The European Space Agency in partnership with the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems has planned to send a crew of six on a 500 day simulated journey to mars in spring 2008. The entire experiment will be conducted in a 2,150 square-foot isolation facility in Moscow. The goal is to study how a long duration space journey would affect a human being psychologically and medically.
As part of the mission named Mars500, the participants will have to face simulated emergencies along with situations similar to those in a real space journey: namely, communication delays of around 20 minutes, frozen foods and medical emergencies.
In an interview, ESA scientist, Marc Heppener said:
“Our main interest is to look at the psychology of such a mission, knowing that you are enclosed for 500 days. As soon as there is a problem, the crew knows that they are on their own, and they have to solve it themselves. The only help available from the outside is through communications which may take up to 40 minutes.At the start of their mission the crew will be supplied with all the food they will have to live off for the duration of the study. They have to keep track of their consumables amongst themselves. This limited food supply could lead to additional tensions amongst the crew”.
In a statement, ESA announced:
“The goal of the experiment is to prepare “for future human exploration missions to Mars. We are currently looking for volunteers to take part in a 520-day simulated Mars mission. To go to Mars is still a dream and one of the last gigantic challenges.”
The participants will be selected among volunteers from the general public. The application for participating in the mission is available at the ESA’s Mars500 website. The applicants should be mentally tough and have a qualification in science, engineering and medicine. Good luck astronauts !
