AMADEE-20 was a high-fidelity Mars analog expedition designed to study human-robotic surface exploration: crewed EVA in advanced spacesuit simulators, robotic assets (rovers, copter/UAV), and a structured science workflow to locate and characterize potential biosignatures—while operating under “Mars-realistic” constraints like a one-way 10-minute comms delay to “Earth” (Mission Support Center, Innsbruck).
Ark Terra’s remit was to deliver the end-to-end ground segment in Israel: select and prepare the test site; stand up, integrate, and operate the analog outpost; coordinate regulation and safety; move people and hardware; and ensure the scientific campaigns could run to plan in a harsh, Mars-analog setting.
The expedition operated in erosion structures inside the Ramon Crater. Although not an impact crater, its landforms mimic a range of Martian surface features and slopes, offering sand and rock terrains with varied inclinations; typical October temperatures ranged 10–29 °C with no precipitation—ideal for controlled field trials.
Bridgehead (04–10 Oct): Ark Terra enabled base establishment, crew training at the station, and stood up the on-site field office. With the station not fully operational at start, Ark Terra seconded on-site support to help finalize the D-MARS habitat setup and run pilot/calibration activities.
Isolation (11–31 Oct): External media/researchers departed; the six-person field crew executed a flight plan directed by the Mission Support Center with a simulated 10-minute delay; Ark Terra’s small on-site support team handled essential tasks not available on Mars (e.g., safety, local comms infrastructure) without direct crew interaction. Field data flowed to remote science support for near-real-time analysis and tactical replanning.
A multi-year cadence of dress rehearsals preceded field deployment; hardware shipped to Israel in Aug–Sep 2021; the science workshop closed the project in April 2022.
Ark Terra stood up the D-MARS analog outpost comprising two main habitat modules—Prototype 1.0 (residential) and 2.0 (operations/workspace)—plus integrated power, water, communications, and other subsystems to sustain crew and science. Prototype 2.0 featured positive pressure and a clean room, providing a valuable platform for in-depth design/operations analysis of Mars outpost units.
A comprehensive sensor program captured ~28k data points on environmental and systems performance for optimization of resources/consumables, physical characterization of Prototype 2.0 over time, and human-factor impacts—forming a dataset for real-time and post-mission design improvements.
Habitat & base layout. The base sat in a clay quarry and included the habitat complex, vehicle park (rover, quadbikes, UAVs), power systems, visitor staging, and an antenna mast. Modules covered command/ops (don/doff area), engineering/science space, six-berth crew quarters, storage, galley/mess, and hygiene. A short corridor linked living and working modules and also served as a backup airlock with emergency egress.
Subsystems at a glance
Water: separate potable loop; ~5,000 L used during isolation; greywater recycled to toilets; blackwater via 3,000 L tank, with HomeBiogas for waste processing.
Power: 60 kW diesel generator (24/7, hot refueling) + 15 kW solar array with battery buffering (48 V → 220 V AC).
Thermal/air: dual AC systems sized for modules.
Comms: a “Mars–Earth” satellite link with antenna ~80 m from habitat; additional LTE for station telemetry and dedicated rover link—enabling real operations under simulated time delay.
To make EVAs scientifically efficient under Mars constraints, AMADEE-20 implemented the Exploration Cascade—an algorithmic workflow that sequences which instrument runs where/when, what data it yields, how that converts to knowledge, and how it then feeds back into tactical flight planning for the next moves. The approach emphasizes sensitive, contamination-free, reproducible life-detection measures and near-real-time “field-to-MSC” processing.
Examples inside the Cascade
AEROSCAN: autonomous solar VTOL drone for imaging/photogrammetry; outputs (e.g., 3D terrain models, thermal analysis) helped define ~9 points-of-interest (POIs) and supported rover/teleop tasks.
MEROP + ExoScot rover: haptic-feedback teleoperation and detailed 3D/close-up mapping of ROIs to guide crew and instrument placement in EVAs.
(Additional EC experiments included GEOS subsurface/aeolian characterization, with robotics viewed as science enablers rather than demonstrations.)
Ark Terra managed real-world constraints typical for remote analogs: maintaining line-of-sight and link budgets, extending Wi-Fi coverage to EVA zones, and adjusting operations during telemetry losses or heat-stress concerns—while keeping media and visitors within safety envelopes during the bridgehead week.
The mission involved multi-leg shipping and on-site warehousing (including additional 20-ft containers next to the habitat used by Ark Terra’s on-site support). Integration covered everything from power distribution to scientific camera inventories across assets (UAVs, rover).
Ark Terra helped host the Innovation Day on 31 Oct, aligning the astronaut “walk-out” with an industry networking program (startup ecosystem briefings, roundtables, habitat visit). On both the Israeli and Austrian sides, the mission included extensive public engagement, school visits, and a post-mission lecture tour for students and the general public.
Bridgehead (04–09 Oct): final interior setup created unscheduled workload; bio-protection protocols tightened toward phase end.
First isolation EVAs (11–12 Oct): crew transitioned to fully simulated operations under MSC direction with delayed comms; recurring daily protocols (e.g., microbiome sampling, human-factors questionnaires) established.
Science runs: e.g., TUMBLEWEED launch, AEROSCAN test flights, intense multi-experiment days (up to 14 experiments in one day).
Outpost performance data (environmental, resources, systems, human factors) created a large, analyzable corpus to optimize habitat design/ops—exactly the kind of “design-with-data” loop Ark Terra champions.
Power/Comms realities: nighttime consumption exceeded estimates, requiring 24/7 generator operation; intermittent sensor comms and local LTE capacity planning offered concrete lessons for future missions.
Science workflow maturity: the Exploration Cascade proved an effective planning/decision engine for instrument deployment, data integration, and EVA targeting under a strict Earth–Mars latency model.
Systems integration & site build: Complete station setup and commissioning of the D-MARS habitat complex and auxiliary systems (power/water/comms), with last-mile engineering support to close readiness gaps.
Mission ops enablement: On-site safety, logistics, and comms infrastructure to let the six-person crew operate “as on Mars,” with Earth-side scientific teams driving daily replans.
Science orchestration: Practical deployment of the Exploration Cascade—staging robots and sensors, handling sampling and mobility, and managing data paths for near-real-time science input.
Public engagement & industry: Structured Innovation Day and post-mission educational activities to connect research, industry, and the public.
This project demonstrates Ark Terra’s triangle in action—technology, environment, and the human factor working together under real constraints. We took a complex, multinational science program into a remote analog of Mars, stood up a functioning outpost, and kept operations, safety, and science moving in lockstep. The result is a validated architecture and a deep dataset that directly informs the design of future extreme-environment missions—on Earth or beyond.