Four Russian and two European Space Agency (ESA) volunteers embarked on a 105-day long simulated mission to Mars to assist prepare for such type of real space trip. The six crews entered a dedicated isolation facility 31 March in Moscow at the Institute of Biomedical Problems.

ESA Participants:

1. Oliver Knickel
2. Cyrille Fournier

Russian Crewmembers:

1. Cosmonauts Oleg Artemyez
2. Cosmonauts Sergei Ryazansky
3. Dr. Alexei Baranov
4. Sports Physiologist Alexei Shpakov

Facilities of the Journey:

• The crew will get experience all aspects of a mission to Mars
• Get launch
• Outward journey, arrival at Mars and, after an excursion to the surface

ESA officials told that they would have to cope with simulated emergencies and communication delays of as long as 20 minutes. They said the project is designed and planed to assess the effects that isolation has on different psychological and physiological aspects like:

• Stress
• Hormone regulation
• Immunity
• Sleep quality
• Mood
• Effectiveness of dietary supplements

The 105-day study heads a 520-day simulated mission to Mars, owing to start late the year 2009.

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