The Asclepios project is the first edition worldwide of an analogue space mission entirely made by students, for students.
Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi
Several aspiring astronauts have been taking late-night dives under the ice as part of a training camp to reproduce the conditions of a space mission.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA/jdp
The six students – three men and three women – from several different countries set up their tents in Crans-Montana in south-western Switzerland on Thursday for a training camp set to last through the weekend. The camp, part of the Space@yourserviceExternal link association at the Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), aims to test how people manage in the most difficult conditions found in space.
“The goal is to get familiar with discomfort,” explains Chloé Carrière, president of Space@yourservice. “We work on cohesion in the group, as if we no longer have contact with Earth”, she told news agency Keystone-ATS in an interview.
External Content
Second day: diving under the ice by night ! Seems like another planet ❄️👨🏻🚀
Its flagship activity is diving under the ice of Lake Moubra under the guidance of French polar explorer Alban Michon. “The most difficult is not the cold but stress management. You can’t get out just anywhere and you must not get claustrophobic”, explains Christian Cardinaux, one of the participants.
Some 15 people are taking part in the experiment including the six “analogue” astronauts and two reservists ranging in age from 20 to 31 and hail from Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, and Chile. They were selected from among 200 candidates from all over the world thanks to Claude Nicollier, Switzerland’s first astronaut.
The association Space@yourservice, founded by EPFL, aims to popularize the space sciences among the public and students. The training camp is part of the Asclepios projectExternal link of the Space@yourservice association, which is the first edition worldwide of an analogue space mission entirely made by students, for students.
The students were selected from 200 candidates from all over the world to take part in the simulated expeditions.
Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi
Popular Stories
More
Identities
Switzerland’s most renowned trans person no longer wants to be a woman
Report finds serious security flaws in Swiss hospital information systems
This content was published on
The IT systems of several Swiss hospitals suffer from serious security flaws, according to the National Testing Institute for Cybersecurity (NTC).
Cost of leisure activities rises dramatically in Switzerland
This content was published on
The Swiss paid more for leisure activities in December. Prices for vacation apartments, package tours and cable cars rose significantly.
New Swiss epidemic surveillance centre inaugurated
This content was published on
The Centre for Pathogen Bioinformatics was inaugurated in Bern on Thursday. It aims to improve epidemics monitoring in Switzerland using genomic data.
This content was published on
Switzerland, as a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), signed a free trade agreement with Thailand during WEF.
This content was published on
The federal audit office has criticised the Swiss government for poor planning of the procurement of six drones from an Israeli supplier.
Second edition of moon habitat project planned for Mount Pilatus
This content was published on
This summer 15 teams of students will test their own designs to help humans live on the moon in the second edition of the Igluna project.
This content was published on
Cleaning up space is the mission of a new Swiss start-up, ClearSpace, which will capitalise on technology developed by engineers at the EPFL.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.