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May 20, 2010

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Chinese chosen for simulated Mars trip

A CHINESE volunteer has been selected as one of seven participants for a 520-day simulated trip to Mars that has been organized by Russia.

Wang Yue, 27, a teacher at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center in Beijing, will spend 520 days with six others - four Russians, one Italian, and one French - in total isolation to imitate a manned flight to Mars, the People's Daily reported yesterday.

Experiment director Boris Morukov said the Mars-500 project will simulate all aspects of a journey to Mars except weightlessness and radiation, adding that it will be difficult. The simulation will begin on June 3.

He said one of the seven would be a "back-up astronaut to stay on Earth," and that person would not be revealed until the last minute.

The "flight" includes a 250-day "outward trip," a 30-day "stay on the planet," and a 240-day "return flight." The main goal of the experiment is to see how isolation and space food over a long period affect the physical and mental health of astronauts, the report said.

The volunteers will each receive US$100,000 for the experiment, the report said.

Wang said language issues could be a problem during the experiment as English and Russian will be used. Wang is learning Russian along with the Italian and French volunteers, the report said.

A Russian will be the crew commander, and the other volunteers will have their own jobs.

They will conduct more than 100 "space experiments," and the heavy work load was designed to test the limits of human endurance.

The "spaceship" they will board is 550 cubic meters. The volunteers will not have mobile phones or access to the Internet during the mission. There will be a 20-minute delay for simulated contact with Earth.

The crew will be monitored throughout. One of the volunteers is a doctor, who will handle medical emergencies.




 

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