unternehmen und Forschungsinstitutionen werden mit Förderungsprogrammen der öffentlichen Hand, Beratungsleistungen in allen Phasen der Technologieentwicklung und bei der Einbindung in europäische Forschungsprogramme und Netzwerke unterstützt. DI Dr. Elisabeth Klaffenböck ist bei der FFG in der Agentur für Luft- und Raumfahrt Experte für Satellitennavigation und damit Ansprechpartner für Universitäten, Ministerien und Firmen. Sie vertritt Österreich in diesem Bereich in der ESA und den EU Gremien und auch Vortragstätigkeiten gehören zu ihren Aufgaben. Wir haben Sie dazu interviewt.
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Nach dem erfolgreichen Commisioning im Juli 2009 und einigen Upgrade Arbeiten später, durfte Aouda.X der Spacesuit Simulator des Österreichischen Weltraum Forums wieder ins Gelände. Auf der Pasterze, dem größten Gletscher Österreichs, auf dem Großglockner (höchster Berg Österreichs) wurde 2 Tage lang intensiv getestet. Unter anderem testeten die 10 Feldtestteilnehmer die Handhabung des Georadars und des Geophones, aber auch das Operation Team war erstmals vor Ort um die Kommunikation zwischen Anzug und Mission Control (Ops) zu prüfen und Daten von den Anzugsensoren zu empfangen und auszulesen.Vor der beeindruckenden Kulisse des Großglockners trafen sich vom 08. bis zum 10. September die Mitglieder der ÖWF-Polares Teams Suit und Operations zu einem Feldtest für den Simulations-Raumanzug Aouda. Unterstützt wurden sie dabei von Helmut Hausmann von der TU Wien, der Georadar und Geophon-Messungen durchführte.
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During the UN World Space Week the Austrian Space Forum was charged with the the organisation of a "Space Adventure" in the Planetarium of Vienna by the Office for Space Affairs of the United nations. About 300 visitors experienced on the 4th of October space travel in a wide mix of talks, hands on experiences and a real Astronaut.
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Stratospheric balloons like good weather – especially when they are programmed to film their journey and work as radio contact. But the weather forecast for the planned launch day of Passepartout III was bad.Preparation work was started by the balloon team on the Friday before the launch date. They built antennas on the roof of the observatory on the Lustbühel, Graz and combined the parachute with a radar reflector. Also the electronics were already checked, the cars for the pick up of Passepartout were ready and even the Helium bottles waited for the launch of „Passepartout III digi“. As the forecast for Saturday predicted thunderstorms and strong winds, the Harald Fauland decided to move the launch to Sunday, 23rd of August.
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"People, who fascinate for space" are potential candidates for this award, which will was awarded for the first time.
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1961, on the 12th of April, the first human - Juri Gagarin - orbited the Earth. This event is celebrated every year in a world-wide event. The Schikaneder cinema shows two exclusive movies, experts will present a show discussing the influences on society, politics or law which arose from this first flight and for the first time the Austrian Space Forum Polarstern Award will be awarded.
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The suit - weighing 45 kg - simulates all constraints of a real spacesuit and uses a high tech human to machine interface which is able to adopt some tasks normally covered by a mission control center. Three years from now the prototype will be used during a simulated mars expedition in the arctic.
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The prototype for a Mars Spacesuit Aouda.X was tested at -110°C on the 21st of September in a cryo-therapy chamber in Seefeld (Tyrol)."We were all relieved when our prototype for a spacesuit did so well in this test - after all the hard preparation work." said project leader Gernot Grömer after the tests under extreme conditions. "Until the last minute we went through a lot of different scenarios that could go wrong: We expected condensation on the electronic devices, fractures in the PMMA-Visor, even frostbite on exposed body parts of our suit tester - and more." "But Aouda has done its job extremely well. Apart from a few start problem concerning the communication between the telemetry consoles and the suit." explains Klaus Bickert, team leader for the On-Board Data handling from the PolAres programme of the Austrian Space Forum.The test series lasted for three hours in different cryo chambers at -10, -60 and finally -110°C. The Alpine-medical Hotel Lamm in Seefeld owns those chambers, which are large enough to fit not only the suit tester but also some assistance personnel. In the coldest chamber the test lasted for 22minutes. As there were no noticeable changes within the suit, the test was stopped after this time to preserve the energy system of the suit.As a thin layer of ice developed even with heating and air condition due to high humidity in the helmet, it was only taken off after reaching a surface temperature of 10°C after testing. This also was enough time for the layer of ice on top of the textile parts of the suit to melt away. Suit tester Ulrich Luger: "The temperatures during the tests were surprisingly comfortable - if you could forget about the 35kg of weight, plus the Exo-skeleton..." - So at least in terms of cold resistance Aouda.X did a huge step towards Mars...
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Stratospheric balloons like good weather – especially when they are programmed to film their journey and work as radio contact. But the weather forecast for the planned launch day of Passepartout III was bad.Preparation work was started by the balloon team on the Friday before the launch date. They built antennas on the roof of the observatory on the Lustbühel, Graz and combined the parachute with a radar reflector. Also the electronics were already checked, the cars for the pick up of Passepartout were ready and even the Helium bottles waited for the launch of „Passepartout III digi“. As the forecast for Saturday predicted thunderstorms and strong winds, the Harald Fauland decided to move the launch to Sunday, 23rd of August.
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Update on an upgrade: Aouda.X is currently being prepared for the upcoming glacier tests at the Pasterze region in Austria. A team of engineers of the Austrian Space Forum and students from the Technical School Fulpmes are focussing on getting Aouda.X ready for her first tests in a remote location. So what's new in comparison with the comissioning tests in Kramsach in early July 2009? - Well, first there is a new team member, at least a virtual one: MARVIN stands for "Mars Analogue Research Versatile Information Network" and is the software agent behind the data analysis. "At this moment, it is only able to interpret a few basic measurement data and have it transferred from the sensors to the central processing unit and -via 5 GHz wireless LAN - to the operations console, OPS for short", explains Stefan Hauth. "However, the intriguing thing is, that MARVIN will be expanded into a much more powerful and versatile field assistent which shall help the astronaut to accomplish great field science under very safe conditions." "Building a spacesuit simulator is a very demanding and highly interdisciplinary task", project manager Gernot Groemer adds, "we have a bunch of very talented young people and experienced staff members here at the Technical School and we're all learning here a lot while we proceed with the upgrade programme."Aouda.X -named after the indian princess from Jules Vernes' novel "Around the world in 80 days"- will be outfitted with new mechanical boot and glove interfaces, including a boot heater system. Why that? "Well, there's a really COOL test we're going to run in a few weeks from now", Stefan Hauth, "although we cannot reveal to many details yet, it seems we've found a very unusual partner to do perform an deep temperature operational test with Aouda.X." - So stay tuned!
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overwien: Iridium Flare der Helligkeit -1.2 über Wien um 17:28 am 04/11. Erscheint in 58° Höhe, Richtung 34° von Nord.
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overwien: Iridium Flare der Helligkeit -7.3 über Wien um 14:04 am 04/11. Erscheint in 47° Höhe, Richtung 244° von Nord.
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overwien: Iridium Flare der Helligkeit -2.1 über Wien um 17:39 am 02/11. Erscheint in 55° Höhe, Richtung 29° von Nord.
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overwien: Iridium Flare der Helligkeit -5.9 über Wien um 05:17 am 02/11. Erscheint in 32° Höhe, Richtung 169° von Nord.
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overwien: Genesis II überquert Wien mit Helligkeit 3.4 um 05:11 am 26/10. Zieht von 20° Höhe NW nach 20° Höhe SE in 6 min
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overmunchen: Iridium Flare der Helligkeit -1.7 über Munchen um 05:26 am 05/11. Erscheint in 33° Höhe, Richtung 177° von Nord.
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overmunchen: Genesis I überquert Munchen mit Helligkeit 3.4 um 17:34 am 04/11. Zieht von 20° Höhe SW nach 20° Höhe NE in 5 min
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overmunchen: Iridium Flare der Helligkeit -7.6 über Munchen um 09:18 am 04/11. Erscheint in 55° Höhe, Richtung 105° von Nord.
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overmunchen: Iridium Flare der Helligkeit -5.4 über Munchen um 06:19 am 04/11. Erscheint in 22° Höhe, Richtung 66° von Nord.
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overmunchen: Genesis I überquert Munchen mit Helligkeit 3.0 um 17:36 am 03/11. Zieht von 20° Höhe SW nach 20° Höhe NE in 6 min
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