To Mars and back – virtually France 24
There will be no blast-off Thursday when six men set out on a record-breaking space mission. Why? Because they’ll never leave the parking lot. The ripped and ready crew of Mars500 will spend 520 days inside a sealed-up capsule in Moscow, outside the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Biomedical Problems.
That’s where they’ll complete the first simulated human mission to Mars, a test drive that will be influential in planning future trips to the red planet. “There’s never been a simulation that has lasted so long, that took place in something very similar to the actual future space capsule in which people will be going to Mars, we hope,” says Peter Suedfeld, professor emeritus of psychology of the University of British Columbia, who has worked with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. The historic experiment will test how the men operate in isolation, with limited company, a significant amount of stress and confinement.
Mars simulator vehicle nearly lost in sea ice Nunatsiaq News
NASA’s attempt last year to drive a modified Humvee all the way to its simulated Mars base on Devon Island nearly ended in disaster.
Thick snow concealed a lead of open water ahead of the vehicle, which narrowly avoided falling right into the ocean.
At a presentation at the Nunatta Sunakkutaangit Museum in Iqaluit on May 3, Mars Institute director Pascal Lee showed a Power Point presentation of the trip from Kugluktuk to Cambridge Bay, 500 km across the ice of Coronation Gulf, made between April 17 and April 25, 2009.
The journey was supposed to proceed on to Resolute and then to Haughton Crater on Devon Island, often called the most Mars-like environment on Earth.
But days of whiteout conditions and the near-loss of the vehicle through the ice made NASA change its plans, instead bringing it by air from Cambridge Bay to Resolute for the final trek to Haughton Crater.
The “Moon-1 experimental vehicle” is a customized Humvee equipped as if it were a manned vehicle on Mars.
‘Astronauts’ Prepare to Leave for 520-Day ‘Mars’ Simulation
It’s what the show “Big Brother” would look like if a space agency produced it. An international crew is counting down the days until they enter a mock spacecraft in Moscow where they will live for more than a year -and-a-half to study the toll isolation and cramped spaces would take on the mind and body on a trip to Mars. The six-man crew — made up of volunteers from Russia, China, Italy and France — will enter their “ship” on June 3 for a 520-day stay during which they’ll conduct nearly 100 experiments. Their days will be strictly divided into three eight-hour segments for work, leisure (they recently bought a Wii) and sleep.
‘Cosmonauts’ chosen for Mars test
Romain Charles and Diego Urbina have been chosen to go into a set of steel containers on 3 June with two Russians and a Chinese national.
The group’s exile will test the physical and mental requirements of ultra-long duration spaceflight.
Their Mars500 “spaceship”, which is located in Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems, has no windows.
All the food and water needed for their “journey” will have to be loaded before “departure”.
The experiment’s designers intend to make the exercise as realistic as possible by introducing a time delay in communications after two months.
Because it can take about 20 minutes for a message to travel from Mars to Earth, it will take this amount of time in the simulation, also.
Crew Takes Shape for Record-Breaking Mock Mars Mission
An ‘astronaut’ crew of two Europeans, three Russians and one Chinese citizen will walk into a fake spaceship and seal the hatch, but it’s no joke. The team is ready for a record-breaking Mars mission simulation this summer and the European members are already set.
Europeans Romain Charles and Diego Urbina have committed to spend almost a year and a half of their lives living like Mars-bound astronauts as part of the Mars500 experiment, the European Space Agency announced Monday.
The two Europeans and their crewmates will seal themselves inside isolation modules set up at Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems in Moscow. The mock spaceship also includes an interplanetary vehicle, a Mars lander and base, as well as an area carefully sculpted to simulate the red planet’s landscape.
Destination Phobos: humanity’s next giant leap New Scientist
PHOBOS is a name you are going to hear a lot in the coming years. It may be little more than an asteroid – just two-billionths of the mass of our planet, with no atmosphere and hardly any gravity – yet the largest of Mars’s two moons is poised to become our next outpost in space, our second home.
Although our own moon is enticingly close, its gravity means that relatively large rockets are needed to get astronauts to and from the surface. The same goes for Mars, making it expensive to launch missions there too
Broadcast 1352 (Special Edition) – Guest: Dr. Robert Zubrin The Space Show
Topics: Human spaceflight, US space policy, Mars. Dr. Robert Zubrin was our guest for this non-stop two hour program to discuss the proposed changes in US space policy and why having a destination is so important for our national space program. For more information, visit The Mars Society website at www.marssociety.org. Note the coming Mars Society Conference which Dr. Zubrin told us about, scheduled for Dayton, Ohio from August 5-8, 2010. Dr. Zubrin started our discussion saying that we could go to Mars in about ten years as technology was not the issue. I then asked why even have a human spaceflight program and why Mars. Bob provided us with a comprehensive response and discussion to both of these questions. In fact, this nearly two hour discussion was action packed, covered lots of aspects of space policy, was very comprehensive, and while he was critical of administration policy, he also offered solutions to the problems he described. During our discussion, Dr. Zubrin had much to say about the Augustine Commission findings, Science Advisor John Holdren, the budget expenses earmarked for the ISS when the US will not be visiting the ISS except using the Soyuz, and more. Listeners asked him about nuclear rockets, specifically Vasimr. Dr. Zubrin who has his doctorate in nuclear engineering, had much to say about nuclear rocket propulsion including Vasimr and nuclear thermal which is quite different. Listen to what he had to say about these different types of propulsion and why one is doable and one is extremely hard and costly since it requires so much added power, the latter being VASIMIR. Dr. Zubrin dissected the administration plan, especially the part about heavy lift. Listeners suggested that the research called for in the administration plan for heavy lift was about getting affordable heavy lift. Listen carefully to what Dr. Zubrin had to say about this and the entire research program suggested in the administration plan. Bob went to great lengths to talk about why policy needs a destination and time line, be it the Moon, a NEO, or Mars. He offered us many insights about programs without destination goals and timelines. Do you agree with him? Other listeners asked him many questions about Mars Direct including a potential test flight program, tethers, artificial gravity, and needed milestones. He was asked about a Mars fly by mission or landing on Phobos, he talked about orbital propellant depots, the differences in radiation for an ISS crew as compared to a Mars Direct crew. Toward the end of the program, Bob explained the old but important political doctrine of Thomas Malthus known as Malthusianism and why this is the opposite of what space development is all about. Listen to what Dr. Zubrin had to say about this and its influence in the current administration. At the end of the program, I asked him for his thoughts on the use of commercial launch providers and he said he was supportive of that as long as they can meet the requirements and do it. He indirectly referenced the GAP in this discussion but again said a program without destinations and time frames is a flawed or no program at all.
Martian tubes could be home for ‘cavenauts’ New Scientist
Our ancestors made their first homes in caves. Now it looks like the first humans on Mars will do the same.
An analysis of Martian geography suggests where to look for the right kind of caves. “At least two regions, the Tharsis rise and the Elysium rise, contain volcanic features which may be suitable locations for caves,” says lead author Kaj Williams of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.
What’s more, the analysis suggests that caves in these regions will contain a ready supply of water, in the form of ice.
Lava tubes are the most likely form of cave that we could occupy on Mars. These tunnel-like caves were created when ancient lava flows solidified at the surface, while lava inside drained away.
Cold Comforts: Antarctic Research Bases Are Seriously Self-Sustaining Wired
One of the few inland bases occupied year-round, the two-nation station is built for long-term habitation in the most extreme conditions. The buildings’ drumlike contours maximize thermal efficiency, while a wastewater system developed by the European Space Agency recycles water from showers and sinks. The space agency’s interest in Concordia extends beyond the plumbing: Because the isolation, confinement, and cramped quarters here resemble conditions on a long space journey, the ESA is studying the physiological and psychological effects that life at the station has on its 15 winter residents. There are no plans for a spinoff reality TV show.