After a digital reboot, IGLUNA is still shooting for the moon

The SWAG team from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences © SWAG | IGLUNA - Due to the ongoing health crisis, the 15 international teams taking part in IGLUNA 2020 had to forget this year's field campaign. Instead, they livestreamed their project presentations to the general public and aerospace professionals. As it turns out, the theme of the second edition of IGLUNA - "A remote-controlled space habitat" - was aptly fitting under the current circumstances. Coordinated by the Swiss Space Center, as part of the European Space Agency's [email protected] initiative, IGLUNA focuses on designing technologies that will help astronauts live in space. Starting in September 2019, 150 students from 10 European countries put their expertise and creativity to the test. They worked on topics such as how to design living spaces, produce oxygen, food and electricity, navigate and communicate with Earth, maintain physical and mental health, and conduct scientific experiments. A special year "For 2020, we raised the bar by introducing remote-controlled operations," says Tatiana Benavides, project manager at the Swiss Space Center.