That day, “The Mars Society Chile” inauguration took place at the venues of Vaparaíso’s Natural History Museum, in Chile’s Fifth Region. The event was led by the society’s executive director, physicist Priscilla Nowajewski Barra, who is also one of the advisors of the Committee for Studies on Anomalous Aerial Phenomena, CEFAA.

The Committee’s researcher, Gustavo Arriagada, was present at the event, along with several academics from Universidad de Chile, Universidad Católica, Universidad de Concepción and Universidad de Valparaíso.

Priscilla Nowajewski said that the group’s goal will be to generate opportunities of applied research in fields that could be useful for the exploration of the Red Planet and a methodology appliable to enhance the general well being and environment of the Earth.

 

The group will also study lake systems at the high plateau and the Northern desert, including extremophile micro organisms which have adapted to extreme environments regarding temperature, salinity, acidity and oxygen scarcity.  

It also contemplates the design of rovers and habitable spaces that could be used in the future exploration of Mars.

On the occasion, CEFAA’s researcher spoke to the gathered academics about the Committee’s mission and main goal of supporting the aerial operations’ safety.

He also mentioned the huge amount of aerial operations in Chile —more than 500,000 per year— and that more than 20 million passengers choose air travel yearly.

During 2018, CEFAA has received more than one hundred reports from all corners of the national territory, from Arica in the North to the Region of Magallanes and the Chilean Antarctic, including aeronautical cases.