Russian Simulated Mars Mission Close To 'Landing'

Dthief writes with this quote from an Associated Press report: "After 233 days in a locked steel capsule, six researchers on a 520-day mock flight to Mars are all feeling strong and ready to 'land' on the Red Planet, the mission director said Friday. The all-male crew of three Russians, a Chinese, a Frenchman and an Italian-Colombian has been inside windowless capsules at a Moscow research center since June. Their mission aims to help real space crews in the future cope with the confinement and stress of interplanetary travel. The researchers communicate with the outside world via emails and video messages — occasionally delayed to give them the feel of being farther than a few yards away from mission control. The crew members eat canned food similar to that eaten on the International Space Station and shower only once a week. None of the men has considered abandoning the mission, although they are free to walk out at any time, mission director and former cosmonaut Boris Morukov told reporters on Friday."

So many questions...

[gklinger]

If they are free to walk out at any time, why is the capsule locked? (No, seriously.) The other thing that jumps out at me is the duration of the trips but the relatively short amount of time (two days) spent on 'Mars'. Surely a mission to Mars would include more time on the planet? The time spent on the planet would be more intellectually stimulating than the spaceflight (one presumes) and might offer relief/reward from the journey to Mars and better prepare the crew psychologically for the return mission. I wonder why that wasn't factored in. The difficulty of simulating the on-planet experience perhaps?

Bonus question: Would an actual mission to Mars pay astronauts more than $70,000 per year?

Re:Not a true experience then.

[dargaud]

You are right on the money. I've spent a year in Antarctica twice for a winterover [gdargaud.net], meaning 9 months when you have no way out, 13 people sitting in a building with -80C temperatures outside. You HAVE to cope with minor issues. And indeed the only fight broke out on the day before the arrival of the first airplane of the summer. Also you have the feeling of doing something important [research] while there, which is not something you'd get from sitting in a tuna can with nothing to do for 500 days... I'm amazed they've made it so far.

Re:Not much of a test

[MattskEE]

Yeah, it's a trip to Mars - minus the lack of gravity, minus the cosmic radiation, minus the occasional pebble whizzing by at thousands of miles per hour, minus the constant knowledge that a few millimeters of metal alloy separates you from pretty much instant death at all times.

Surprisingly enough death isn't actually very quick in the vacuum of space (ref [damninteresting.com]). You would maintain consciousness for about 15 seconds and be able to take actions which may save your life, and even after unconsciousness you would most likely survive without significant injury if returned to an atmospheric environment within about 90 seconds.