So you want to be a space traveler?

[serenissima]

AP: Simulated trip to Mars is planned

...the European Space Agency ... is looking for 12 volunteers for a simulated mission to Mars that will last up to 520 days in "extreme isolation and confinement."
[snip]

Unlike the adventurous spirits attracted to the desert island prospects of reality TV, only the "serious" need apply for this simulated interplanetary voyage, the space agency said. The payoff is likely less glamorous, too. Remuneration is "in line with international standards" for clinical studies, is all it would say.

The Paris-based agency, known as ESA, is working on the Mars500 project with the Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow and the simulated mission will be conducted there and include Russians.
[snip]

The experiment will emphasize psychological factors, including stress resistance. The goal is to test how the volunteers hold up in nearly a year-and-a-half of close confinement, in cramped quarters with others and when communications with Earth can take 20 minutes to reach their destination — each way.

[snip]
..."Except for weightlessness and radiation, the simulations will be as close to a real Mars mission as possible," the ESA said in its call for candidates.

The living quarters will include 30-square-foot rooms for each crew member, a kitchen-dining room, living room — and one toilet. No shower is included, and water supply will be limited.
[snip]

Hmm. I vaguely remember reading that Biosphere 2 was not able to grow enough food to be self-sustaining, and also developed a cockroach infestation. If all 12 volunteers last the full 520 days, kudos to the ESA.

Comments

[gregstoll.livejournal.com]

Neat. I'd be curious how/if they simulate the desolation of space (looking out the window and seeing lots and lots of black), but sounds like a good idea.

[403.livejournal.com]

At best guess, they won't have windows except in rarely-visited parts of the crew area. Once you're away from Earths' magnetic field, space is full of hard radiation, and neither glass nor most plastics make very effective shielding.

They may have LCD screens that simulate windows, though. In which case I expect the stars to be dazzling. Not really what I'd call a desolate landscape. :)