With a predominant focus on geological science and robot operations, EMMIHS-III aims to widen our knowledge on lava tubes and how to explore them.

Michaela Musilova

Mission Commander

Dr. Michaela Musilova is an astrobiologist with a focus on life in extreme environments. She has a PhD degree from the University of Bristol (UK). Michaela studied and conducted research at University College London (UK), California Institute of Technology (USA), Chiba University (Japan) and others.

She is also a graduate from the International Space University  and UK Space Agency's MoonLite project; being an analogue astronaut in NASA's and the University of Hawaii (UH)'s HI-SEAS simulated mission to Mars, and commander of such a mission at the Mars Desert Research Station. Michaela is currently the Director for HI-SEAS missions, as part of UH and the International MoonBase Alliance.

She is also a visiting professor at the Slovak University of Technology, vice-chair of the Slovak Organisation for Space Activities (SOSA), lecturer for ISU and a senior research adviser for Mission Control Space Services Inc. Michaela has received numerous prizes and grants, including the Emerging Space Leaders Grant from the International Astronautical Federation (2016); Women in Aerospace- Europe Young Professional Award (2016) and the 30 under 30 Forbes Slovakia recognition (2015).

Michaela is actively involved in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, as a patron of the programme in Slovakia and an Emerging Leader Representative for Europe, Mediterranean and Arab states. Furthermore, she enjoys participating in STEAM outreach activities from teaching at schools, giving public presentations, to working with the media and more, as well as encouraging people to pursue their dreams.

Contact: musilova@moonbasealliance.com

Marc Heemskerk

Lead Scientist

Marc is an earth scientist from the VU Amsterdam, specializing in Moon and Mars In-Situ-Resource-Utilization (ISRU). After two EMMIHS missions acting as remote support and one of the two Dutch student coordinators for IGLUNA, he is now selected as the lead scientist for the EMMIHS-III mission. With his research projects, he aims to aid lunar human habitation from an ISRU perspective in a safe, efficient, and innovative manner.

During his BSc. in Earth Sciences, Marc constructed concrete building blocks from lunar and Martian analogue soils. These blocks have proven to be extremely weather-resistant and yield compressive strengths large enough to support multi-story houses on Earth.

Being one of two Heemskerk brothers during the campaign, his research focuses on the discovery and exploration of lava tubes, using gradiometric data. Lunar lava tubes are still generally unexplored, while they can possess great housing potential. With his role within EMMIHS-III, he hopes to further introduce humanity to the benefits of living in space and ease the transition of permanent human settlements on the lunar surface.

Contact: marcvheemskerk@gmail.com

Kyla Pumehana Edison

Planetary Geologist

Kyla is the Geology and Material Science Technician for the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems (PISCES), a state funded aerospace agency dedicated to promoting the aerospace industry in Hawai'i through applied research, economic development, and outreach and education. Kyla attended the University of Hawai'i at Hilo majoring in Geology with a minor in Astronomy. Kyla focused her studies on Planetary Geology and Volcanology.
In 2015 and 2016 Kyla was awarded a NASA Hawai'i Space Grant Consortium Fellowship researching the morphology and formation processes of Martian gullies found in craters. During her time in college Kyla was a frequent summer intern for PISCES. Working on projects such as, site characterization, rover analog characterization, and material science.
After graduating in 2016 Kyla landed a job at PISCES as the Geology and Material Science Technician due to her experience working with basaltic lava and igneous petrology. Kyla took on the Materials Science research at PISCES and is currently investigating if all basalt feedstocks regardless of chemical and mineral abundances are appropriate for making durable construction materials that may be applicable to future base settlements on the moon and Mars. Kyla creates tiles through a process known as sintering (similar to ceramics). The basalt feedstock is crushed, dried, sieved and then fired in a kiln between 2,100 °F and 2,150 °F.
While in the habitat Kyla will be sampling the surrounding lava flows, characterize their mineralogy and then sinter them in a miniature kiln. The goal of her research is test if the surrounding flows are capable of making a durable material and to test the affects of high altitude on the sintering process.

Lucas Brasileiro

Chief Engineer

Lucas is an aerospace engineer and PhD student at Université de Technologie de Troyes, in France. He obtained his degree at Universidade de Brasilia and has completed a Master 2 at ISAE - SUPAERO in Toulouse, in the domain of Space Systems Design and Operation with a pathway in Structure and Materials.
Lucas' PhD is a study of the Surface Mechanical Attrition Treatment (SMAT) on metals under high cycle bending fatigue.

In 2016, he was selected to take part of a program set up by Airbus Safran Launchers for Brazilian students in aerospace engineering. The program consisted of studying the Master 2 at ISAE-SUPAERO, an internship in one of the Airbus groups.
He had the opportunity to be a part of the Brazilian Launcher Project developed by Airbus Safran. His internship was a study of the fatigue life resistance of a steel for Airbus Helicopter gearboxes, a collaboration between Airbus Helicopters and the Institute of Mechanics and Mechanical Engineering (I2M) at ENSAM Bordeaux.

Lucas intends to gather information about the efficiency of SMAT in enhancing wear properties of a steel drill bit for drilling operations in hard surfaces while staying at the habitat.
He is going to perform drilling operations on rocky surfaces throughout the mission. He is going to bring two drill bits, one SMAT treated and the other not. Compare both later to see if there was any wear resistance after treating with SMAT.
This could be important to provide more information related to the capacities of this treatment, which has been proven to be a better alternative to shot-peening in many cases. For longer space missions, having tools SMAT treated could deliver a more reliable material for different purposes.

Robert Heemskerk

Rover Engineer

Robert is one of the Heemskerk brothers from the Netherlands on the EMMIHS-III mission. During his Mechanical Engineering bachelor, he participated in designing a hazard perception training for, being a real Dutchman, cyclists. He is now pursuing a masters degree in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in BioMechanical Design and Haptic Interfaces.

In the year 2017/2018 he participated in DREAM-team Wasub. Here, being Chief of Drivetrain & Propulsion, he and his department designed the drivetrain for a human powered submarine. Designing from scratch, drawing the 3D CAD models, visiting sponsoring companies, milling the parts, and assembling, testing and maintaining the drivetrain were the main tasks during this interesting year. And a succesfull year: taking home four awards and finishing second overall on the European International Submarine Races in July 2018!

Roberts research will be about rover-rover cooperation. With three (maybe four) rovers of completely different sizes, design purposes, and propulsion mechanisms he will first test each individual capabilities and weaknesses. Then he will investigate how these rovers can assist eachother.
In future planetary missions it is very likely that robot-robot cooperation is needed. Such cooperation on exploratory tasks is what is investigated during this research.

Priyanka Das Rajkakati

Executive Officer/Commander-in-training

Priyanka is an Indian-origin French Aerospace engineer (by profession) and artist (at heart). A double-degree engineering graduate from Ecole Polytechnique and ISAE-Supaéro, she is currently pursuing a CIFRE PhD in GNSS technology at Safran and ISAE-Supaéro. She is extremely passionate about Space and wants to help build the first lunar and Martian human bases (and go there!)

She has been a part of ILEWG EuroMoonMars as an artist for the Moon Gallery, and now as analog-astronaut for EMMIHS-III. During the mission, she will conduct experiments on robotics, navigation and mapping, as well as train under Michaela Musilova as commander-in-training. She will also testing her brainwave-measuring device and adapt experiments on crew psychology.