Opportunities 7 August 2026

A Mars mission is coming to the Alentejo, and researchers have until 6 September to apply

The AMADEE-27 analogue mission sets up around Monsaraz and Alqueva in April 2027. The Austrian Space Forum is taking applications from researchers in robotics, astrobiology, geosciences, life sciences and human factors.

Where: Monsaraz and Alqueva, Alentejo
Organizer: Österreichisches Weltraum Forum (OeWF)
Deadline: 6 September 2026

Apply / Learn more

In April 2027 there will be people in spacesuits walking the plain around Monsaraz and Alqueva. This is AMADEE-27, an analogue mission run by the Austrian Space Forum, and applications to take part in the scientific programme are open now.

The deadline is 6 September.

What an analogue mission is

A dress rehearsal. For two weeks a team of analogue astronauts wears spacesuit simulators and runs procedures as though they were on Mars, constraints included: restricted movement, delayed communications, decisions made without being able to ask anyone in real time. A mission control set up in Austria coordinates operations remotely, exactly as it would on the real thing.

This will be the OeWF’s sixteenth mission of the kind. The Alentejo was picked for its geology and terrain, close enough to Martian conditions for the tests to mean something.

Who can apply

Researchers working in robotics, astrobiology, geosciences, life sciences or human factors. What you apply with is a scientific experiment: hardware to test, robotic vehicles to operate, protocols to validate in field conditions. On the Portuguese side the mission is supported by INESC TEC, the Alqueva Lake Observatory and NUCLIO.

You do not need to be based in Portugal. For the country’s research community this is the sort of thing that tends to open collaborations lasting well past the mission itself — as Neuraspace’s funding round in Coimbra showed, Portugal’s space sector has grown through partnerships rather than big contracts.

Participation terms and the application form are on the official AMADEE-27 page.

By Miguel Sarmento

Image: Herbert wie / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA)

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