Want to get away from it all?
The European Space Agency is looking for volunteers to make a pretend trip to Mars.
No kidding.
The job will last almost two years, the living conditions will be cramped and the food all pre-packed — just like on the spacecraft that might one day make the epic voyage to our remote red neighbor.
But it gets worse…..or better, if you’re the really adventurous, pioneering type.
“The crew will experience extreme isolation and confinement. They will lose sight of planet Earth. A radio contact will take 40 minutes to travel to us and then back to the space explorers,” it added.
To understand how humans might cope in such extreme conditions, ESA and the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) have decided to send a joint crew of six on a 520-day simulated mission to Mars.
“The simulation follows the mission profile of a real Mars mission, including an exploration phase on the surface of Mars,” ESA said.
The project will kick off with one or two shorter, 105-day studies in 2008, followed by the full 520-day study late next year or early in 2009. In all, 12 volunteers are needed to complete the various test projects.
Application forms are linked at the bottom of the article. Good luck.