Mars Mission Rehearsals - Stress Tests

SIX volunteers from Europe and Russia will on Tuesday allow themselves to be locked up in a capsule in Moscow for over three months to simulate the conditions for an eventual manned mission to Mars.

The two Europeans and four Russians will not be allowed to leave the facility until their mission ends 105 days later, allowing scientists to assess the psychological effects of long duration space flight.Far from being a version of TV reality show 'Big Brother' without the cameras, the project is seen as a serious scientific experiment that will show the impact of prolonged isolation on stress, hormones, sleep and mood.

The six, all men, will be allowed to take personal effects like books, laptops and DVDs into the facility at Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP) in Moscow and but will otherwise be sealed away from the world.

According to the strict rules for the experiment set out by the IBMP, the volunteers can only quit the capsule if they have decided to pull out of the experiment for good.

'The evacuation of individual members of the crew due to illness or personal wish is comparable to the 'death' of the cosmonaut,' it said in a stern mission statement.

The institute said the main problem for a manned mission to Mars is ensuring the full autonomy of the crew for the year-and-a-half round trip.

As with a real mission, the supplies for the expedition have been painstakingly worked out in advance and no additional goods will be allowed to enter the capsule once the experiment starts.

'The crew will themselves resolve all problems and uncomfortable situations which do not require the evacuation of crew members,' the IBMP said.

In a bid to exactly simulate possible scenarios of a manned mission, communications with a mission control centre and loved ones outside will be subjected to a time delay of 20 minutes