Eleonore Poli

This short video was made for school students, to try and motivate them during corona, to follow their dreams. I explain shorty who I am, what my work is as an analogue astronaut and why one must pursue dreams.

An interview conducted by the Swiss embassy in the USA in September 2021. The subject was the place of aerospace in Switzerland, juggling triathlon training and PhD life, and analogue space missions.

There was a written and video interview found here :

https://bit.ly/3Csvc1V

Cockpit magazine is a swiss aerospace magazine that contacted me in January. They heard about me after I gave several talks for swiss schools and was the guest of two podcasts, all on the theme of believing in dreams and becoming an astronaut. They were interested in knowing more about my dream to become an astronaut and my training as an analogue astronaut. With the European Space Agency recruiting astronauts this year (first time in 13 years), becoming an astronaut is an extremely hot topic. I will apply for this recruitment round although I'm slightly too young for it, because preparing for it is taking a serious step closer to the stars.

In the interview, I discuss my experience as an analogue astronaut. So far, I have received training in public speaking, psychology, nutrition, health and safety, leadership, space exploration and history, but also in survival skills ! I built an igloo, did scuba diving by night in a frozen lake, slept in a tent in a snowstorm. As the commander for two analogue missions, I will be leading teams in isolation, performing together experiments, respecting tight flight plans and eating and drinking designated types and quantities of food. One analogue mission will be in a tunnel inside a mountain and last 10 days, the other in a lava tube in Iceland for 48h ! These analogue missions prepare us and prepare scientists for Moon and Mars settlements. My favourite argument for analogue missions is the following : 'We must fail down here so we succeed up there'
https://www.cockpit.aero

A short interview for the Swis Radio regarding my application as an astronaut

Sixty years ago – on 12 April 1961 – Yuri Gagarin became the first human to fly into space in his Vostok 1 spacecraft. In 108 minutes, the Soviet cosmonaut orbited the Earth and became the first human in space.
Yuri's Night Switzerland, together with the Swiss Space Museum, celebrated this historic event with an inspiring online event featuring several high-profile guests. Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate, Prof. Claude Nicollier, Swiss astronaut who spent a total of 42 days 12 hours, and 5 minutes in space, and Dr. Daniele Piazza, Lead Engineer Space at the University of Bern.
The event is hosted by Miki Adderley, Yuri's Night Switzerland, and Guido Schwarz, Swiss Space Museum.

My fellow analogue astronaut Christian Cardinaux and I were lucky to be amongst the panelists to discuss our experience as analogue astronauts and our future applications to become astronauts

An interview regarding the 8-day lunar base mission simulation for Asclepios I for the swiss television RTS1.

Interview regarding the analogue space mission Asclepios simulating 8-days in a lunar base in the Swiss mountains.

As an ambassador for IDUN Technologies, the 2nd round of interview was around the subject of an Ironman 70.3 triathlon competition.

Comment from IDUN Technologies : "We at IDUN Technologies want to unravel the mysteries of the brain. Along the way, we always have the opportunity to work with inspiring personalities.

On of these personalities is our brand ambassador Eleonore Cassandra Poli. In here young age she is a PhD candidate, astronaut and Iron Man athlete. Her ambition is to achieve great things in life and grow as both mentally and physically. We fully support that.

Last week, we had the chance to accompany her for her Iron Man competition and ask here a few questions afterwards. Tune in for our athlete portrait and get to know Eleonore in the full length interview on our page."

Short video giving advice to future commanders from the experience as a commander of Asclepios I analogue space mission

On Lucy Cavendish Research day (University of Cambridge) in March 2020, I presented my research as a first year PhD student in materials and metallurgy. I had an audience with a varied background, mainly based on education, so I had to adapt my talk to make it understandable for my audience. I started by explaining that my research focussed on alloys that were just like superheroes: super strong, super tough, resistant to all kind of environments. But like all superheroes, my alloys needed a side-kick. My coatings are like side-kicks, they allow the superhero to go even further. However, they have flaws, and my research focussed on research these flaws, what they originate from and how to prevent them.

During my MPhil in Materials & Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge, I presented my research on thermal barrier coatings for gas turbine. Thermal barrier coatings are materials that protect the base material of turbine blades by serving as a heat shield. However, the environment of turbines is full of contaminants, which can penetrate those porous thermal barrier coatings and damage the base material of the turbine, leading potentially to failure. My research was focussing on combining existing thermal barrier coatings with additions of titanium, which would serve as trap for those contaminants, reendering the thermal barrier coating corrosion resistant.

I presented my research at the Lucy Cavendish College Research day in March 2019 (University of Cambridge), for an audience of all backgrounds, so I had to reender it accessible to all. I then presented my research in a seminar at the department of Materials & Metallurgy of Cambridge.

This talk was the first edition of a series of talks on sustainable fashion. As a member of the Global Shapers Cambridge Hub, I lead a project on sustainable fashion, where we aim to raise the awareness of all on the impact of fashion on the environment. I hosted a webinar with Gordon Renouf as main speaker, CEO from the Good On You application, and coorganised by Jivan Jivanji. I explained the role of Global Shapers, the project, as well as coordinated the Q&A session

In September 2020, I was asked to be a speaker for a highschool and present my work as a candidate astronaut, scientist and analogue astronaut. I was asked to share my experience, and I chose to tell them about my failures, how they led me to a become a better person. I interacted with the students throughout the talk, trying to inspire them. I told them to become their own heroes, to never give up, and presented my recipe on how to make dreams come true. The talk was one hour long, mostly improvisation, and the public made of 80 highschool students in their 14-18s.

Podcast hosted by IDUN Technologies, where I discuss my passion for space, how the analogue space mission works and give insights on how to keep believing in dreams.

Hosted by Sheen Gurrib, this podcast aims to inspire young women and give them role models in science and different careers. I discuss my career path, give my best tips to become an astronaut.

A summary of the uses and purposes of social media and public speaking for space exploration. Why they matter, since when and how they have influenced space exploration so far.

Habitat Marte hosts analogue space missions which simulate a base on Mars. For the function of the mission, concepts of base design are prepared by the astronauts of the mission. This 1h presentation was focussed on the needs of engineering centre needed Mars, with a focus on the habitat design, the ressources, the astronaut roles, the food and material supply as well as applied technologies needed.

As part of a series of YouTube videos, this video discusses inspiring moments from astronauts.

This talk was given in November 2021 as part of the TEDx Zürich 2021 event. The title, Analogue space missions: a rehearsal of mistakes for the achievement of greatness, is in reference to the need for mistakes for improvement in everyday tasks. It explains what analogue space msisions are and why we need to have them and to make mistakes for planetary exploration and space exploration in general.

Interview of Helen Bremm, PhD student at the University of Cambridge in arts. Discussion on the similarities of the material characterization techniques used for different purposes.

For the AGM of KBB, Berner Baumeister Verband, Eleonore gave a talk on 'mastering challenges'-'Herausforderungen meistern', in front of 150 guests in German. Using experience from analogue space missions, research, space and sports, Eleonore talked about the 4 principal pillars of mastering challenges: training, making mistakes, communicating and dreaming.

Course on analogue space missions: from history to building your own space mission, Eleonore teaches a full class on the subject with small quizzes to help cement the knowledge.

Interview of BIS president Alistair Scott within the British Interplanetary Society's HQ. Alistair talks about his life, BIS and the vision of the past and future of the society.

In the context of the Voices project from the Global Shapers, a series of workshops designed to help women be empowered and find their voices was created. This class was on the subject of public speaking, teaching all how to talk in public, prepare.

Analogue space missions are key for the future of space exploration. With the return to the Moon and coming exploration of Mars, analogue missions open a wide range of habitats, experiments and trainings to prepare for it. In addition to the progress made in science, analogue missions are an extremely interesting platform to teach and learn, how to push oneself, how to work optimally in teams and how to work for the future of humanity. Is space unsustainable No, not necessarily. And analogue missions are the proof of that.

As part of the Smart Diaspora event in Timisoara, Romania, Eleonore talked about her academic and scientific parcours, and how to keep researcher happy and keep them in a country to prevent 'Smart Diaspora'. Having studied in 3 different universities, in 3 different languages and different countries, it provided an example of different conditions and settings for research and studies.

For the Cansat competion, students from the School of Design of Timisoara, Romania, had to design flightsuits. As an introduction, a presentation on space and spacesuits was given before the flightsuits were selected with a jury including Eleonore. After that, careers in aerospace and how to get there were shown to students of mechanical engineering and computer science at the Polytechnical University of Timisoara.

As part of the Swiss Tech Ladies program, I was asked to give a class to several high school and was interview by the swiss national TV.

Interview in German which was dubbed in French, interview conducted during Fantasy Basel 2024 at the Swiss Space Museum booth.

Dr. Eleonore Poli represented the BIODYSSEUS MISSION during the CHASM conference she organised in 2024 at EPFL, Lausanne, BIODYSSEUS will be a subice habitat to conduct research on climate change and space missions.

As a speaker for Grenzdenken, Eleonore Poli discussed how analogue astronauts, space, extreme environments and endurance sports push the limits of the possible to reach the impossible.

For this TEx talk at the University of Napoli, Dr. Eleonore Poli presented the challenges of space and how those suffering from a disability might be better astronauts than astronauts.

Swiss Economic Forum 2024 – Erfolgreiche 26. Ausgabe in Interlaken

Am 6. und 7. Juni 2024 fand das Swiss Economic Forum mit 1350 Teilnehmenden und rund 70 Referierenden aus Wirtschaft, Politik und Wissenschaft statt. Unter dem Motto «Entschlossenheit und Resilienz» standen die aktuellen Herausforderungen der Schweizer Wirtschaft und die Rolle der KMU im Fokus.

Zu den Highlights zählten Beiträge von Bundespräsidentin Viola Amherd, Sanna Marin, der ehemaligen finnischen Ministerpräsidentin, und Michael R. Pompeo, dem 70. US-Außenminister. Inspirierende Einblicke lieferten auch Persönlichkeiten wie Thomas Schäfer (Volkswagen), Lia Wälti (Profi-Fußballerin) und Eleonore Poli (Analog-Astronautin).

Viola Amherd, Bundesrätin, sprach am SEF.2024 über die angespannte globale Lage und die Herausforderungen für die Schweiz. Sie betonte die Instabilität durch den Ukraine-Krieg und den Angriff der Hamas auf Israel: «Die Weltlage ist so instabil und angespannt wie seit Jahr- zehnten nicht mehr.»

Im Gespräch mit Urs Gredig sagte Pompeo, der Westen müsse Putin mit den finanziellen Folgen des Ukraine-Krieges und weiteren Invasionen abschrecken. «Man darf sich nicht defensiv verhalten, sondern in die Offensive gehen.»

Thomas Schäfer sprach über die Herausforderungen der Elektroautobranche. Er erkannte eine Krise wegen hoher Strompreise und geänderter Förderkulissen in Europa. Die Zusammen- arbeit von Industrie, Politik und Gesellschaft sei entscheidend für die Mobilitätswende. «Die hohen Strompreise schmälern unsere Wettbewerbsfähigkeit.»

«Der Frauenfussball ist ehrlicher. Wir verbringen weniger Zeit am Boden.»
Wälti sprach über die Herausforderungen von Verletzungen. Eine Knie-Operation habe sie vom Spiel abgehalten, aber sie sehe solche Phasen als Chance, stärker zurückzukommen. Ihre Leidenschaft für den Sport bleibe ungebrochen. Schon im Kindergarten habe sie lieber mit dem Fuss als mit der Hand gespielt.

While many of us may have dreamed of becoming astronauts when we were younger, only a select few people have the skills and determination necessary to make it a reality. Here today to share her story is Eleonore Poli, an analog astronaut, Ph.D. student, Founder of CHASM and Climate Clock Project, Career Astronaut candidate, and the first guest in our new miniseries with AdvancingX, which aims to inspire the next generation of Career Astronauts. In this episode, Eleonore shares how she applies science in her day-to-day life to keep herself productive and fulfilled. Dedicated to reshaping the world for the better, she aims to prepare for the future of space exploration while also using her knowledge to improve life on Earth. Join us as we take a deep dive into productivity, workflows, morning and evening routines, nutrition, supplementation, and sports performance, and how Eleonore manages to do all this while living a happy, healthy, and fulfilled life. She also offers her perspective on burnout (and how to prevent it), what it means to be mission-oriented in a sustainable way, and much more. Eleonore’s unique knowledge, experience, and perspective are enough to take us above and beyond the stratosphere, so be sure to strap yourself in for an out-of-this-world conversation!

Key Points From This Episode:

Introducing AdvancingX and their Career Astronaut program. [00:50]
The varied skills and competencies that you need to become an astronaut. [11:11]
Whether Eleonore considers herself a specialist or a specialized generalist. [13:36]
A typical day in her life (and why you should make time to ”change your horizon”). [20:09]
Strategies that Eleonore uses to stay on top of her busy schedule. [24:39]
Finding a balance between headbanging and cramming for exams! [31:54]
How Eleonore knows that she’s starting to burn out and how she prevents it. [32:58]
The value of introducing a little bit of danger to your life! [38:40]
Ways to “microdose” the effects of danger, such as heat and cold exposure. [40:24]
What Ironman taught Eleonore about the importance of planning and procedure. [43:55]
The role of visualization in reducing decision fatigue in Eleonore’s life. [46:37]
Insight into Eleonore’s approach toward her diet and nutrition. [54:16]
How recording your good ideas wherever you are can increase your productivity. [57:02]
Activities that might increase your chance of having good ideas in the first place. [1:01:08]
Eleonore’s advice for getting the most out of life: discipline yourself, get excited! [1:11:13]