In a large hall at the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow, six astronauts have begun the first full-duration Mars simulation mission. After a brief ceremony, the hatch of their mock-up spaceship was closed on 3 June. It will not open again for 520 days – the time it takes to get to Mars and back using conventional rocket technology.
[…]
Living in five modules divided between areas for work and rest, the crew will first simulate a 250-day outbound flight to Mars, followed by a landing. Then, during a 30-day Mars surface stage, three of them will move to the Mars lander simulator, don space suits, and walk around in a specially designed sandpit that is standing in for the Red Planet. Finally, there is the 240-day return trip to Earth.
[…]
Some of the previous isolation missions have not gone well. An eight-month mission in 2000 contained something not seen in this expedition: alcohol and women crew members. There were two women – a Russian and a Canadian – among a crew of six. The Russian said afterwards that she felt it had gone OK, as any Russian woman knows how to keep their men at bay.

The Canadian was not so lucky, and was once grabbed by the arm as a prelude to an unwanted kiss. She locked herself in her room and said later, “I had lost my dreams about astronauts and cosmonauts, who had always been heroes for me.” The mission descended into threats and a violent incident. One male crew member walked out. Alcohol has been banned ever since.
[…]
According to the mission timeline, the six astronauts in Moscow have already left Earth’s orbit and are headed for the uncharted blackness of interplanetary space. Soon, the only people they will talk to will be each other – and hell, it has been said, is other people. If they stay the entire 520 days, they will be paid 3m rubles, or about £64,000. The expedition’s commander, 38-year old Alex Sitev, may be looking forward the most to getting out. He got married just a month before his voluntary incarceration.

It kinda takes the sting out of a simulation knowing that you won’t die horribly from a collision with space crap or from giant swirly space anomalies.




  1. Rex says:

    I hope they don’t kill each other.

  2. Glenn E. says:

    And so all of this proves what, exactly? That the Russians can simulate such a trip, better than the US can. There apparently was no problem with any of the technology breaking down, in the last trial. Just the alcohol and women factors. Right. How like is that?! I suspect some cheating in the former, that was covered up by the latter.

    Never mind that human beings might not get along, during the 500+ days. I’m sure that plenty of distractions can be arranged for. Chose astronauts who like to play video games, more than grab ass games. Hook them up with unlimited Netflix. What’s not so easily solved is the fragility of technology. Any key system failing, during the trip, could spell the end of all aboard. Just remember Apollo 13. They were lucky. They were only two days from returning to earth, after looping `round the Moon. And their life support barely managed to hold out. If something like that happened a 200 days into the mission. It still be 300 days to getting back to earth.

    The real issue, which seldom is addressed, is whether such a trip to Mars really serves a valuable enough service, to warrant risking human lives. We can still learn plenty using unmanned probes. We’re designing smart machines, more sophisticate every day. But they’ve purposely keep these probes small scale, and less complex than your average Gaming PC. Because they don’t want to show up the manned missions. Which are far more glamorous and cost a ton more dollars to “get ready for”. But I seriously doubt it’ll ever happen. NASA and the Russians are just burning thru their yearly space budgets, in never ending simulations and training. A government job, pure and simple. Costing plenty, but yielding very little results.

    What the hell happened to all that Skylab mission data?! And whatever the Russians learned from years of the Mir space station? What more can they possibly learn from all this isolation crap? Just interview some Vietnam POWs, and find out. McCain ought to be able to fill them in a little.

    A more genuine test would be to set up a station at the South Pole. Other than the lack of gravity. The isolation and cold ought to come close to simulating the real thing. And NO CHEATING THIS TIME!

  3. Riker17 says:

    Why waste time and effort on a sim? Let’s build the rockets and send ten humans to Mars now!

  4. DaveO says:

    Mars needs simmin

  5. GRtak says:

    The only way this would ever work(the actual trip to Mars) is to send spouses with the atronauts. Go over a year without sex? Yes, it is easily possible, but not desirable.

  6. sargasso_c says:

    Could you imagine doing this with reality TV stars?

  7. Faxon says:

    When they get out:
    Will the Bay Bridge be finished?
    Will Arizona be part of Mexico?
    Will Babs Boxer be selling a book about how wonderful she used to be?
    Will Baramabama be on the way out for sure?
    Will Constitutional Carry come to California? (Just kidding, schumcks.)
    Will there have been another attack by the peaceful religion?
    Will I be ready to retire and get the fuck out of Kalifornia?
    Will Bobbo wise up?
    These are all deep questions which can only be answered by the sands of time.

  8. Faxon says:

    schmucks

  9. Faxon says:

    “The real issue, which seldom is addressed, is whether such a trip to Mars really serves a valuable enough service, to warrant risking human lives. ”

    Really? How many “human lives” are thrown away on a daily basis for no reason at all? I think you really mean,

    “risking all that money and time on something contingent on the survival of frail organisms…”

  10. Anon says:

    #2

    You have to advance. We crossed the oceans, we conquered the skys, we went to the moon, we went 35,000 ft underwater, and eventually we’ll land on another rock. Without a plan to go to the moon or mars you don’t have that motivation and inspiration in the educational system. Take this from a kid who was inspired to become a aerospace engineer after watching Apollo 13, October Sky and playing with my space shuttle LEGO set. Does anything else inspire the nations youth more than NASA programs, especially the manned program? Ask a kid what he wants to be when he grows up, does he want to be an accountant, a CIA crypto guru. I’m not saying every kid should or would want to grow up to be an astronaut, but giving the youth something to motivate them forward into science & math is priceless. I’m not even going to mention how NASA manned space program costs an insignificant amount of money compared to other spending decisions.

    I don’t think you or I should be debating weather it is worth risking human lives to expand that frontier, it should be left up to the astronauts who voluntarily accept the risks and the people on the ground who want nothing more than to succeed.

  11. Buzz says:

    Actually it’s a “simulated” 520 day journey. In real life it will take just three weeks.

  12. ECA says:

    I TOLD you to go, BEFORE you got in here.

  13. Maricopa says:

    An all male crew – by coincidence? Humph! Can you imagine an all female crew locked up together for a year and a half?

  14. moondawg says:

    #12, FTW!

  15. scadragon says:

    The duration of the experiment reminds me of a Monty Python skit:

  16. Winston says:

    Wow, what a coincidence! I just started my 520 days on Earth experiment. If that goes well, the mission will be extended.

  17. bobsyeruncle says:

    They should cut the mission down to 420… and make sure have plenty with them.

  18. Glenn E. says:

    Oh I don’t know. We’ve managed to do pretty well on Earth, for the last 30,000 years or more. What’s the hurry in finding another place to pollute? We’ve got an entire world’s oceans we haven’t completely screwed up yet. We only recently managed to grease up the Gulf of Mexico a little. I think we’ve got some time before Earth is so unlivable, we really need to think about moving to some far away arid ball of dirt. And it’s not like Mars is life ready. We’d have to spruce it up a bit. Like add a ocean, and grow some forests. What starry eyed nonsense this with everyone ignoring just how INHOSPITABLE the Mars environment currently is? Movies, like the one this photo was taken from, often omit the inconvenient truths (facts) about Mars. Going there right now, isn’t going to establish much, besides how foolish we are at not planning ahead.

    Even though I really against the whole pointless endeavor. I’d say it would be better to start by building a high orbiting space station around Mars. From which it would far easier to conduct missions to and from the surface. Than across all those billions of miles of empty space, with few backup resources at journey’s end. We don’t need an “all eggs is one basket” type mission, that could end up getting 6 or 8 people killed. When an unmanned Way Station, well supplied for all contingencies, could be the very thing that saves the manned mission.

  19. GetReal says:

    There is no reason to go to Mars or any other planet – NONE. We need to go to other planets because we’re polluting this one? Then stop polluting this one and clean it up.

    If we kill off all humans and every other living creature, then we deserve what we get – although the other creatures don’t deserve that fate.

    All this stuff about humans needing to explore is BS. If you want to explore something we don’t know enough about – try our home planet – you know, the one we depend upon for life.

    It seems that the old joke is correct: “Man was put on earth to be a bad example to the other creatures.”

  20. Angel H. Wong says:

    In cases like this gay sex is better than straight sex. Why? No pregant female astronauts. No BS emotional attachments (see female astronauts,) Daisy Chain 69s are much easier to do in zero gravity.

    Is it going to happen? Nah, because the Janet-Jackson’s-1/4-second-nipple-exposure-is-more-disgusting-than-the-Jewish-holocaust right wing crowd will whine, bitch and complain about it.

  21. Guyver says:

    20, Angel H. Wong,

    And whether or not the astronauts are, have they been checked? Otherwise, making this an all-man simulation is rather a moot point since the desired effect is eliminating sexual distractions.

  22. Father says:

    Going to Mars requires *more* distractions, not fewer.

    This trip would be the most boring thing I can imagine. Hopefully they’ll have access to Dvorak Uncensored!!!!

    Those here who think it will be thrilling have no imagination.

  23. Father says:

    The only way I can think this trip would be the slightest bit interesting is to take some newborn babies, as they require constant attention. Unfortunatly, the radiation and zero G would probably kill them.

  24. George says:

    Simulation in this case is just a euphemism for “lets pretend”.

    But keeping with the spirit of the endeavor, why not pretend to spend the money here on earth where it is needed, instead of pretending to spend it in space?

  25. HeeHee says:

    I bet the people who complain the loudest about government wasting money are the same ones in favor of wasting money on nonsensical space “missions”.

  26. BubbaRay says:

    # 19 GetReal said, on June 28th, 2010 at 11:01 am

    All this stuff about humans needing to explore is BS.

    It’s a good thing the Queen of Spain didn’t listen to you, but then you don’t have the foresight of Christopher Columbus, do you?

  27. Father says:

    The Queen of Spain was told there were untold riches that were within a short sail away that no one was willing to take.

    Bubba: You Must Be Confusing Untold Riches With A Dead Planet Full of Worthless Red Soil!

  28. Father says:

    Again, going to Mars is just stupid.

    To explore hints at the idea that something unknown is worth “finding”. We have sent many probes to Mars, and it HAS been explored. The explorers in Southern Europe had (we’re told) no idea what would be found due west.

    We have a pretty good idea what our human explores will find on arrival of Mars: no Martians, no life, no air, no water to speak of, no magnetic field to protect against radiation and cosmic rays, and no reason to waste ~5 years of one’s in preparation and taking the journey.

  29. BubbaRay says:

    # 27 Father said, on June 29th, 2010 at 5:39 pm

    The Queen of Spain was told there were untold riches that were within a short sail away that no one was willing to take.

    Bubba: You Must Be Confusing Untold Riches With A Dead Planet Full of Worthless Red Soil!

    You must be confused about the values of human exploration. The Spanish weren’t, they explored here as well. Sure, they were all looking for riches, and guess what they found?

    A dead planet? No riches? How do you know? Have you been there? Less than a ten thousandth of a percent of the planet has been explored closely. It has not been explored. Imagine the excitement if even just microbial life were found on Mars. The panspermia theorists will go crazy. Did life on Earth come from Mars? Meteorites from Mars have landed here, and that’s a fact. And robots aren’t going to find what we’re looking for, unless they are extremely lucky. Men explore. The unimaginative stay home.

    If a trip aboard Space Ship Two were available for an affordable price, you strike me as one person who would rather stay at home.

    Sure, why explore? Nothing to see out there. Nothing to learn. We’ll just stay here. Maybe watch some reruns.


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