landed! The first vehicle with a human crew was placed on the soil of Mars, the first simulated mission to Mars. Mars is the culmination of 500, the experiment organized by the European Space Agency (ESA) to simulate the long journey to Mars and the consequences that the insulation could have on astronauts. "We're almost halfway through and so far the results are excellent for the way in which the crew is accustomed to confinement," said Simonetta Di Pippo, head of ESA's Directorate for Human spaceflight. For eight months, an international crew of six volunteers, including the Italian-Colombian Diego Urbina, has "traveled" to the edge of the large mortgage that is located in Moscow, within the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP).
is a large structure consisting of three main cylinders, connected to two other modules: one that simulates the landing vehicle, and one that reconstructs the Martian surface. Today has been closed the door between the Eu-50 module, which simulates the shuttle landing, and the Eu-150 module, which simulates the spacecraft continues to orbit around Mars. The crew Š then divided into two parts. The team landing is composed of Russian Alexandr Smoleevskiy, commander and pilot of the landing module, the Italian-Colombian Urbina and Wang Yue of China.
Support Team which will monitor the operations from the orbit of Mars is composed of master and doctor Alexey Sitev Sukhrob Kamolov, both Russians, and the engineer flying Frenchman Romain Charles. Monday, 14 will be another important day, perhaps even more exciting, because Smoleevskiy, Urbina and Wang Yue will walk on Mars after wearing a special suit, obtained by changing the Russian Orlan suit, used by astronauts for spacewalks.
"From this experiment - said Di Pippo - we expect a lot of scientific data and many useful elements to understand the psychological phenomena that can occur during a long period of isolation: all this will help us understand how to simulate a real mission on Mars. " In the eight months of the outward journey, for example, it was important to see how the crew reacted to some "contingency simulated small incidents that have taken aback volunteers: each has reacted differently, depending on its characteristics and psychological its culture, whereas there are on board Russian, European and Chinese.
To really go to Mars could take another 20 years, "but only with a great international effort. All - according to Di Pippo - will depend on the political decision to invest in innovative technologies by leading space agencies. The new era of exploration of the Solar System starts from conditions completely different from those of the Apollo missions that led to the man on the moon then the mission is born from a strong nationalistic drive, now everything is based on international collaboration. "
SOURCE: ilmessaggero.it
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