MARS 500 Crew Finds Awesome Sandbox To Play In

For the past eight months, six astronauts have been traveling to Mars. Yesterday, they landed.

The astronauts are locked in a capsule meant to simulate a spacecraft, to study the effects of isolation on a group of astronauts. The project is trying to simulate the experience as much as possible, including the fact that it takes about 30 minutes to send a message to Mission Control, and another 30 minutes to get a response, even though they are on opposite sides of the same wall.

Three members of the crew boarded the Mars lander on February 8th to make the four-day “journey” from the “spacecraft” to the “surface”. Ironically, the thing they were touching down on was actually located on the floor above the simulation module they have been living in, at Moscow’s Institute of Biomedical Problems.

They finally landed yesterday, and for one hour and 12 minutes yesterday, two of the astronauts emerged from the lander to play in a big sandpit. They will go out for two more “Marswalks” in the simulated crater, returning to the mothership after a 16 day “trip” to the “surface”. Of course, after the landing party is the long, 8-month-trip-home party.

I have written before about the Mars 500 mission, and the sheer amount of fun they seem to be having with each other, which bodes well for our ability to potentially make this trip for real in the future. They are making a serious contribution to our understanding of human psychology and are helping to ensure success for the European Space Agency’s planned mission to Mars in 2030. Regardless, I can’t get over the fact that they just seem to be having such a damn good time!!!

*Astronaut 1: Dude we finally get to play in that awesome sandbox they kept promising us!
*Astronaut 2: Hell yeah, and they’re finally letting us use these really expensive anti-sand suits! I hate when I get sand in my spacediaper!
*Astronaut getting them dressed: You guys are jerks. I’m stealing the top bunk for the trip home.

They have also been making a point of celebrating each others cultures. Here, celebrating the Chinese New Year:

Can’t blame our favorite space-bros for having a good time and keeping themselves busy, though.

In other “good times in space” news, it turns out astronauts are going to have to pack condoms, according to radiation biophysicist Tore Straume from NASA’s Ames Research Centre. Space radiation is a huge concern when it comes to interplanetary travel, which is why we sent so many monkeys up first. In a recent article in the Journal of Cosmology, Straum cautions that female fetuses are extremely sensitive to this radiation, and could become sterile.

Once safely on Mars, the atmosphere and the planet itself will help to absorb a lot of the space radiation. Assuming everyone’s eggs and mighty swimmers make it there unscathed, we can start building our colony. No word yet on the correlation between raising children on Mars and the ensuing teenage angst about being stuck in the middle of absolutely nowhere.