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We report on the MARS2013 mission, a 4-week Mars analog field test in the northern Sahara. Nineteen experiments were conducted by a field crew in Morocco under simulated martian surface exploration conditions, supervised by a Mission Support Center in Innsbruck, Austria. A Remote Science Support team analyzed field data in near real time, providing planning input for the management of a complex system of field assets; two advanced space suit simulators, four robotic vehicles, an emergency shelter, and a stationary sensor platform in a realistic work flow were coordinated by a Flight Control Team. A dedicated flight planning group, external control centers for rover tele-operations, and a biomedical monitoring team supported the field operations. A 10 min satellite communication delay and other limitations pertinent to human planetary surface activities were introduced. The fields of research for the experiments were geology, human factors, astrobiology, robotics, tele-science, exploration, and operations research. This paper provides an overview of the geological context and environmental conditions of the test site and the mission architecture, in particular the communication infrastructure emulating the signal travel time between Earth and Mars. We report on the operational work flows and the experiments conducted, including a deployable shelter prototype for multiple-day extravehicular activities and contingency situations.

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This review focuses on advanced materials already used and suitable for application in (future) lunar extravehicular activity space suits. A historical and current literature/market survey is presented. Different functional layers of an astronaut garment are defined with emphasis on the external layers subjected to abrasive action of lunar regolith and degradation via exposure to space radiation/vacuum environment. Requirements are defined that would need to be fulfilled by these layers and suitable materials candidates are reviewed based on their key properties, including mechanical durability. Smart materials, combining additional functionalities, such as garment health monitoring, are also considered. The lead topic is the subject of an ongoing ESA‐funded research activity.

On future human Mars missions, surface sojourn duration and resources will be limited. One possibility to approach a positive cost-benefit ratio of a human Mars mission will be to maximize the scientific research on the martian surface within the operational, environmental, and experimental limitations. Sophisticated mission operations and advanced planning strategies will be a basic requirement for Mars exploration and make operational methods an important research subject during current Mars analog missions conducted by the Austrian Space Forum. The Morocco Mars analog field simulation MARS2013, with a duration of 4 weeks and a simulated time delay of 10 min for communication between field and mission support, was the most advanced Mars analog mission conducted by the Austrian Space Forum so far. Due to these constraints, planning strategies based on real-time adjustments and ground control were not applicable, leading to the development of the "3-days-in-advance" planning strategy. Applying this methodology, 45.7% of the total EVA time was used for scientific experiments that satisfied 75.8% of the planned science goals. Taking into account all activities (donning of the suits included), the fraction of time used for scientific experiments made up only one-third of the total time, whereas it was planned to be above 50%. Here, we present details on the application of the 3-days-in-advance planning and on the results of the efficiency analysis of MARS2013.