The most important issue that stands in the first place within the framework of the 240-day isolation experiment is the safety of the crew, said Mark Belakovsky
MOSCOW, November 5. /tass/. Participants of the 240-day SIRIUS isolation experiment can withdraw from it at any time without explanation. This was told to TASS by the chief project manager Mark Belakovsky.
The SIRIUS-2021 isolation experiment, which simulates an expedition to the Moon, was launched in Moscow on the basis of the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences on November 4.
"Our institute has many years of experience in conducting ground experiments with the participation of volunteer testers. The most important issue that always comes first is the safety of the crew, physical and mental. We have one very important principle that in any experiment, any tester can leave the experiment at any stage without explaining the reason," he said, adding that so far there have been no such precedents.
The crew, which included three Russians, two representatives of the United States and one representative of the UAE, will have to "get" to the Moon for 240 days in isolation, "fly around" it to find a landing site, "land" on the surface and return. Specially for the experiment, spacesuits with a helmet with elements of virtual reality have been prepared, in which the crew will go to the "surface" of the Moon. It is assumed that the researchers will take soil samples and control the model of the lunar rover. The crew will be in an autonomous ground complex and communicate only with the experiment control center via audio communication. Communication with relatives and relatives will be available via e-mail.
The SIRIUS International project (Scientific International Research In Unique Terrestrial Station, Scientific international research in a unique terrestrial complex) is carried out jointly by the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the NASA Human Research Program with the participation of space agencies of Russia, Germany and Canada, as well as specialists from Russia, the USA, Germany, France, Italy and other countries.
The SIRIUS project provides for a whole series of isolation experiments. The first one took place in November 2017, when the crew spent 17 days in isolation. The isolation lasted for four months in 2018-2019. It is also planned to conduct three annual experiments until 2028.
