The 520 days of isolation for the Mars500 crew will end Nov.

4, when the hatch of their spacecraft is opened for the rst time since June last year.
Six crew members have been sealed in an isolation chamber since June, 2010, in order to simulate a mission to Mars. The crew has been simulating all elements of a Mars mission travelling to Mars, orbiting the planet, landing and return to Earth. The aim was to gather knowledge and experience to help prepare for real Mars missions.

Mars500
Utility module Mars surface simulator
To walk across the soil and rocks of Mars, crew members must put on Orlan spacesuits and pass through an airlock.

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The big question

Can humans survive physically and psychologically long enough in isolation to make an actual trip to Mars and back?

We now know they can.

During the mission

Crew was totally isolated. Lived and worked like astronauts on ISS. Performed maintenance, scientic experiments and daily exercise. The crew was responsible for monitoring and maintaining the health and psychological states of themselves and each other. Personal items: As with a human spaceight mission, the crew was free to take certain personal items, as well being supplied with books, lms and personal laptops.

It is divided into four compartments, to store food and other supplies, to house a greenhouse, a gym and a refrigeration unit.

About Mars...
Distance from Earth: Mars orbit 55- 400 million km A round-trip Earth orbit voyage to Mars would last more than 500 days

Medical module
The 12m-long cylinder acts as the laboratory. Should a crewmember become ill, he can be isolated and treated here.

Habitable module
Main living quarters. The 20m-long module has six rooms (3m2 each), kitchen, a social area. Also acts as the main control room.
The Mars500 venture is being run by the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IMBP), with the participation of Esa.

Landing module

Simulation timeline

Only used during the 30-day Mars landing operation when three crew members visited the surface.
Feb. 1 2011 Entering circular orbit around Mars Feb. 1

The candidates have had only personal contact with each other, plus voice contact with a simulated control centre and family and friends, as would normally happen in a human spaceight mission. A 20-minute delay was built into communications with the control centre to simulate an interplanetary mission

Communication

June 3 June 15 June 23 Dec. 24 2010 Start of the Undocking Transfer to Shifting 520-day from orbital heliocentric to spiral isolation assembly orbit orbit study. Hatch laboratory towards towards closed, lift o Mars Mars
Sources: imbp

Feb. 12

Feb. 23

Feb. 24

Feb. 26

Feb. 27

Mar. 1

Mar. 2

Apr. 7

Oct. 13

Nov. 4

Mars Undocking, Ascent, Docking with End of Habitation Hatch Entering Transfer to Shifting to End of Lander landing on beginning interplanetary quarantine module closure, into spiral heliocentric spiral orbit 520-day hatch Mars of craft hatch Lander orbit away orbit towards study, crew opening quarantine opening undocking from Mars towards Earth landing on Earth Earth
SUSAN BATSFORD, GRAPHICS EDITOR, TWITTER @SBATS1/QMI AGENCY