2023-11 Camoes Azores

During the CAMoes project, our CEO Torsten Kriening spoke with Paulo Barcelos from CAMoes Mission Control. Paulo is the Chairman of the Board of our lead Azores host organisation, Associação Os Montanheiros, and manages the Natal Cave. Has over 25 years as a speleologist exploring lava tubes and caves across the Azores islands. He teaches speleology and safety in caves and facilitates Azores and Angra host government engagement, permits, and environmental approvals for the mission.

The goal of this first analog mission is to prove the use of Azorean volcanic caves as a scientific and research space analog context for multisectoral and long-term investigations. Here some facts about the mission. This seven-day space research analog will take place in the Natal Cave on Terceira Island. Seven crew members will spend six nights and seven days in this lava tube cave, the first people to overnight in this environment.