Filenews 20 October 2021 - by Pavlos Neophytou
In Cyprus are the scientists of the international space research project measuring the age of the soil of Mars.
Scientists from the Italian Space Agency, the European Space Agency, NASA and Universities from Europe arrived at the invitation of the Cyprus Space Exploration Agency (CSEO) to conduct surveys in Troodos, whose areas resemble the territory of Mars.
Specifically, scientists will test the mechanism that will study the age of the rocks of Mars.
"We are a global consortium: Cyprus, Italy, Spain and NASA. And we are working on the Intime program, which is about the mechanism that will study the age of the rocks of Mars. All stakeholders agreed that the assembly of this mechanism, whose pieces were manufactured in other countries, will take place in October in the laboratories of the Cyprus Space Exploration Agency in Nicosia," the Agency's President George Danos said last month in an interview with philenews.
"For weeks, dozens of scientists from the consortium will be in Cyprus to set up the mechanism and test it in specific areas of Troodos, which resemble the territory of Mars," he added.
«How will this mechanism be and how will the tests be done in Troodos?" we asked Mr. Danos.
''It will be mounted on one of the arms of a robot that will reach Mars in a subsequent space. As far as the tests in Troodos are concerned, we will go to specific areas that we will pre-agree with the Geological Survey Department of the Republic of Cyprus. Here I should mention that in recent years we "ploughed" Troodos with this Department, in order to choose the appropriate areas... There will be a small robotic part of the mechanism, with dimensions of about 20 by 20 centimetres. As incredible as it may seem, it will be an image taken from a science fiction movie. Something completely unprecedented and at the same time very important for Cyprus."
As the president of CSEO pointed out, from now on we will hear more about Cyprus' successes in space exploration.
