Plans to go to Mars.

For 520 days 6 individuals will undergo a simulation to test how a trip to Mars will affect these people. To make matters interesting they are crammed in a 20,000 cubic feet space. It sounds OK, but you have to figure in the 18 months worth of food, and work equipment that take up space.

Two of the six members have been announced so far, Romain Charles and Diego Urbina. Three Russians and a Chinese will be announced in June as the other members of this experiment.

This to be a test of how the astronauts are affected psychologically, where scientists can study how isolation, close quarters will affect suck a mission as this. There is no word if we will go to Mars if the test subjects don't manage to rip each others heads off. I for one hope we do.

Ultimate experiment

Mars500 is a 520-day simulated mission to Mars. The sealed mockup includes an interplanetary spaceship, a Mars lander and a martian landscape. Housed in Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow, the modules provide 550 m³ of living space.

The crew will have in the chamber food that shall last for the full duration, and the crew has to manage their consumption accordingly. Communication is only via e-mail and the connection will occasionally be disrupted. It will include also a maximum of 40-minute delay, as on a real Mars mission. They will be monitored and their psychological and physiological parameters recorded throughout the mission.

The experiment, as long as a real journey to Mars, will test technologies for extremely long flights, but it is also unique as a test of human endurance.


Like a real spaceflight

The crew will live and work like astronauts on the International Space Station, and their life will resemble that of Station astronauts: maintenance, scientific experiments and daily exercise. They will follow a seven-day week, with two days off, except when special and emergency situations are simulated.

During the 'surface operations' after 250 days, the crew will be divided, with three moving to the martian 'surface', while the other three remain in the orbiting 'spacecraft' for a month. The landing crew will venture out on the 'Martian' surface wearing modified Russian Orlan spacesuits.

I have found two articles about this.

Popsci

www.esa.int...ESA news

I hope they can resist killing each other, they are in a space roughly the size of a cargo container for over a year and a half. I wonder how that gonna go. It is great news to hear that they are testing this, just means we are that much closer to going to Mars, or beyond.





[edit on 12-5-2010 by Pajjikor]