Simulated Mars mission set to launch

The main task of the Mars-500 experiment is to study the effects of long isolation to help a space crew of the future cope better with stress and fatigue.

“When everybody interacts with the same people in the same space, habits and behavior become apparent very quickly. These habits may irritate and cause indignation — and even fits of aggression,’’ said Mikhail Baryshev, a psychotherapist who is connected to the program.

The experiment, conducted by the Moscow-based Institute for Medical and Biological Problems in cooperation with the European Space Agency and Chinese space authorities, will simulate a 250-day journey to Mars, a 30-day surface exploration phase, and 240-day return trip.

The institute in western Moscow is the nation’s premier space medicine center; it has served the Soviet and then Russian space programs since the dawn of the space age. The facility built for the experiment comprises several interconnected modules with a total volume of about 20,000 cubic feet and a separate, built-in imitator of Mars surface for the mock landing.

The researchers will communicate with the outside world via Internet, delayed and occasionally disrupted. They will eat canned food and take a shower once every 10 days — mimicking space conditions. The crew will have two days off a week, except when emergencies are simulated.

The space agency said the crew will also regularly play video games as part of a project to develop personalized software to interact with crews on future space missions.

French crew member Romain Charles said the experiments will keep the team busy in isolation.

“It’s not a jail, it’s a program, an experiment,’’ he said. “It will be hard I’m sure, but we have a target to stay here 520 days and we will achieve it.’’

Both Charles, 31, and Italian-Colombian Diego Urbina, 27, are engineers by training. China’s Wang Yue, 26, is an employee at China’s space training center.

The 38-year-old Russian captain, Alexey Sitev, has worked at the Russian cosmonaut training center and the two other Russians, Sukhrob Kamolov, 32, and Alexander Smoleyevsky, 33, are doctors.