Diego Urbina

Member of the the 520-day isolation crew of the Mars500 study.

Current activity
He is taking part in medical and psychological examinations to follow their recovery for six months after the mission. At the same time, he is working on a final report and taking part in other post-mission activities. European crewmembers are based at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, before returning to their former occupations in April 2012.

Employment:
Crewmember at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, USA in January 2010, researching the growth of tropical plants and spacesuit constraints.

Education:
Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Electronics Engineering from the Politecnico di Torino, in Turin, Italy and a master’s degree in Space Studies from the International Space University, in Strasbourg, France.

Other experience:
Attitude and Orbit Control Systems researcher for the Aramis nanosatellite at the Politecnico di Torino in 2008. Following graduation, Urbina spent time as an outreach and educational activity organiser in the developing world. Prior to this he was an operations and astronaut training intern at the Neutral Buoyancy Facility of ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany from May to August 2009. Urbina participated in the ‘Image Reversal In Space’ (IRIS) experiment for the ISS, supporting numerous measurements for baseline data collection and testing the experiment during ESA’s 50th Parabolic Flight Campaign in 2009.

Interests/hobbies:
Scuba diving, graphic design, drawing, fitness training and football.  
 
Last update: 23 November 2011