MDRS Crew 39
The Leonardo Project - April 17 - 30, 2005

The crew of the Mars Desert Research Station rotates every 2 weeks. These are the scientists and engineers who live and work on site within the MDRS. They explore all of the facets of human exploration in a simulated Mars environment. The MDRS will be active for a 7 month period.

Name	Speciality
Ricardo Patrício	Commander, Portugal, Mechanical Engineer, Active Space Technologies (CTO)
James Waldie	Australia, Systems Engineer, BAE Systems
Rémon Annes	The Netherlands, Junior R&D Engineer, National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR)
Mathias Bonnet	France, Flight Dynamics Engineer, ESA
Georg Grillmayer	Austria, Ph.D. Student, Institute of Space Systems, University of Stuttgart
Kurt Klaus	USA, Geologist, Boeing Corporation

Ricardo Patrício	Ricardo Patrício currently works for Active Space Technologies, Portugal, which is a company developing activities in Thermal Analysis and in Optoelectronics. Ricardo was born in 1977 in Coimbra, Portugal. Graduated in 2001 in Mechanical Engineering (Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics) at the 700 year old University of Coimbra. Back in 1999, the von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics, Belgium, provided his first hands-on experience in Space Sciences. He joined Plasfil (Portuguese company working on automobile plastics components design, molding and injection) in 2001, working as a Development Engineer on a project for Volvo. Later moved to the European Space Agency - ESTEC (The Netherlands), where he worked as a Thermal Engineer for 2 years. The SSP04 in Adelaide, Australia, welcomed him to the International Space University activities. In 2005, he participated in a Parabolic Flight Campaign in Bordeaux, France. Ricardo is currently persuing his MSc degree in Remote Sensing at University of Porto, Portugal. Ricardo enjoys mountainbiking (dirt / downhill), football, diving, latin dances, and snowboarding, among many other extra-curricular interests.
James Waldie	James Waldie was a Research Scholar at the University of California San Diego's Space Physiology Laboratory and is currently completing a PhD in Aerospace Engineering at RMIT University, as well as working on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) development at BAE Systems in Melbourne. He was involved in a NASA/Honeywell project to develop experimental flexible spacesuits, using mechanical counter pressure (MCP) technology. James is the Project Manager of MarsSkin, which aims to design, produce and test analogue MCP space suits that will behave in a similar fashion to the real suits which may one day be worn on Mars. He took part in the Jarntimarra-1 expedition. This marks James' second trip to MDRS, as he served on Crew 14, (Expedition One), during the second MDRS field season in 2003.
Rémon Annes	Rémon Annes grew up in Mijdrecht, the Netherlands. At an early age he became interested in space technology and exploration. Many years later he finished his Masters in aerospace engineering at Delft University of Technology and started working at the space department of the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory NLR. Projects he is currently involved in range from satellite navigation system verification to instrument thermal design to satellite mission post operations. During a summer course program organised by the International Space University he took an interest in space life science. There he learned about the effects of space on the human body, crew dynamics in extreme environments and space habitation design challenges. Having thoroughly enjoyed that, he did not hesitate when he was asked to participate in a Mars habitation research project. Among his other interests are travelling, music, movies, and all activities in and under water.
Mathias Bonnet	Mathias Bonnet was born in Annecy, France, where he spent all his childhood. Later on he graduated in applied physics after a one year exchange programme at the university of Waterloo, Canada. He finalised his studies in aerospace engineering. Mathias now has over 3 years working experience in flight dynamics. He took part in various projects such as Mars Sample Return or Rosetta before working as a Young Graduate Trainee in ESTEC, Netherlands on the Automated Transfer Vehicle. He then followed on the same project at the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France, where he currently works. Last year, Mathias followed the International Space University summer session programme, where he met and befriended the rest of the Leonardo and Mona Lisa crew. Space has always been his passion and therefore simulating a two weeks mission on Mars is an adventure that he could not turn down.
Georg Grillmayer	Georg Grillmayer became involved with the MDRS through his participation in the Summer Session Program 2004 of the International Space University. Georg was born in Austria and went to high-school in Vienna with an emphasis on electronics. He received his Master Degree in Aerospace Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA in 2002 and his Diploma Degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Stuttgart, Germany in 2003. His majors were Space Systems and Flight Mechanics & Control. During his studies Georg also spent some time in Australia and Russia within internships/exchange programs. Since 2004 Georg is employed as a research engineer at the Institute of Space Systems, University of Stuttgart, where he is part of the Small Satellite Group working on the construction of the micro-satellite Flying Laptop, which is planned to be launched at the end of 2006. Georg is responsible for the design and implementation of the attitude control system. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in this area. Georg had a great chance to experience micro-gravity during the 29th ESA Parabolic Flight Campaign in 2000 where he tested a prototype which a colleague and him had developed for the SUCCESS competition of ESA. Georg holds a pilot license for gliders and powered gliders. He also enjoys hiking, ski touring, scuba diving and other outdoor activities.
Kurt Klaus	Kurt Klaus is a hybrid; a planetary geologist doing advanced computing for an engineering company. He worked for 8.5 years in the oil and gas business as an exploration geophysicist prior to being hired by Boeing. While at Boeing, he has been involved in special project work ranging from advanced computing research to knowledge management to science consulting for Business Development. He has a B.S in Geology from Central Michigan University, a Master's Degree in Planetary Geology from the University of Houston, and is an alumnus of the 2003 Summer Session program of the International Space University. He's played guitar in wedding bands, rock bands, and punk bands and now irritates his children by playing his guitar too loud at home. He grew up watching the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo launches on television and remembers the night he woke his family to watch Neil and Buzz land and set foot on the moon. He is passionate about space exploration, the outdoors, new experiences, music and life in general. Kurt lives in Houston, Texas with his wife Maureen and three children, Austin, Lily and Hunter.