Researcher to spend 520 days i

By An Baijie

A Chinese researcher is packing his bags for a trip to Russia, where he will take part in an extended Mars simulation exercise at the end of this month that could help prepare him and future astronauts to land safely on the red planet.

The researcher, from the China Astronaut Research and Training Center (CARTC), will spend 520 days, or more than 17 months, living in intimate quarters with five other people from different countries.

During a visit Tuesday to Wuhan University in Hubei Province, Chen Shanguang, the director of CARTC, said the researcher would share his living space with participants from Russia, France and Germany. The simulation test has never before been attempted, according to a report in Changjiang Daily.

The six volunteers will live inside a sealed capsule called "Mars-500," the report said. It takes about 520 days for a roundtrip train to Mars.

Chen said the unique experience would be a challenge for the volunteers because of language differences as well as living and eating habits. The article did not say whether the six people would be allowed to exit the capsule for any reason or receive fresh food.

"For the six volunteers, staying in the sealed capsule would be much more uncomfortable than being in the jail," Chen said. "Any differences would be magnified in the narrow space, and even their body odor would be different."

A medical device used for Traditional Chinese Medicine will be taken into the capsule for data collection. It will take samples from the coating on the tongue and check pulse, Chen said.

Using the technology developed at Wuhan University, the astronauts could turn urine into drinkable water, which could allow them to carry less water into space, Chen said.

Chen added that China is also trying to develop the technology to cultivate without soil in order to create a moon farm in the future, which would provide food for astronauts.

Chen hopes to study data about the physical, psychological and working ability of human beings through this simulation experiment, which would help China select astronauts for Mars missions.

Ye Peijian, the general director of Chang'e-2 and Chang'e-3 lunar satellite, said last Wednesday during the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference session that China has the ability to visit Mars independently, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Meanwhile, Chen said all of China's current astronauts were selected from the air force, but candidates would be chosen from campuses and institutes in the future.

"It takes three to five years to train a pilot or a scientist to become an astronaut, and all of you sitting here have an opportunity," Chen told the students.