MEN WANTED for hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful, honor and recognition in case of success.
Nearly 100 years later, the same could be said for the first volunteers to explorer Mars. With conventional propulsion technology, it will take about 8 months of floating in the cold blackness of space just to reach Mars. Dangers like radiation exposure and physiological deconditioning are big uncertainties, as are the pyschological effects of being in close quarters for so long.
Addressing these challenges, the European and Russian space agencies launched the ambitious Mars500 Project last June. Since then, six crewmembers have been locked up in a simulated interplanetary spacecraft pretending to be in transit to the Red Planet. With over 100 scientific experiments on the mission, it's the longest and most rigorous study of the isolation and confinement humans will face under long duration space mission conditions. Click on the image to the right for a complete PDF overview of the Mars500 Project.
Just like my FMARS and MDRS simulated Mars missions, they observe a strict 20-minute communication delay with "Earth" and only take showers once per week to conserve water.