Posted on 10/22/2009 6:20:38 AM PDT by Jet Jaguar
Starting in 2010, an international crew of six will simulate a 520-day round-trip to Mars, including a 30-day stay on the martian surface. In reality, they will live and work in a sealed facility in Moscow, Russia, to investigate the psychological and medical aspects of a long-duration space mission. ESA is looking for European volunteers to take part.
The ‘mission’ is part of the Mars500 programme being conducted by ESA and Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) to study human psychological, medical and physical capabilities and limitations in space through fundamental and operational research. ESA’s Directorate of Human Spaceflight is undertaking Mars500 as part of its European Programme for Life and Physical Sciences (ELIPS) to prepare for future human missions to the Moon and Mars.
Following on from the successful 105-day precursor study completed in July, ESA is now looking for two candidates and two backups for the full 520-day study, which is due to get underway before mid-2010 after four months of training. The crew will follow a programme designed to simulate a 250-day journey to Mars, a 30-day surface exploration phase and 240 days travelling back to Earth. For the ‘surface exploration’, half of the crew will move to the facility’s martian simulation module and the hatch to the rest of the facility will be closed.
Candidates should be aged 20-50, motivated, in good health and no taller than 185 cm. They should speak one of the working languages: English and Russian. Candidates must have a background and work experience in medicine, biology, life support systems engineering, computer engineering, electronic engineering or mechanical engineering.
Can you program TIVO for that long?
:0)
I volunteer The Chosen One.
Perhaps my back surgery could help me get in under the 185 cm limit. Considering it's in Moscow, are they going to have some hot Russian women in the group?
Can you say, ‘claustrophobia?’
I vote to send Obama.
Who is that cosmonaut at front of the line?
Absolute, giant waste of time. Ion engines will cut the trip to Mars to 40 days or so. Who wants to expose themselves to radiation for 520 days just for a trip to Mars?
Kelly Preston must be around 60 yaers old by now.
Since the mission to Mars will be 520 days, plus the time that will be used for training, I think it would be a good plan for us to volunteer Obama and Biden as the two to go, and then use the 500 odd members of Congress as the backup crews and they all need to be locked in for the duration of the training and mission.
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