Home for Sale. Location: MARS

While environmentalists are saying we better save the earth because it's going to hell, astronautical organizations are preparing to go to hell. More to the point, organizations like NASA are investigating thoroughly what it would take to get to the red planet, Mars. The intense conditions make it very difficult to predict what could happen to an expedition, so researchers are running tests to simulate what could happen, in order to prepare for the Great Journey. Aiding and egging them on is a 7,000 member multinational group called the Mars Society who is determined to reach the "New World."

"The European Space Agency and the Russian Institute of Biomedial Problems are scheduled to run a joint 520-day mock Mars expedition this year aimed to study the effects of extreme isolation and confinement on 12 volunteers."

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/06/02/space.psych/index.html?eref=edition_technology



The mock expedition is designed to create an atmosphere that will be most like a real expedition to Mars. Researchers hope to understand how team members on the trip will react psychologically..."they will not be able to receive surprise presents, like special cookies or favorite movies, which are often brought to the space station on supply shuttles when someone starts feeling homesick or maybe a little blue. Thus, decking out the Martian-bound craft with family photographs, special trinkets, books and even plants will be crucial for a mostly monotonous extraterrestrial road trip that will bring a whole new meaning to the "are we there yet?" question.
If someone becomes sick -- either physically or mentally -- the crew has to be ready to cope with that, too.
"If someone gets suicidal, you have to take care of it on board," Kanas said. Mission Control might also have to make some tough calls, like whether to tell an astronaut about a death in his or her family or other tragedies back home.
Yet the big unknown, according to Kanas, does not involve who astronauts will not be able to talk to or what gifts they will not be able to get, but instead what they will not be able to clearly see: planet Earth.
Kanas has even coined a term for the situation: the "Earth out of view" phenomenon.
"Nobody in the history of mankind has ever experienced the Earth as a pale, insignificant blue dot in the sky," he said. "What that might do to a crew member, nobody knows.""

from CNN , Digg