GMV connects habitats across the globe in the World’s Biggest Space Analog Mission

The World’s Biggest Analog Mission (WBA), the largest Moon and Mars simulation campaign ever conducted, has officially begun. Coordinated by the Austrian Space Forum (OeWF), the mission brings together 17 institutions on five continents to emulate life and research in off-Earth settlements. At the heart of this global endeavor lies GMV’s cutting-edge Operations Support Tools (OST), enabling communication, coordination, and planning between habitats around the world.

Installed at OeWF’s Mission Coordination Center in Vienna, OST provides the operational backbone of the mission, linking analog astronauts in 16 habitats across Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and the Americas. The system allows seamless coordination across multiple time zones, manages simulated communication delays, and ensures efficient execution of daily activities —a vital function for such a globally distributed mission.

GMV’s OST suite is a modular platform designed to support mission control centers in planning, coordinating, and executing space operations. Already in operational use at the Columbus Control Centre of the International Space Station (ISS), OST has been adapted for the WBA mission to meet the challenges of analog research on a planetary scale.

With OST linking habitats across five continents, GMV technology is demonstrating its ability to connect and coordinate operations in extreme environments, a key capability for the next generation of lunar bases and Mars missions.

By supporting analog missions that simulate human life and operations on the Moon and Mars, GMV is contributing to the preparation of future crewed missions beyond Earth orbit. The lessons learned from WBA will help shape tools and procedures for real missions, where astronauts will rely on similar systems to ensure safety, autonomy, and efficiency millions of kilometers from home.