She is a UdeC student: Asclepios II Mission begins with the first analog astronaut from Chile

Asclepius II It is the second analogous mission of Mission Asclepiosan exclusive program for students that seeks to train astronauts in an analogous way, led by the Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL) with the European Space Agency (ESA). It will take place in Sasso San Gottardo, a World War II fortress, which is located in Switzerland.

Notably Tatiana López applied in 2020 to become an analog astronaut, orgoal successfully achieved in September 2021after a long period of training.

But Tatiana is not the only UdeC Aerospace Engineering student who is part of the Asclepios II mission, since they are also part of the team, Nicholas Sepulvedahead of the Scientific Team; Nicholas OrtegaHead of the Design Team and Diego GonzalezOperations Officer.

Two days before starting the mission, the members of the astronaut crew, called Atlas, were already at the base, “this is because before going to space everyone quarantines to make sure that no one has any contagious disease, it is for the safety of the missionLopez commented.

There will be two weeks in which the only point of communication for the six crew members will be with the control center, a period in which they have an itinerary that includes exercise, work on experiments and extravehicular outings, explained Elena López-Contreras, Spanish analog astronaut.

Atlas Crew of the Asclepios Mission / Credit: FI UdeC

“We put on a spacesuit and go out to simulate what it would be like to walk on the Moon, which is challenging as we will have to wear suits that are completely closed. Therefore, we are not going to feel the wind on our faces or our bodies or anything, and that restricts our ability to move a lot,” explained the Hispanic.

One of the aspects that Tatiana López highlighted was the training at all levels that they have received, including medical, in the event that an emergency could arise, “We learned from suturing to knowing how to take ultrasounds, because there are experiments that require knowing how to use the ultrasound. As well as all the emergency procedures in case something happens”.

Regarding food, López mentioned that it will be very light, since it is freeze-dried food, “it is a type of dehydration, with the characteristic that it dehydrates in seconds instead of hours and has 0% water, unlike dehydrated food, that it still has a percentage of water, this means that when we add cold or hot water to it, it rehydrates and becomes our food”, he explained.

It should also be noted that the UdeC engineering student is in charge of communications between the base and the control centerfrom where they will be monitored during the two weeks.

“Communications will be delayed for a few seconds, we will still be counting everything we are doing, for example, if the objectives of the experiments are being met or in the event that there is an emergency with an experiment. In the end, the objective of our mission is to search for water at the lunar South Pole and if we can use it as drinking water, to protect the walls from radiation or as fuel for future missions to Mars.”, concluded Tatiana López.