Video: Mars confinement tips

In these times of confinement, ESA astronaut support engineer Romain Charles shares nine tips on how to live in isolation—he spent 520 days locked in a mockup spacecraft and is a true expert on the subject.

Choosing the right people to go to Mars

(Phys.org)—When humans eventually travel to the Red Planet, the voyage will be long and difficult. The simulated Mars500 mission showed that every detail must be planned, including diet and sleep. The findings will also ...

Half-time for the Mars500 mission

The Mars500 mission – a simulated mission to the red planet in which researchers from the Mainz University Medical Center in Germany are involved – has reached its half-way mark: After a 250-day virtual flight, ...

Mars500 in orbit around Mars

The first full-duration simulation of a manned voyage to Mars has reached a major milestone: the ‘spacecraft’ yesterday ‘arrived’ at Mars after 244 days of virtual interplanetary flight. Three crewmembers ...

Launch of Mars500 mission on 3 June in Moscow

(PhysOrg.com) -- The first full-duration simulation of a human mission to Mars is about to begin. After closing the hatch, the crew of six will remain in their 'spacecraft' for 520 days.

MARS-500

Mars-500 was an international multi-part isolation experiment simulating a manned flight to Mars. The experiment's facility was located at the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow, Russia. A total of 640 experiment days were scheduled between 2007 and 2011, divided into three stages. During each stage, the crew of volunteers lived and worked in a mockup spacecraft. Communication with the outside world was limited, and was conducted with a realistic time delay of up to 25 minutes, to simulate the real-life communications lag between Mars and Earth. Similarly, a realistically limited supply of on-board consumables was provided for the volunteers. Although some conditions, such as weightlessness and cosmic radiation, could not be simulated, the experiment was intended to yield valuable psychological and medical data on the effects of long-term isolation. The experiment also permitted the study of the technical challenges of long-distance spaceflight, such as communications lag and resource rationing.

The 520-day final stage of the experiment, which was intended to simulate a full-length manned mission, ended on 4 November 2011. This stage was conducted by a six-man international crew, consisting of three Russians, a Frenchman, an Italian and a Chinese citizen. The stage included a simulation of a manned Mars landing, with three simulated Mars-walks carried out on 14, 18 and 22 February 2011. The experiment ended with all the participants reportedly in optimal physical and psychological shape.

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