Portugal invests 600,000 euros to investigate Mars
- Portugal Business News - Valerie Charoux
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Space News Europe - Portugal invests 600,000 euros to investigate Mars through five research projects funded by the European Space Agency under the PROSSE program as listed below:
The PROSSE Space Research Program operates under the European Space Agency (ESA) that funds research on platforms ranging from terrestrial and suborbital environments to microgravity and orbital missions.
Here are the Portugal Space Agency´s 5 research projects to investigate Mars:
1 - The CO2 conversion on Mars project ARES - Institute of Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion (IPFN) of the IST
The 1st Portuguese Space Agency´s project to investigate Mars under the ESA PROSSE program in 2026 is ¨the CO2 conversion on Mars project ARES¨ by the Institute of Plasmas and Nuclear Fusion (IPFN) under Portuguese Institute IST (Instituto Superior Técnico).
2 - The cell culture project Ocean2Orbit - Centre for Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA) of the University of Minho
The 2nd Portuguese Space Agency´s project to investigate Mars under the ESA PROSSE program in 2026 is ¨The cell culture project Ocean2Orbit ¨ by the Centre for Molecular and Environmental Biology (CBMA) of the University of Minho.
Portugal´s new Space research projects reflect the response of an increasingly broad scientific ecosystem, capable of taking Space exploration from the study of radiation on Mars to the sustainable production of food, according to Joan Alabart, Manager of Space Exploration, Entrepreneurship and Innovation programs at the Portuguese Space Agency.
3 - The microfluidic system project FingertipSpace - Iberian Nanotechnology Institute (INL)
The 3rd Portuguese Space Agency´s project to investigate Mars under the ESA PROSSE program in 2026 is ¨The microfluidic system project FingertipSpace ¨ by the Iberian Nanotechnology Institute (INL).
4 - MARSEP - LIP Lisboa
The 4th Portuguese Space Agency´s project to investigate Mars under the ESA PROSSE program in 2026 is the ¨MARSEP¨ project by LIP Lisboa.
The MARSEP Space research project selected by the Portuguese Space Agency to investigate Mars will characterize high-energy solar particles that reach Mars, cross-referencing data from the JUICE and BepiColombo missions with machine learning reconstructions of Martian orbiters, in order to support Space weather science and the assessment of radiation risks in future manned missions.
“The MARSEP project, led by LIP, will work with data from missions such as JUICE or Bepicolombo , taking advantage of national investment in scientific missions like these. The next phase involves technical support from ESA specialists, which is crucial to bringing each project from proposal to completion” - Marta Gonçalves, Science Program Manager at the Portuguese Space Agency.
5 - TOWER - Institute of Telecommunications & the Institute of Systems and Robotics of IST Lisbon.
The 5th Portuguese Space Agency´s project to investigate Mars under the ESA PROSSE program in 2026 is the ¨TOWER¨ project by the IST ( Instituto Superior Técnico) of Lisbon.
The TOWER Space research project selected by the Portuguese Space Agency to investigate Mars aims to convert the stairwell of a building on the IST Alameda Campus into a free-fall tower with approximately 2.5 seconds of microgravity, under a project designed to serve experiments in various scientific fields.
