Russian scientist prepare for Mars

Scientists in Russia are preparing for a hypothetical trip to Mars. They are recreating the living conditions astronauts would experience on a flight to the Red Planet.

Just off a busy street in central Moscow, there are living quarters like no other on the Earth.

Deep inside the Institute of Biomedical Problems, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences, engineers and scientists are completing the construction of a mock spaceship to simulate a voyage to Mars.

The project, called Mars-500, is due to start next year. It will test the endurance of six volunteers, locked in a ground based "spaceship" for at least 500 days. Victor Baranov is the leader of the Mars-500 Project.

Victor Baranov, leader of Mars-500 project, said, "We consider that 500 days is enough to test the facilities to estimate the conditions of people in this chamber test, and counter measures and other means and methods of medical support during a flight to Mars."

The volunteers will remain confined to six modules: Living quarters with individual cabins, an exercise room and a storage area for food and supplies. There is also a bio-medical and laboratory area and one recreating the Martian surface.

Mars is more than 56 million kilometers away from Earth.

And the expected journey time to the Red Planet is about 250 days.

Evgeny Demin is the Mars-500 Technical director.

He says there is no opportunity for topping up or replacing supplies on a mission to Mars.

Cameras will film the volunteers, and document their reactions in various situations.

The study covers all aspects of a Martian mission, down to the smallest details.

In 1968 the first simulation of a long duration space-flight was conducted. Participants lasted for only 12 months.

Liu Fang

CCTV.com, 22.12.2007
http://www.cctv.com/english/20071222/100801.shtml