MyScience.ie

This is an interesting story for any budding young astronauts out there. A team of researchers, led by the European Space Agency, have begun a marathon simulation of a spaceflight to the Red Planet, which will see them take part in a series of experiments isolating them from the outside world for 520 days.

The experiment will take place in a simulation module in Russia, at the Moscow Institute for Biomedical Problems, and will see the would-be astronauts, made up of volunteers from Russia, France, Belgium, Italy, and China, placed in isolation in the module for over a year.

One of the main aims of the project, which will consist of the simulation of the journey out to Mars, the “landing” on Mars, and the return journey, will be to determine how the minds and bodies of the researchers hold up during the experiment. The psychological impact, along with the physical effects of being in a cramped space for over a year, will be important things to consider when planning a trip to somewhere like Mars.

Each researcher will have a single bedroom, the size of which will be only three square metres, each with a bed, table, and chair. Other areas of the simulation module include a sports area, provisions store, and a room for medical emergencies.

To make things as real as possible, the experiment was designed right down to the very last detail. For one of the researchers, Frenchman Romain Charles, the level of detail was surprising. Commenting on the number of space-suits included on the “flight”, Charles joked: “when our clothes get dirty, we don’t wash them, we throw them out – out to outer space!”

For more, see the Mars 500 website