That's why, at the beginning of 2008, a crew of six will be sent on a 500 day simulated mission to Mars. In reality, the crew will remain in a special isolation facility in Russia. To investigate the psychological and medical aspects of a long-duration mission, such as to Mars, ESA (European Space Agency) is looking for experiment proposals for research to be carried out during their stay.

The crew will be put through all kinds of scenarios as if they really were traveling to the Red Planet , including a launch, an outward journey of up to 250 days, arrival at Mars and, after an excursion on the surface, they will face the long journey home.

Simulated emergencies will be an important part of the training, since in the real trip, they may have to deal with real emergencies or illnesses. Communication delays of as much as 40 minutes for the round trip will not make life any easier.

"Our main interest is to look at the psychology of such a mission, knowing that you are enclosed for 500 days. As soon as there is a problem, the crew knows that they are on their own, and they have to solve it themselves. The only help available from the outside is through communications which may take up to 40 minutes," says an ESA press release of today.

There are a number of aspects that the joint ESA-The Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) study will observe:

-The psychological effects of the situation on the astronaut's mental well-being, and on his capabilities of performing certain tasks, even tasks critical to the mission.

-The medical procedures. How to define a good medical environment to treat diseases? What are the medicines that must be taken on the journey? There will be one person amongst the crew with real medical training. But, of course, that person can also fall ill.

-The crew composition, and the effect of differences in personality, cultural background and motivation.

-Physiological adaptation to an isolated environment, stress effects on health and well-being, changes in the immune system.

Actually, it will be almost like a reality TV show, looking at interaction between people in all kinds of different situations, but with no prize at the end.

In the real mission, the huge prize will consist in being the first person to walk on the surface of Mars!