Monkeys are the First to Try “Martian” Radiation

Experiment on studying effects of space radiation on human organism will be held on monkeys simultaneously with “Mars-500” programme, says deputy director of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems, where “Mars-500” programme is carried out.
      
Studying effects of space radiation on human organism is a part of “Mars-500” programme, which will takes several decades. However, scientists cannot perform such experiments on humans, thus they chose monkeys as perfect objects for this purpose.
      
Simulating space radiation on Earth is a difficult task, thus scientists have divided the experiment in several sessions of various duration. During short sessions (14-30 days) researchers will try various radiation doses to pick up most adequate one and study changes in animals’ organisms. Said changes may not appear at once, that is why biologists will observe several generations of monkeys to detect possible changes.
      
Radiation threat during future flight to Mars is very high. For lowering this risk scientists consider three aspects – physiological (preserving health and life of the crew), ergonomical (maintaining the crew’s ability to work) and technical (providing undisturbed operation of ship’s facilities) aspect.

russia-ic.com, August 24, 2007
http://www.russia-ic.com/news/show/4615/