In February 2013, the Austrian Space Forum with the logistic and financial support of the Ibn Battuta Centre organised a month-long testing of several aspects of the human and robotic Mars exploration. Taking advantage of the amazing nature of the Moroccan site and the efficient and effective logistics of the Moroccan field locations, the Austrian Space Forum was able to deploy in the field a large amount of personnel, scientific instruments and support material. The experiments were successful and the operations were run smoothly. Satellite communication provided by the Ibn Battuta Centre linked the field camp directly with the Innsbruck–based operations centre. The complex operations and the highly demanding tests of the Austrian Space Forum evaluated the quality of the Ibn Battuta sites as planetary analogues, and checked the reliability of the Ibn Battuta Centre approach to field operations.

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Images courtesy of Austrian Space Forum