Survive 438 Days on 'Mars' For $ 100 million

Survive 438 Days on 'Mars' For $ 100 million

Six cosmonauts from Russia, Italy, France, and China, managed to break the endurance record for longest space mission in a simulated landing on Mars for 438 days.

Using the 'plane' named Mars500, they survive from cereal bars and pasta and minimum contact with family and relatives. This simulation was conducted at the Biomedical Institute in Moscow, Russia, and last for approximately 17 months. The plan, the mission will end when it reaches the day to 520.

If the last full up to 520 days, then they will each receive U.S. $ 100 million (Rp853 billion). However, until Sunday, August 14, 2011 local time, six were already broke the record during the 438 days that had been held real cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov.

For information, Polyakov is the record holder for endurance in space by spending 437 days orbiting the Earth in 1995.

During 438 days, the six cosmonauts are feeling like life on Mars with the natural conditions are adjusted to the original. The cosmonauts worked in a closed volume space 550 cubic meters, without windows, and are observed by doctors and psychologists.

Excerpted from The Australian, August 15, 2011, every cosmonaut has a small bed, a desk and a pair of underwear. There was no bathroom in this simulation space. To clean themselves, they enter a room like a sauna room and use paper towels to wash all the dirt.

Although only a simulation, the experiment was hailed by Polyakov as a cosmonaut who actually never been to outer space. "Now is not the time to calculate how much time has passed, but how much time is left. This (simulation) have a positive effect," says Polyakov.

The six cosmonauts involved three of them from Russia, namely Aleksandr Smoleevskiy, Sukhrob Kamolov, and Aleksi Sitev. And the other three being Diego Urbina (Italy), Wang Yue (China), and Romain Charles (France).