Mayor of Bremen visits ZARM

On Nov 23, 2022, ZARM Director Marc Avila had the honour to present in a very hands-on approach our space exploration research to the Mayor of Bremen Andreas Bovenschulte and introduce him to the initiative “Humans on Mars” of the University of Bremen.

Exploration research is ZARM's latest field of research and it is present in many labs: In the Bremen Drop Tower, scientist Hans-Christoph Ries is conducting experiments on fire safety in space, and Christiane Heinicke has designed and built a mock-up of a Mars module as part of a larger habitat, that could allow humans to survive and work on Mars. Important part of the habitat is the life support system, which could function as a photobioreactor based on cyanobacteria. And this is the link to another ZARM lab: in the Laboratory of Applied Space Microbiology (LASM) Cyprien Verseux works with a specific type of cyanobacteria that is able to survive on materials available on Mars and could be used for the production of food, fuel and oxygen for the supply of the crew.

ZARM is committed to making these fascinating topics accessible to school students. To this end, Benny Rievers has created an outreach activity: During their internship, young scientists and engineers can design their own space mission. They learn how to program small Legomindstorms rovers and robots that are to perform various mission tasks on the surface of Mars.

Press release by the Bremen Senate:
https://www.senatspressestelle.bremen.de/pressemitteilungen/buergermeister-bovenschulte-bremer-mars-forschung-ist-herausragend-410887?asl=bremen02.c.730.de

YouTube: https://twitter.com/RathausHB_news/status/1595458481473175552