LISBON, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese researchers from the Instituto Superior Tecnico (IST) will participate in the simulation of a human and robotic mission to Mars in the Negev desert, Israel, scheduled for 2020, through the development of robotic devices, Portugal's Lusa News Agency reported on Wednesday.
The devices to be developed by Portuguese researchers aim to improve the effectiveness of a robot's exploration of the planet in the absence of eye contact with the isolated astronaut on a base and to prevent accidents that could make the equipment unusable, said IST's research group coordinator Rodrigo Ventura, quoted by Lusa.
For a month from Oct. 15 to Nov. 15, 2020, a group of people will take on the role of astronauts and be at a base in the Negev desert, which "simulates the environment on Mars" and where communications will be made to a "control center" in Innsbruck, Austria.
To reduce the risk of astronauts in a "hostile environment" like Mars -- where in real life they would be exposed to extremely high thermal ranges, cosmic radiation, meteorites and dust storms -- remote controlled robots are used to "perform" small tasks, said Ventura.
The "tele-operation" of the robots is, however, "complicated" when astronauts have no eye contact with the machines from the base and the "perception of the situation" on the ground "is poor", compromising the robot's performance, he said, adding that the Portuguese researchers are studying technology to improve the perception in collaboration with the University of Graz, Austria, which will build the robot.
In the simulated mission Mars AMADEE-20, experiments will be made in 16 areas such as technology, medicine, biology and geology, according to the report.
