Marslab facilities

The Mars Simulation Laboratory was started with construction of a wind tunnel which can work under Martian surface environmental conditions, and build up a dust storm.

This wind tunnel was complemented by a bio-chamber especially constructed for long term biological experiments under Martian atmospheric and UV conditions, and two smaller environmental chambers for chemical and physical surface reaction studies.

With the purpose of gaining information on dust flow, charging, adhesion, cohesion and particle size one group has constructed instruments suitable for monitoring these dust parameters under Martian conditions.

Wind tunnel

Surface chemistry environmental chamber

Biology chamber

Instrument development

The Aarhus Mars Simulation Laboratory is a recognised collaborating laboratory with the Mars Express mission 2003, furthermore we have been involved in testing of Beagle2 instrumentation concentrating on dust adhesion.

Mars Exploration Rover (NASA)

In collaboration with the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen who have responsibility for magnetic capture experiments on the two Mars Rovers 2003, here the magnetic dust capture process is simulated and quantified with Mössbauer and x-ray florescence measurements.