ISRO not part of simulated 'Mars mission' in Russia

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) may have lost out on an opportunity to be part of an experiment aimed at simulating a manned mission to Mars. Mars500, the first full-length simulated mission to Mars which began on June 3 in Moscow has a six-man crew. The experiment will run until November next year.

The multinational mission even has a participant from China. Diego Urbina and Romain Charles from Europe, Sukhrob Kamolov, Alexey Sitev, Sukhrob Kamolov and Alexandr Smoleevskiy from Russia and Wang Yue from China are participating in the mission that is as close as possible to a space voyage without leaving the ground. They will live and work like astronauts, eat special food and exercise in the same way as crews do aboard the International Space Station.

The crews’ mission is to ‘fly to Mars’ in 250 days, ‘land on and explore Mars’ for a month and ‘return to Earth’ in 230 days, using their imitation interplanetary spacecraft, lander and martian surface. The hatch will remain closed until November 2011 and the crew must manage using the food and equipment stored in the facility. Only electricity, water and some air will be fed into the compartments from outside.

In addition to testing many novel technologies, Mars500 is an extreme test of human endurance, says European Space Agency on its website. “Staying almost 18 months inside the metallic containers will be hard, even after being trained and briefed by astronauts and submariners,” it adds. The study of psychological changes are a key part of the experiment.

The ‘astronauts’ are expected to divide their weekdays equally between work, free time and rest, with the weekends usually free. The crew has taken plenty of films, books, games, musical instruments and entertainment with them.

Their bodies will start to adapt to the new conditions — a closed environment with restricted space can quickly lead to poor physical condition. The crew need to exercise up to two hours a day, but can shower only once a week.

Preparing everything from soap and clothing to food and spare camera batteries for a self-contained 18-month mission is a critical and complex task.

The facility uses many systems that will be found on a real Mars craft. Testing these in realistic conditions is important. The crew have been trained to repair every single bolt of their ‘craft’ and outside help will be given only in extreme situations.

On the reason for India not be a participant in the programme when it has a Mars mission planned for around 2030, ISRO’s spokesman said, the Russians or the European Space Agency (ESA) did not issue an announcement of opportunities as they often do when trying to elicit response from foreign participants for such projects. “As of now India’s Mars mission is yet to be conceptualised,” he added.

Estimated cost of the project is ¤15 million (around $20.5 million).