Who are the AMASE Team?

AMASE is an international, interdisciplinary research collaboration between scientists, engineers and artists from Norway, the US and the UK. The research of the team focuses on geological and biological processes on the Arctic island archipelago of Svalbard, because it has special geological features and extreme conditions of cold and dry that are considered to represent the closest analogues on Earth to what we expect to find on Mars.

The goal of AMASE is to test technology for future 'Search for Life' missions to Mars. The scientists and engineers study geological and biological interactions in the world’s northernmost hot-springs, glaciers and volcanoes. The team integrates life-detection equipment with the capabilities of a Mars Rover and an Astronaut. Several instruments that will fly to Mars on board future NASA and ESA Rover-based missions in 2009 and 2013 have been put through their paces under the most extreme conditions.

Back to top

Speakers include:

• Hans Amundsen, Physics of Geological Processes, University of Oslo, Norway
• Oliver Botta, International Space Science Institute, Bern Switzerland
• Pamela Conrad, NASA, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA
• Howell Edwards, University of Bradford, UK
• Marilyn Fogel, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, USA
• Susana Jorge Villas University of Burgos, Spain
• John Parnell, University of Aberdeen, UK
• Mark Sims, University of Leicester, UK
• Andrew Steele, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, USA
• Frances Westall, Centre de Biophysique Moléculaire, CNRS, Orléans, France