The European Mars Analog Research Station (Euro-Mars) is one of the three Mars society research stations.
The unit is primarily funded by the United Kingdom, with the Euro-MARS science programme operated by a consortium of European Mars Society Chapters comprising the UK, France, The Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Spain. The purpose pokies of the facility is to enable scientists and engineers to conduct geological and biological exploration under constraints similar to those found on Mars, to develop field tactics based on those explorations, to test habitat design features and tools, and to assess crew selection protocols.
As with the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station and the Mars Desert Research Station, which were chosen for their physical similarity to Mars, Euro-MARS will be set up on Krafla, a volcanic rift in north-east Iceland, which bears strong resemblance to volcanically-produced features on the surface of Mars. A relative dry region, Krafla also demonstrates land features that have been produced by water action which are visually similar to those found in certain regions of Mars. Unlike the previous stations, Euro-MARS offers extensive opportunities for in-situ extremophile biology research of the kind that may be carried out during future human missions to Mars. This is because the Krafla region has extensive rifts and fumaroles which are home to anaerobic (non-oxygen breathing) microbes. Any life evidenced on Mars will also be anaerobic in nature, so developing field study techniques in Krafla will help define protocols and procedure that will be employed on Mars.
Euro-MARS was scheduled to commence field operations in 2007, and represents the most advanced of the three habitats established by the Mars Society to date. It directly benefits from lessons learnt at the first two stations, and offers greatly improved living and research facilities, with the operational of slots online space inside the habitat spread across three decks rather than just the two decks common to the earlier stations. This design greatly improves the amount of living space available to the crew and provides an improved separation of living and working space.
The exploration of other planets is a fascinating and important process, we are dedicated to the complete and thorough exploration of this planet. Working closely with other research centres enables us to do more with less and progresses our research exponentially.
We will ensure that space exploration continues to provide valuable insight and information that will be sure to interest and benefit all. We thank you for visiting our site and hope you find the information contained here helpful.
History of Astronomy
Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences in the world. Prehistoric cultures such as the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Greeks, Native Americans, Nubians, Mayans and the Chinese studied the stars methodologically. Despite their star gazing, astronomy did not enter the modern age until the invention of the telescope, which allowed people to view more then what was readily seen by the naked eye. Astronomy also included such disciplines as astrology, celestial navigation, and the making of calendars. Today it is mostly synonymous with astrophysics.
Dating back to antiquity, astronomy is tied to many different aspects of prehistoric life including religion, mythology and even landscaping or how they constructed their cities and structures. Early cultures associated the stars and planets with gods and spirits; whole religions were designed upon their movements through the night sky. Ancient astrologers are thought to have been priests or Magi (in some cultures) and their understanding of the stars was thought to be divine.
The origins of modern astronomy can be traced back to Mesopotamia, an ancient culture that used to reside between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is modern day Iran and Iraq. It encompasses the Sumatran, Babylonian and Assyrian Empires. The first record we have of astronomical events is a record written in cuneiform (an early form of writing that was created by the Sumerians around 3500 BC) called the En?ma Anu Enlil. The most significant astronomical event recorded is found on tablet 63, the Venus tablet of Ammi-saduqa, which lists the first visible sightings of Venus over a span of 21 years. After this there are other recordings of stars and planets as well as their movements across the cosmos. Not only did they chart the course of the stars but they also began to predict when certain bodies will come into view in the night sky and they began to measure lengths of daylight via a water-clock (flow of water into and out of a vessel that is then measured), sundial and other calculations.
It almost seems that as soon as an understanding of the stars and sky were beginning to develop different prehistoric peoples began to build up their entire civilization reflecting the sky above, down on the earth below. The ancient Egyptians built their pyramids to align with the pole star, a faint star in the constellation of Draco. The Temple at Amun-Re at Karnak was aligned with the rising of the midwinter sun so that the corridor the sun traveled down to would have limited light at other times during the year.
Stonehenge (2500 BC), a stone prehistoric monument in England, is thought to have been an astrological observatory or a ritual site. There is some correlation between the setting stones and the stars in the sky. The placement of the stones helps predict eclipses, solstices, equinoxes, and other events important to prehistoric cultures.
In prehistoric Native American cultures, ancient mound groups may have been built to mirror the night sky as well. Cahokia (600-1400 CE), a large Mississippian settlement located in Illinois across from St. Louis is one very large example of such. A circle of posts called Woodhenge is also located at Cahokia, thought to have been used to observe the rise and setting of the sun throughout the year and also marks equinoxes and solstices. Several other Woodhenges have also been found at Cahokia, located in different places throughout this large community.
The Greeks treated astronomy as a branch of mathematics, causing the science to become highly sophisticated. During this time some of the greatest scientific minds came into light; Aristotle and Plato. Plato described the universe as concentric rings that carried its planets where Aristotle describes the rings as carrying the planets around the Earth, a basic model that persisted until the 16th century. The work of the early Greeks described some of our earliest astrological systems such as apparent magnitudes, precession of the planets, first star catalogs, and heliocentric systems. An ancient Greek astronomer Eratosthenes even used shadows to estimate the circumference of the earth.
Several calendars were even designed around the movement of the sun and stars through the sky. These calendars were very important to early agricultural societies as they decided when to plant and harvest based upon the stars, moon and sun. Today, our modern calendar is based off of the old Roman calendar of alternating 30 and 31 day months, 12 months to a year. Julius Ceaser instigated the 365 and 1/4 day calendar in 46 BC that was originally thought up by the astronomer Callippus in 4 BC.
From the Chinese and their ability to predict comets and eclipses as early as the 6th century BC to the Mayans predicting the phases of the moon, astrology is mired in history; much more than can be readily studied and explored.