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Volunteer to Simulate a Mars Mission for the ESA

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the 17-months-seems-fair-to-me dept.

number6x writes "The European Space Agency (ESA) is looking for volunteers for a simulated trip to Mars. The simulation will put a crew of six in isolation for 17 months. The crew will be made up of 4 Russians and 2 Europeans. In all the ESA will need 12 volunteers for back up purposes. Seventeen months was chosen to simulate the time needed for the journey to Mars and back, as well as a 30 day period spent doing experiments on the red planet."

7 of 209 comments (clear)

  1. Will they be allowed to have sex? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Simple question. Will they be allowed to have sex?

    1. Re:Will they be allowed to have sex? by dintech · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yep, the 240-mile-high club is pretty exclusive.

  2. Re:Strong recommendation by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    They can do without sex, sure...but the simulated latency on WoW would demoralize them within a week. ^_^

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  3. Interesting ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Communications with the simulated mission control and loved-ones will take up to 40 minutes" They're running Vista?
  4. Just think... by spungo · · Score: 5, Funny

    Every single day, the same routine, the same faces, the same surroundings, the same conversations... or I could leave IT and sign up for this!

  5. Re:What they fail to mention in the summary by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sounds like a fair lot 'til you realize that this is for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and that your hourly wage is about 5 bucks. Whether you're awake or sleeping, granted, but then again, I do value my privacy somewhat.

    But hey, here's an idea. How about stuffing all those "if you got nothing to hide..." people in there? I'm pretty sure it might make them reevaluate that stance.

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  6. Been there, done that... by dargaud · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seriously ! I spent a year with 12 other people in the middle of Antarctica in 2005 and we were being followed by shrinks of the ESA. There's a big difference between a winterover and the proposed experiment: the first has a purpose while the second has not. I mean the only purpose here is to stay in a can. At least when you go to Mars or to Antarctica you have a job to perform and important things to do (science and ensuring your survival because there's no way out). Here you'll have people crack down after a few weeks from a sense of uselessness. I would sign up for another winterover or a Mars mission no questions asked. I wouldn't get canned like this for a heap of gold and an all you can download porn access.

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