Survival on –n Reality TV!
In what would be a Fox Network Producers dream reality TV show, Roscosmos – the Russian space agency – are closer to virtually sending six humans to Mars; without leaving Earth. The program that has recently started receiving applications from interested parties is designed to provide valuable information for those who will one day venture to the red planet itself, rather than an earth-located mock-up.
Starting late 2008, and scheduled to run for approximately 520 days, the run-through will test the health, performance and interaction of the 6 person crew. Shut up in a cylindrical container, with ‘real life’ concerns such as a 20 minute delay in communication with home, and emergency situations the prospect for making it a reality show have thankfully been rejected; however there will be a documentary film made.
Interested in taking part in Mars500? The Moscow Institute – who are running the program – and the European Space Agency are independently receiving applications, requiring a college graduation and preferring doctors, engineers and biologists, all aged between 25 and 50.
Running at around 11 million euro, the project is being largely funded by Roscosmos. But interest from sponsors and other international agencies are being welcomed, including the American space agency NASA.
"If you and your girlfriend were to shut yourselves in a room for three days, five days, a month - believe me, you would have a million problems. Either she would strangle you or you would strangle her," said Mark Belakovsky, chief manager of the project at the Institute of Biomedical Problems, part of the Russian Academy of Sciences. "We think that in such experiments, anything is can happen."
Further eerie similarities to reality TV include bringing all their food and water on board from the start of the mission. There will be no television, and any contact with ‘earth’ – whether it be mission control, or contact with their families – will suffer a 20 minute communications delay. All their movements will be monitored, with only their private cabins and bathrooms escaping the installation of cameras. And the emergencies they may have to face include everything from radiation scares, onboard fires and even a death.
The mission consists of a 250 day trip to and 240 on the return leg home. A month will be spent by three team members on the planet’s surface, represented by a separate module. The three involved in the trip to the surface will spend the previous month to arrival in a separate module away from the rest of the team, lying on their backs with their heads positioned slightly lower than their feet; this position is supposed to represent weightlessness says Belakovsky.
The other modules that will make up their journey include a biomedical compartment, fitness and storage. The living module – which includes personal compartments, bathrooms, a common room and kitchen – measures in at 250 cubic meters, or 5,300 cubic feet.
Still don’t believe us that this isn’t some giant reality TV show? Then you’ll just have to take Mark Belakovsky’s word then; "It is not a reality show, it is a serious, pioneering research experiment.”
Posted by Josh Hill.
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