ČVUT Opens Training Centre for Simulated Space Missions in Prague

The Czech Technical University (ČVUT) campus in Prague opened a training and research centre for simulated space missions on Tuesday, which was also attended by Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli.

The Little Moon City project will provide facilities and conditions for scientific, university and commercial research. The entire concept is to allow testing of instruments, materials, procedures, or human crews in conditions resembling space.

Little Moon City consists of a deep-sea station called Deep Lab H03 by the Hydronaut project. It is designed for long-term stays of small diving crews underwater, as well as on land, and can also simulate a stay in the space shuttle.

The station has been designed for a wide range of research, from the effects of isolation and extreme environments on the human psyche, to testing the functionality of technologies under extreme pressure.

“Our goal, among other things, was to enable people who don’t have diving training to work in the habitat. We could observe how a biologist or zoologist, for example, would work in such an environment. Getting such people into the module when it is ten metres underwater is a problem,” said project leader Jiří Schneider.

The module is less than ten cubic metres and has an area of eight square metres. It is designed for a crew of two to three and is equipped with the latest technology available for environmental control, communication and data collection.

From the control tower, it is possible to analyse machine and crew data, create documentation and work remotely with other sites. In addition to simulating space missions, the module can also be used to practice complex rescue situations. The entire simulator can then be carried on a mobile basis.

In addition to the module, the deepwater training station itself also includes a control centre and information and project infrastructure from Hydronaut.

The software and data transfer are handled by a communication and project system called Common Tongue from the 1st Cloud Republic. The system is designed to allow scientists to implement any additional parameter to meet the needs of the specific research being conducted.

The project also involves the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Prague, and the Department of Psychology of the Faculty of Arts of Palacký University in Olomouc.

According to the representatives of Hydronaut, connecting Little Moon City with the university world creates a unique combination of science and education, with great commercial potential.

At the same time, students and graduates of the newly opened study field of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Czech Technical University will be able to find employment in simulated space research.