Article Posted on : - Aug 27, 2010

Mars500 entry hatch

BANGALORE (BNS): Crew members of the first full-length simulated mission to Mars have not encountered any kind of problem and the experiment is progressing well, according to an ESA official.

In June six 'astronauts'entered a space module to begin a simulated mission to Mars which will run until November next year. The mission called Mars500 is being carried out at the Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow.

Marcus Bertschi, head of the Launchers Progamme Department, ESA, said the mission is progressing well but significant results will emerge only after a few more months as "the accumulated time has not yet reach the level where we can draw more experience from the previous testing."

"There are no particular problems and no health issues with the astronauts at this stage," Bertschi said on the sideslines of the Bengaluru Space Expo on satellites, launch vehicles and space technologies.

The Mars500 mission is to ‘fly to Mars’ in 250 days, ‘land on and explore Mars’ for a month and ‘return to Earth’ in 230 days, using imitation interplanetary spacecraft, lander and martian surface.

The experiment will study the effect that isolation has on various psychological and physiological aspects, such as stress, hormone regulation and immunity, sleep quality, mood and the effectiveness of dietary supplements.

The facility is not a spacecraft, but it uses many systems that will be found on a real Mars craft and testing these in realistic conditions is important, ESA which is undertaking a cooperative project with the Russia's IBMP, said in its website.

The crew - Diego Urbina and Romain Charles from Europe, Sukhrob Kamolov, Alexey Sitev, Sukhrob Kamolov and Alexandr Smoleevskiy from Russia and Wang Yue from China has undertaken mission that is as close as possible to a real space voyage without leaving the ground.

They will live and work like astronauts, eat special food and exercise in the same way as crews aboard the International Space Station.