ESA Seeks Candidates
for Simulated 'Missions to Mars' in 2008/2009
(19 June 2007) ESA is preparing for
future human exploration missions to Mars. We are currently looking for
volunteers to take part in a 520-day simulated Mars mission.
To
go to Mars is still a dream and one of the last gigantic challenges. But one
day some of us will be on precisely that journey to the Red Planet. A journey
with no way out once the spaceship is on a direct path to
Mars.
Challenges
These men and women will have to take
care of themselves for almost two years during the roundtrip. Their survival is
in their own hands, relying on the work of thousands of engineers and
scientists back on Earth, who made such a mission possible.
The crew
will experience extreme isolation and confinement. They will lose sight of
planet Earth. A radio contact will take 40 minutes to travel to us and then
back to the space explorers.
A human mission to Mars is a bold vision
for the time beyond the International Space Station. However, preparations have
already started today. They are geared and committed to one goal: to send
humans on an exploration mission to Mars, individuals who will live and work
together in a spaceship for over 500 days.
Simulation
In
order to investigate the human factors of such a mission ESA has teamed up with
the Russian Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) and will send a joint crew
of six on a 520-day simulated mission to Mars.
The simulation follows
the mission profile of a real Mars mission, including a exploration phase on
the surface of Mars. Nutrition will be identical to that provided on board the
International Space Station.
The simulations will take place here on
Earth inside a special facility in Moscow. A precursor 105-day study is
scheduled to start by mid-2008, possibly followed by another 105-day study,
before the full 520-day study begins in late 2008 or early 2009.
ESA is
looking for 12 volunteers who are ready to participate in the simulations and
thereby help to support the preparations of the real thing: a mission to Mars.
Four volunteers will be needed for each of the three simulations. The selection
procedure is similar to that of ESA astronauts, although there will be more
emphasis on psychological factors and stress resistance than on physical
fitness.
Concordia
Alongside such dedicated space mission
simulations, a complementary approach to understand the complexities of human
health and behaviour is to look at analogue environments. These are operational
environments, which, through their natural situation produce some similar
constraints as for example a mission to Mars.
ESA has already been
active for some years in the Antarctic Concordia research station. In support
of the scientific and technical projects there, ESA is looking for one person
(each year) with a medical background.
(source: ESA)