The Mars Desert Research Station is one of the first attempts of a comprehensive integration of planetary field sciences and research schemes with developing an extensive appreciation of manned space exploration beyond Earth's orbit in mind. Austromars is an interdisciplinary project containing experiments from the area of fundamental research and practical sciences. The spin-off potential is quite high which means technologies developed for mars research are applied in non space related fields from mobile monitoring of patients to waste management.

AM11 BioMars

During a manned mars mission the contamination of soil samples (especially when looking for traces of life) means a major microbiological challenge. Within the scope of Biomars for the first time the amount of forward (i.e. from the habitat to the martian environment) but also backward contamination (i.e. the possibility of introducing biological material from the environment into the habitat and eventually into the ecosystem of our planet) will be quantified. The Biomars team analyses the magnitude of contamination via microspherules (microscopically small plastic balls) which are able to fluoresce and other microbiological techniques.

AM12 TeleMars

An astronomical outpost on Mars exhibits advantages also because of its location like observing of objects in our solar system from two different point of views (Earth and Mars) or the observation of Mars' atmosphere by monitoring its absorption behaviour (for example obverse the light of well analysed stars). So astronomers can measure shorttimed variations concerning the chemical composition exactly. Within the scope of Austromars handling of a small telescope on Mars are also revised.

AM13 PhysioMars

A heavy lifesupport system in a backpack, a lot of EVAs: already weakend by a journey in zero gravity lasting several months the crew of a mars mission suffers when conducting unaccustomed muscular burden. Physiotherapical methods are able to lower the risk of injuries and at the same time will increase the efficiency of the astronauts. For the first time a MDRS crew gets a brief training in physiotherapy to identify muscular burden patterns and to implement simple countermeasures (massage etc.).

AM14 GeoMars

One of the most important tasks of mars exploration is the geophysical and geological characterisation of the surface, e.g. to search for traces of water and information about the red planet's climatic history. With the help of remote sensing data, pictures made by a flying robot and an unmanned rover as well as the Austromars flight crew the choice of the best locations for taking soil samples, the ideal way of sample handling and on-site analysis are simulated.

AM15 MedMars

"Mobile Monitoring of Patients" is one of medicine's booming branch. During the Austromars mission it is used to monitor the crew completely when on EVA: a monitoring system which is build into the lifesupport system backpack sends data like ECG, carbondioxid concentration of the air or the temperature to the habitat and mission control center. Additionally emergency medical aid treatment (like recovering of a hurt analogue-astronaut) is being trained.

AM16 PsychoMars

If six people live together in a 24 square metres station in a hostile environment for two weeks, there exists a risk for extreme psychological situations which imperils the success of the mission seriously. The PsychoMars experiment studies how stress develops under these extraordinary conditions and which countermeasures the psychologists in the mission control center can apply. For these purposes measurements of hormones in the saliva, video observation and written test batteries are used. Additionally the selection process for finding the best crew configuration is part of these experiments.

AM17 LBNP

The Lower-Body-Negative-Pressure test means that the final candidates for the flight crew selection are lying on a rotatable couch: in a cylinder which seals the lower body from the waistline downwards the airpressure is lowered until the body fluids shift which leads to temporary unconsciousness. That exposure can be compared with a blackout which occures when the analogue space suit's heat regulation fails. At the same time the hormonal stress level is also determined during this experiment.