Today's Edition
VIENNA (dpa)
Researchers are to play the role of astronauts in simulations of future stays on the Moon and Mars in their most extensive international mission to date.
Over the next two weeks, around 70 men and women will live in 17 habitats around the world, which in some respects resemble a stay on another planet, according to the Austrian Space Forum (ÖWF), which is acting as the control centre for the launch.
The mission, coordinated from Vienna, is led by 44-year-old German astronaut Anika Mehlis.
The researchers - known as "analogue astronauts" - simulate space explorations on Earth in order to gain important experience for future manned missions. They wear special space suits when outdoors.
Key aims include investigating how a heterogeneous team cooperates under extreme stress, and how the team members deal with isolation.
ÖWF Director Gernot Grömer said the teams are living together in confined spaces in the Czech Republic or Poland, for example in a bunker or a diving capsule.
A total of 200 researchers from 25 nations are involved in the project. Other locations for the habitats include Jordan, France, Poland, the United States, Australia, and India.
A trip to Mars is considered one of the most important goals of space travel.
"With current technical capabilities, the best option for a trip to Mars is 200 days to Mars, then a year's stay and 200 days back," said Grömer. Many questions about this long journey and stay are still unanswered.
Grömer said major space organisations currently expect the first humans to set foot on Mars in the 2040s.
The ÖWF regularly organises Mars analogue missions. The organisation has also developed a prototype space suit for stays on the Red Planet.
