IT specialists wanted for 'mission to Mars'

Computer and engineering specialists who are prepared to be locked up for two years without seeing or contacting the outside world are being hunted by Russian scientists.



A total of six 'investigator-volunteers' are being sought to take part in the unique trial – Mars-500 – billed as the precursor for a manned mission to the Red Planet.



All applicants must be between 25 and 50-years-old for a chance to be contained in a space-style module - measuring only 500 cubic metres - for a maximum of 700 days.



Candidates must also be healthy, possess a good command of Russian and English, have gone to University, and be professionally engaged in IT or engineering, among other fields.



The experiment, which will be Russia's longest ever isolation project, is to take place at the Institute for Biomedical Problems, with the aim of "solving problems" a mission to Mars may encounter.



The Moscow-based group has said its team of six volunteers, who will stay in artificial atmospheric conditions, will have to practice methods of self-control "of all the aspects of life and activity."



This suggests applicants will have to self-manage their health, psychological state, work capability, environmental situation, consumable resources and even, physical urges.



Food will be supplied in rations identical to the ones used at the International Space Station; water will be supplied in accordance with water provision for space crews, while alcohol and cigarettes will be forbidden.



Each crew member will have an individual cabin, saloon, storage area and working place to carry out tasks such as biomedical tests, psychological probes and "immunological investigations."



Results of the crew's work, which also includes sanitary, hygiene and physiological tests, will be communicated mainly through e-mail, and occasionally telephone, to the Institute's scientists.



The trial divides simply into three stages - the first leg or "flight" seeks to replicate a journey from Earth to Mars (at least 35million miles) and covers 250 days.



Staying on the "Martian surface" represents the second stage of the trial, when the scientists will simulate a stay on Mars for 3 of the crewmembers.



According to an online itinerary, this will take place before the actual "landing" on the Red Planet, prior to the third stage of 'returning to Earth' or "flight", scheduled to last 240 days.



However the researchers say they reserve the right to extend the trip by 180 days, meaning the isolation project could last for over two years.



The Institute explained the r'aison d'être of Mars-500. "The point is that a human is the most important element, to a great extent determining the possibility of successful realisation of the mission.



"At the same time he is the most vulnerable unit in the system "crew-spaceship" because of his susceptibility to influence of the flight negative factors."



They added the results will let them "refine the conception" of an internationally manned trip to Mars, to enable a better understanding of humans' experience and their biomedical requirements.



The scientists added scrutiny of medical and family histories are compulsory for all candidates, as is the screening of bad habits to ensure crew members do not irritate their fellow 'cosmonauts.'