Space
enthusiasts interested in tagging along on a 520-day roundtrip journey to
Mars—a simulated one, that is—should apply now.
The
European Space Agency is calling for volunteers to participate in "Mars500," a
nearly two-year-long simulation of a journey to the Red Planet, the
organization announced in a recent statement. The goal of the experiment is to
prepare "for future human exploration missions
to Mars."
"We are
currently looking for volunteers to take part in a 520-day simulated Mars mission,"
according to an ESA statement released Tuesday. "To go to Mars is still a dream
and one of the last gigantic challenges."
During the
simulation, men and women "Martianauts," as you might call them, will watch
Earth disappear into the blackness of space as they munch on the same kinds of food
available on the International Space Station. ESA will even attempt to simulate
the 40-minute time delay for radio signals to travel from the craft to Earth
and back, as the volunteers work and live in extremely isolated conditions.
Once the
group "arrives," about half-way through the simulation, they will
explore the faux surface of Mars, the statement said. The entire experiment is
expected to be carried out in a 2,150-square-foot facility in Moscow—about the
floor space of a two-story house.
The ESA
plans to ramp up to the long simulation with two 105-day studies starting in
mid-2008, for which they also seek volunteers. The 520-day simulation would
follow in late 2008 or early 2009, according to the statement.
Four
volunteers will be selected for each of the missions. An application is
available at the ESA's Mars500 Web site. The nine-page application asks
candidates about fluency in Russian, the amount of beer
and wine he or she regularly drinks and, perhaps most important, their
strengths and weaknesses
of personality.
What's the
best way to increase your chances of making the cut?
"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," according to the statement.
Though it's
not clear whether NASA's Mars plans will ever be carried out, the agency was directed by
President Bush in 2004 to aim for putting humans on Mars after returning
astronauts to the moon by 2020.
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