Ioonos

Mars calling

Mars calling: simulation flight pilots required.

Fancy spending a few months in a small space with no link to the outside world other than a radio? We are not talking reality TV here, this is serious stuff. The European Space Agency is recruiting twelve Europeans (adults, of course!) to participate in three simulated missions to Mars. The first study will start in mid 2008 and last for 105 days, followed by a second, and then a third in 2009 that will last 520 days. The six-person teams of volunteers will travel to Moscow in Russia, where they will be installed in modules with a total volume of 550 cubic metres, which is about the size of two buses. The simulations will monitor any psychological changes in the occupants.