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For Mars feel, locked up for 520 days |
MOSCOW: An international team of
researchers in Russia on Thursday began a grueling simulation of a flight to
Mars that will keep them locked in a cascade of windowless modules for 520 days
— the amount of time required for a journey to the Red Planet and back to
Earth.
While the experiment, conducted jointly by Russia, China and
the European Space Agency, will not involve weightlessness, it will try to
tackle some of the psychological challenges of a real flight to Mars —
particularly the stress, claustrophobia and fatigue that a real space crew would
face during interplanetary travel.
The six-member, all-male crew
— consisting of three Russians, a Frenchman, an Italian-Colombian and a
Chinese — expressed confidence that the mission would be a success. Diego
Urbina, the Italian-Colombian member, said the mission would mean
“accomplishing dreams about the future, doing something that no human has
done before.”
Psychologists said the simulation can be even
more demanding that a real flight because the crew won’t experience any of
the euphoria or dangers of actual space travel. They have also warned that
months of space travel would push the team to the limits of endurance as they
grow increasingly tired of each other.
Well aware of this hazard, crew
members equipped themselves accordingly. For instance, French participant Romain
Charles said he was bringing along a guitar so he could entertain the other team
members.
The main task of the Mars-500 experiment, conducted by the
Moscow-based Institute for Medical and Biological Problems, will study the
effects of long isolation to better understand how a real space crew should cope
with stress and fatigue.
The facility for the experiment is located
in Russia’s premier space medicine center. It is comprised of several
interconnected modules with a total volume of 550 cubic meters and a separate
built-in imitator of the Red Planet’s surface for a mock
landing.
The researchers will communicate with the outside world via
internet — delayed and occasionally disrupted to imitate the effects of
space travel. They will eat canned food similar to that currently offered on the
International Space Station and take a shower once every 10 days —
mimicking space conditions. The crew will have two days off in a week, except
when emergencies are simulated.
The ESA said the crew will also
regularly play video games as part of the agency’s project to develop
personalized software to interact with crews on future missions.
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