The end of a 520-day simulated mission to Mars marks one more step in a succession of make-believe trips to Mars, leading up to the real thing. And who knows? You might even be able to get in on a "sim."
Measured by length and expense, the Mars500 exercise is the most ambitious earthly simulation to date: In June of last year, the $15 million experiment put six male volunteers from Europe, Russia and China in a windowless mobile home that was set up inside Moscow's Institute for Biomedical Problems. Crew members "landed" at their destination in February, and walked out into a make-believe Mars roughly the size of an indoor tennis court.
After a months-long simulation of the return trip, the crew is scheduled to "land" back on Earth on Friday and climb out of their isolation compartment. "The longest night in the world is about to finish," simulation crew member Diego Urbina wrote today in a Twitter update. You can watch the hatch opening via the European Space Agency's website at 6 a.m. ET (11:00 CET).
This will be a great thing for Mars fans.Even when NASA was adequately budgeted the trip to Mars was a long way off with no guarantees of a safe manned round trip.With the new concept people won't be concerned with the possibility of not returning to Earth safely.
ReplyDelete$8.00/hr x 24hrs/day x 520 days = $100,000.00
ReplyDeleteNot so bad really.