All Female Crew

The idea for an all-female complement to the Mars500 just happened to arise on St. Patrick's Day, though we were all sober, I assure you. On Facebook, the Mars500 press team and other supporters came together as, in one rep's words, "... a form of psychological support for the Mars500 crew, where we demonstrate that our brave ladies are ready and able to do the same [type of simulation]."

So we have beamed a little photo-shopped gift into the Mars500 module!

Click to embiggen and see all originals!
And hey, that's me on the left ;)

We had a great many brilliant women in the running for the Mars500 AFSC (All Female Symbolic Crew), so we made it clear from the beginning we wouldn't be pin-up girls. Promotion and support? Yes, we all work in the space industry in one capacity or another. Participation? We sure would qualify! And as our head researcher points out, "We're not going to be dollies here -- I'd very much like to get into space some day, and not just as the token woman."


Many of us follow the Mars500 research closely, after having gone through astronaut training, and also done Astro-NOT simulations. So here is our "congratulatory" project from us to the Mars500 crew as they reach various milestones! Today is Day 313, and after landing on Mars, they are now on their way back to Earth.

These men have given up 520 days of their lives for their trip to the red planet... with no wives, no friends, no sunlight, and only the food they took with them! That is a pretty stunning sacrifice for science. And we also happened to notice they had some free wall space where they might put our posters! They can take their pick of many variations done by talented graphic artist Steve Légère. Thanks for the great work, Steve!


How did we know they had wall space? See the panoramic-RU site for an amazing 360-degree view of the Mars500 capsule! The tour is clickable, moveable, scrollable... and watch for the red arrows, to move from room to room. Truly the best floor-to-ceiling view of the spaceship I've yet seen!

But anyway, my fellow crew-women are:
Soyeon Yi - Daejeon, South Korea - Mission Commander
Daria Shapovalova - Moscow, Russia - Pilot
Stefania Ligas - Verona, Italy - Medical Officer
Kate Arkless Gray - London, England - Head Researcher
Misuzu Onuki - Tokyo, Japan - Communications Officer
Heather Archuletta - San Francisco, USA - Chief Engineer


Our true veteran astronaut is Soyeon Yi of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, the second Asian woman in space! So, of course, she was unanimously elected Commander of the mission. Stefania? A lifelong space enthusiast, and a teacher in the city of Romeo & Juliet! Daria works at the International Space University. Kate is the famous @SpaceKate, broadcast journalist who came across the pond for the STS-133 launch and never went home! Ex-JAXA Misuzu is also now the Asia liaison of the Space Frontier Foundation.

Quite accomplished international company. We join hands in cyberspace to salute the Mars500!

Twitter From Mars

It just wouldn't be a MARS UPDATE week without checking in with Roskosmos and seeing what the Mars500 chaps are up to! Aside from cabin fever, that is.

Very. Serious. Scientists.

After leaving their Marswalk activities behind in March, our intrepid explorers began the long journey back to planet Earth -- continually monitoring the health and psychological stamina of the crew.

One particularly interesting simulation-about-isolation took place in April, where they conducted a complete communications blackout for the space ship. Due to severe disruptions by solar storms (something that could definitely happen on a real Mars voyage!), the crew had no news, no email, no audio or videograms from anyone in the outside world... not even from Mission Control!

In some cases, such total isolation can be damaging, and at the very least, nerve wracking... as evidenced by their later tweet: "What if we came back online [after the storm] and there was no one outside?"

However, this type of training is designed to ensure such autonomy is motivating -- bringing the crew together in times of challenge or uncertainty, and hoping we found the right mix of people who can work as a team in any environment.

They took time in their schedule to celebrate Yuri Gagarin on the 50th anniversary of human spaceflight, continually remembering him as source of inspiration in helping the world to understand that the benefits of our exploration outweigh the dangers. Interestingly, none of the Russians weighed in, but we'll take their reverence as a given!

I was particularly moved by the responses of Diego Urbina, and if that name sounds familiar, it's because I also just mentioned Diego in the last post about MDRS crew, as he has now participated in Mars simulations on two continents.

Also! Big news coming up! Today marks Day #360, so this week will be a very exciting time , in that the crew will reach the one-year milestone in their ship. An entire calendar year in a simulation for science. What amazing commitment! And from there, it will still be 155 days to go until landing...


Join the crew next week on their many organizational sites and social media spots for all the anniversary buzz:

Mars500 Official Site at RU - http://mars500.imbp.ru

Mars500 Site at ESA - http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Mars500/index.html

Mars500 YouTube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/Mars5OO

Mars500 Twitter Feed - http://twitter.com/#!/Mars_500

Mars500 Google Blog - http://mars500main.appspot.com/

Steve Légère Mars500 Letters - http://mars500.wordpress.com/

And of course if you query Mars500 on Facebook, you will now find many groups and fan pages sharing news items about this record-setting simulation program. Amazing how these have grown over the past year...!

Mars Mission Milestone

The Mars500 experiment is cruising along nicely! On September 10th, French Astronomer and Graphic Designer Steve Légère presented a beautiful commemorative collage to the crew; many of us following the Mars500 closely added our names to the poster to congratulate all the Marsonauts on their 100th day. We were very gratified when the guys "inside" twittered their thanks for our support.

The ESA and Roskosmos were very happy yesterday, because the team officially reached Day #105 – matching the previous crew's duration. But me, I'm excited about TODAY! Day #106 makes the longest simulation ever completed by a Mars analog team. Now they just have to repeat this duration five more times...

Great job, Steve!

Live voice communications ceased on July 26th, leaving the men with a "time lag" for all audio and text transmissions. To make the simulation as real as possible, their com delays will always reflect where they are in space, on the way to Mars. Crew and mission controllers send messages to each other, but must now wait for replies, meaning no "real-time" communications – not even with family – and in any disaster scenarios, the crew must make crucial decisions for themselves. Simulated crises will test how they respond to emergency situations.

Needle humor. Getting punchy in there, guys?

Italian-Colombian Marsonaut Diego Urbina, worked in Operations at the European Astronaut Centre's Neutral Bouyancy Facility in Cologne, Germany before joining the Mars500 project, and when asked why he applied for the program, he replied, "Because this study... in isolation and reaction is not useful only for Mars, but also for life on Earth."

Unfortunately, 33 very isolated miners in Chile are discovering these phenomena right now, and under much tougher, less-controlled surroundings. While in isolation, you can become closely bonded to those around you, but it can also be a recipe for trouble and clique-behavior under stress, overwork or extreme environmental conditions. Studies and disasters, both voluntary and involuntary, teach us a great deal about human behavior.

Scratch that last question. We have our answer.

Very special thanks to the kind chaps on the Mars500 media team for granting permission to use some of their pictures on my blog for this Day #106 update! Большое спасибо!

Click here for my past posts on the Mars500, or here to join their Twitter feed or Facebook page. They also have an awesome YouTube Channel with a tour of the completed Mars ship facility.

365 Days For Mars 500

The Mars500 mission, callsign "Kepler", has reached day #365! Congratulations to Russian crew members Sukhrob Kamolov, Alexandr Smoleevskiy and Alexey Sitev; to Chinese crew member Wang Yue; and also to ESA crew members, Romain Charles from France, and Diego Urbina from Italy & Colombia.

One trip around the sun without a hot shower, just steam and towels. One year with no nature, no grass or trees, no sky.


One year without women. And 155 days to go!

Would you do that for 100,000 Euro? Where, each day, scientists are watching you for signs of how you handle a rigorous work schedule, medical experiments, emergency simulations and just plain... MONOTONY?

Here's an interesting look at how the chaps are handling life after 365 days in the "spaceship" isolation facility in Russia. Most pointedly, I thought it was interesting where Diego says he misses his family, he misses going out dancing, and that he misses the "randomness of the world."

Indeed, spontaneity would be in short supply in their world. Routines would be everything on a mission of this length, because the crew could not afford any system failure out in the black.

They are now getting toward the end of their mission schedule in terms of milestone events, having already landed on Mars and turned the boat around to head back toward Earth.

What remains now are the big questions about which scientific experiments are feasible, teamwork, stamina, continued physical and psychological health... and long-term interpersonal compatibility in a closed environment.


In an interesting turn event for us social media junkies, Steve Légère of the Mars500 Blog has continued to publish Letters From Romain, where the French crewman answers questions put to him by us spaceflight simulation groupies who keep up with their every move.

After I and my fellow AFSC crew members wrote to the Mars500 last month, Romain was kind enough to answer us and also pose some questions in return.

Utah? eek. Hate to break this to you, but I think the closest I will get to a Mars sim now is ... writing about other people who go to extreme environments to do so!

Busy (Celestial) Bodies

A busy weekend for all! I had a fantastic time at the Ames Tweetup yesterday, but am taking a break from twittering so I can put new photo galleries together for next week's posts.

Meanwhile, it's also a very active time for Mars500, as celebrated by my buddy Steve Legere with another great work of art as the crew reached Day #250.

Click to see Martian Surface Simulator module in larger photo

The crew are now orbiting the planet, and preparing to walk on Mars next week, so I hope everyone will be following their progress in this exciting research simulation. Today marks the day of the big much-anticipated landing on the Martian surface!

And... rumor has it, the Russian controllers are planning a medical emergency for the crew, to see their reactions and problem-solving skills as a team. It will be interesting to see how that unfolds, and which crew members will have to feign an injury or illness for the simulation.

For a recap, check out this excellent 2-minute BBC video, which is truly the best description I've seen of all their aims and milestones to date:

Special thanks to Marissa Venturella of Mizzou & Newsy for this great find!