Russian Mars 500 Simulation successfully ends

[longbrained]

The Russian experiment in preparation for a manned voyage to planet Mars has come to a successful ending as Russian cosmonauts emerged out of isolation after one and a half years.

Six men locked away in steel tubes for a year-and-a-half to simulate a mission to Mars have emerged from isolation.

The Mars500 project, undertaken at a Moscow institute, was intended to find out how the human mind and body would cope on a long-duration spaceflight.

It is a venture that has fascinated all who have followed it around the globe.

The study even saw three of the men carry out a pretend landing on Mars, donning real spacesuits and walking across an enclosed sandy yard.

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MARS SIMULATION PROJECT


Aim was to gather knowledge and experience to help prepare for real Mars mission
This meant probing the psychological and physiological effects of extended isolation
Project simulated outward cruise, landing operations and return journey to Earth
About 100 experiments were planned; crew partook in a series of medical studies
Resources restricted at departure; crew had to manage food consumption
Text communications only were possible with the ground; max 25min delay in round signal time
"It's really great to see you all again - rather overwhelming," said European Space Agency (Esa) participant Diego Urbina after stepping through the opened hatch of the Mars500 "spaceship".

"On the Mars500 mission, we have achieved on Earth the longest space voyage ever so that humankind can one day greet a new dawn on the surface of a distant, but reachable, planet."

The rest of the crew - Russians Alexey Sitev, Alexandr Smoleevskiy and Sukhrob Kamolov; European Romain Charles; and Chinese national Wang Yue - smiled and waved to family members who had come to greet them at the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IMBP).

The crew has now been taken away into quarantine for medical checks.

For much of the Mars500 project, the six had only limited contact with the outside world. Their spaceship had no windows, and the protocols demanded their communications endured a similar time lag to that encountered by real messages as they travelled the vast distance between Earth and Mars.

At its maximum, the round travel time for a question to be sent and for an answer to be received was about 25 minutes.

This meant having to resort to text media, such as email and Twitter, and video blogs.

Asked before he came out what he was most looking forward to, Italian-Colombian Diego Urbina had told BBC News via Twitter: "Meeting my family, calling my friends, bumping into strangers, going to the beach."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15574646

 

[longbrained]

Here is another aspect of the mission as preparation for the real thing.

There was all the pageantry of a real space launch.

The six "astronauts" wearing bright blue jump-suits and even surgical masks, were paraded before banks of television cameras and hordes of journalists at a news conference before entering their mock spaceship.

Amongst the long rows of VIPs at the news conference were senior officials from the United States, China and the European Union.

If, as some experts believe, the main aim of the Mars 500 experiment is to publicise the concept of human flight to the red planet, then it has surely succeeded beyond all expectations.

"I am very happy to be part of this project," said Diego Urbina, the Colombian-Italian and most extrovert member of the crew.

"It will raise awareness of space flight so hopefully a few years from now there will be a real flight to Mars."

He confessed that Elton John had been his inspiration.

"I don't know if you know that song Rocket Man," he asked.

"I want a future like that… where people will be going frequently into space and will be working there and it will be very usual."


The facility contains living quarters, a gym and sauna
In front of the world's media, all the team spoke confidently about the chances of the experiment being successful - in other words that noone would crack under the stress of such lengthy confinement in such claustrophobic and bizarre conditions and demand to be let out.

"The target is for all six of us to be here for 520 days," said the French crew-member Romain Charles who took a guitar with him into the cluster of brown and silver-coloured metal tubes which will be home until November 2011.

After the news conference, the six crew disappeared, re-emerging an hour later by the entrance hatch to the mock spaceship, where they put on another high-spirited performance for the media.

Finally, blowing kisses and waving to wives, girlfriends and relatives, they walked up the steps and through the entrance hatch.

A solemn-faced official slowly closed and sealed it behind them.

So now reality bites for the six-member volunteer crew.

What will they be thinking as they sit inside their tin cans in north-west Moscow where outside the warm sun shines and the flowers blossom?

There is no thrill of a blast-off and flight through space.

There are no windows from which to watch the Earth gradually shrink away.

And no anticipation of reaching a new world more than fifty million kilometres away.

Instead, silent inertia, stale air and tinned food.

And everywhere cameras watching their every move, looking out for signs of mental collapse.

They have just one thing to cling on to, that they are playing their part in the history of space exploration.

That their success in this experiment will mean a human flight to Mars is a step closer.

And space experts already believe the first flight could be just 25 years away or even less if there is the political and economic will from countries with advanced space programmes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10233293

 

[great]

That's really fascinating. I am amazed that Russian cosmonauts are willing to sacrifice one and half year of their life for a simulation alone. The dedication and will of these scientists is beyond stupendous. I wish them all the best.

 

[longbrained]

That's really fascinating. I am amazed that Russian cosmonauts are willing to sacrifice one and half year of their life for a simulation alone. The dedication and will of these scientists is beyond stupendous. I wish them all the best.

Yeah, they have really dedicated scientists and pilots. It also means Russia is serious about going to Mars and maybe even beyond.

 

[OrionHunter]

A trip to Mars is still a long long way off into the future, probably not before 2040. And it's going to cost the Earth!

More important is the problem of carrying enough food and water for a round trip unless it's a one way journey. They'll need to first establish 'refueling stations' en route to Mars which itself is going to be a massive exercise. The projected cost would be in excess of $100 billion for the mission at today's prices! And 30 years from now, a whopping $1 trillion!

It is therefore impossible for one country to handle all this. It would doubtless be an international effort with the U.S, Russia, China, France, India, Brazil, Germany, UK and others who would need to throw their hats into the ring.

This is just one small step for that ultimate leap into the cosmos - "The final frontier, voyages to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before."

Cheers!

 

[great]

^^ I really wish to see those little green men from far off planets. Einstein believed that there would be tens of thousands of civilizations far scientifically advanced than us in our galaxy alone. Hopefully we could borrow few of their technologies to help mankind further.

 

[OrionHunter]

^^ I really wish to see those little green men from far off planets. Einstein believed that there would be tens of thousands of civilizations far scientifically advanced than us in our galaxy alone. Hopefully we could borrow few of their technologies to help mankind further.

Yep! As per calculations, there are more advanced civilizations in this galaxy alone than all the grains of sand on planet Earth and then some!! Wow!

 

[roadrunner]

There might be advanced civilizations elsewhere, but we'll never meet them and they'll never meet us.

 

[great]

Yep! As per calculations, there are more advanced civilizations in this galaxy alone than all the grains of sand on planet Earth and then some!! Wow!

Final frontier indeed. I wish any evidence of such could dissuade all earthly countries from brawling over petty differences and unite together to explore further and farther. It would be equivalent to a sign of god.