Participants of the Mars500
experiment, which simulates a 520-day flight to Mars, pose for a
picture before entering a confinement module to start their mission
in Moscow June 3, 2010. A crew of six, who have begun a simulated
mission to Mars in a mockup that includes an interplanetary
spaceship and Mars lander, will be isolated for 520 days to test
human endurance. The crew comprises of (L-R): Alexey Sitev, Wang
Yue, Romain Charles, Sukhrob Kamolov, Diego Urbina and Alexander
Smoleevskiy.
Credit: Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin
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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Clad in a blue
jumpsuit and waving, crew member Sukhrob Kamolov quipped "See you
in 520 days!" before hopping into sealed-off chambers Thursday with
five other men taking part in a simulated trip to Mars.
To cheers and air kisses from their wives and
relatives, three Russians, a
Chinese man, a Frenchman and an Italian-Colombian entered the
wood-paneled modules where they will live until November 2011, in
an experiment to test how isolation affects people.
"So many experiments out there must be done for the first time,
and this is what we are doing for Mars," Anatoly Grigoriev, vice
president of the Russian
Academy of Sciences, told reporters before the crew "departed."
But the European Space Agency (ESA) said it would be at least 30
years before humans could go to Mars, adding it would take up to
nine months each way to reach it.
Unlike a real trip to the Red Planet, the crew on the
record-breaking Mars500 simulated flight, housed in Moscow's
Institute of Biomedical Problems, will have gravity and no exposure
to radiation.
But as on a true Mars mission, there is an alcohol ban, no fresh
air, vegetables must be grown on board and the only contact with
Earth will be via e-mail, with a 40-minute delay.
"When I was a little boy I asked if I could go to Mars and I am
now proud that I am part of making this one day happen," said
Frenchman Romain Charles, who added he will bring along his guitar
for entertainment.
Wang Yue, who had trained to be an astronaut in China, said he
would learn Russian
during the 520 days spent closeted away to communicate with the
rest of the crew.
Though both English and
Russian
are official languages on the simulated trip, not everyone has a
common tongue.
Led by Russian
commander Alexei Sitev, the crew will live and work like
astronauts from the $100-billion, 16-nation International Space
Station (ISS), and they will split their time between experiments
and exercise.
No one will be allowed in or out of the interlinking capsules,
where the men -- who were picked out of almost 10,000 applicants
and are aged between 27 and 38 -- will conduct dozens of
psychological tests and live in six-meter squared bedrooms.
Thirty days will be spent camping on a red sand-covered Martian
surface, lined with black rocks backlit by ruby and whose curved
roof glistens with fake stars.
"HARDER FOR WOMEN IN ISOLATION"
Though over a thousand women applied for the venture -- which
dictates "astronauts" must be under 185cm (6ft 1in) -- females are
notably absent from the mission.
"It is harder for a woman to be taken out of life and put in
isolation," said Mars500 project director Boris Morukov.
"The most important thing here is motivation, and limitations
would upset women. You're not allowed to talk on a telephone," he
added.
The crewmembers said they would miss women terribly during the
simulated trip but that the sacrifice was worth it.
"It will be hard but I just try to recall all the great
travelers who found the New World and who were also without their
families," Sitev said.
Last year four Russians, one German and a Frenchman successfully
completed a 105-day simulated space trip at the same
institute.
(Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman;
Editing by
Charles Dick)