Mars simulation to start in Moscow

The unusual isolation experiment, called Mars 500, is designed to probe humankind's ability to undertake long-distance space travel even though a manned mission to the Red Planet remains years away. Participants will not experience weightlessness or the higher radiation levels associated with such travel but organisers say the experience will nonetheless be authentic.
The crew, made up of three Russians, a Chinese man, a Frenchman and an Italian, will spend 520 days locked up in a "spaceship" forged from metal tubing in Russia's Moscow-based Institute for Biomedical Problems.Their task is to conduct dozens of experiments and simulate a flight to and from Mars, as well as a landing and a series of 'spacewalks' on the Red Planet.Participants are not professional astronauts but volunteers who were chosen because they had specific medical and technical skills.They will earn the equivalent of about £70,000 each.
The biggest challenge will be loneliness. They will only be able to contact loved ones over the internet which will often only function with a forty minute delay. They will also, of course, be deprived of the company of the opposite sex.The mission commander, Alexei Sitev, said he only got married a few weeks ago and admitted it was going to be "difficult."Organisers say they chose an all male crew to avoid conflict. A similar but shorter experiment in 1999 was marred when a Russian participant tried to forcibly kiss a Canadian female crew member.