Record 520-Day Mock Mars Mission Begins in Russia

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T95FWN2oDZQ[/youtube]

ESA | September 15, 2010

This 15 September is the 105th day for the "Mars 500" crew, meaning they have now passed as much time in isolation than the previous experience conducted last year to prepare for this simulation of a journey to Mars.
Since 3 June a crew of six, including two Europeans, is inside a spacecraft mockup at the Russian Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow.
This experiment is planned to last 520 days, as long as a real trip to the red planet.

 

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Text version :

www.esa.int : 105 days in isolation – and counting – for 400 more

15 September 2010



Sailing now in interplanetary space on their simulated mission towards the ‘Red Planet’, the Mars500 crew has entered in a new phase of their isolation. The previous mission endured 105 days in 2009 and from now on, everything in this experiment is new.

 

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fBnFITOZWA[/youtube]

RussiaToday | September 19, 2010

Six men taking part in an experiment simulating a trip to Mars have set a record. They've spent over a hundred days confined in a sealed spacecraft-like capsule - the longest time so far for projects of this kind. And they've over 400 days still to go, in this ultimate test of human endurance, as Tom Barton reports.

 

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www.esa.int : Diego and Romain answer your questions

24 September 2010



The Mars500 crew is answering your questions by email and the first answers are now here.

Questions are welcome from the members of the media and also from anyone else who his interested. As on a real trip to Mars this is not in real-time, questions will be relayed to them through 'mission control'.

Please think carefully about your question and keep it short - the best questions will be selected and sent to the crew to answer! They will answer as many as they can but also have a busy work schedule.

The address is: mars500crew@esa.int.

..

Hi,
have you brought any sci-fi books/movies involving space travelling (like Alien etc)? If so, what is it like to read/watch them while being part of this eksperiment?
Jarle, Norway
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Hello Jarle,
We have brought with us a lot of Sci-fi books and movies. Each time that we watch one of them, we always comment it. We are much more sensible to each detail of the film or of the book.
For example, we saw “2001: A Space Odyssee” a couple of weeks ago and I could really feel the loneliness and the monotony that the 2 main characters had to endure. I didn’t experience these feelings the first time that I saw this movie.
Romain

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De8jDVL2aI0[/youtube]

ESA | October 12, 2010

The Mars500 crew has more than 450 days to go and three times as many main meals to prepare. The food is almost the same all the time and they have to eat everything. Sometimes the mission control also sends special orders. But there is still room for innovation: Diego also has a special way to make smoothies using a very expensive machine.

 

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtrHjzFblt8[/youtube]

ESA | November 03, 2010

Need a haircut? Call Diego's barber shop! Romain is the first victim of Diego's astronaut-style cut using a vacuum cleaner. Yes - grooming is important, also when flying to Mars!

 

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http://www.esa.int : “Are we alone?”

10 November 2010

In his latest diary update, Diego explains the daily routine with a European experiment they are conducting inside the Mars500 modules, and also shows his Halloween photos, prompting the question: “Are we alone?”
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Diego Urbina looking out from the hatch inside the Mars500 facility
Credits: ESA

As the days get longer and more monotonous in the Mars500 modules, we get more time to think about the conditions that surround us. One of the questions that crosses our minds from time to time is: "are we alone?" I am not talking about tortured souls that haunt the storage module on Halloween, or about life beyond Earth (the latter being a fascinating topic by itself), but about other actual living beings that might share this space with us, without us noticing.


Mars500 crew is growing plants for their ornamental value and for the food they can provide.
Credits: ESA

During the mission we grow plants for their ornamental value and for the food they can provide, so these are the more obvious life forms living beside us. In other isolation experiments, individuals reported having a growing appreciation of any living being they encounter, for instance, a spider or a fly can trigger profound emotions in people! The way the Mars500 modules are built, the chances are we will never encounter visible insects or similar, and believe me, every once in a while we used to try to look around for them, but with no success.

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Taking a sample from the wall surface for the European MICHA experiment studying the bacteria and microfungi in the Mars500 facility.
Credits: ESA

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Mars500 crew posing in Halloween mood
Credits: ESA

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Halloween agenda at the Mars500 by europeanspaceagency, on Flickr