Mars pioneers set out on 105-day mission

Moscow: Six volunteers climbed into a small metal capsule in Moscow on Tuesday as part of a three-month experiment to simulate a voyage to Mars.

The crew - a German engineer, a French airline pilot and four Russians - will spend the next 105 days living in a minimally furnished facility in a hangar on the outskirts of the Russian capital. Although the six will never leave the ground, they will make a vital contribution towards a manned mission to Mars.

The United States, Russia and Europe all aim to put a human on Mars by the 2030s. Scientists from the European Space Agency and the Moscow-based Institute of Medical and Biological Problems, which is running the mission, will monitor the team via cameras erected in each of the facility's three modules.

The purpose of the experiment is to analyse whether humans are capable of co-existing in a small environment without showing signs of significant mental and physical deterioration.

A more ambitious experiment is scheduled for December, when other volunteers will stay for 500 days in the same conditions. With current technology, it is estimated that a return trip to Mars could take at least 18 months.

Keen to avoid previous mistakes, the project's organisers have banned women and alcohol. An earlier experiment in Moscow virtually collapsed when a multi-national team of men and women was allowed to drink alcohol on the eve of the Millennium. Simmering tensions between Russian and non-Russian volunteers led to a fight for the affections of a female Canadian scientist.

- The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2009