ESA Wants You

Now’s your chance to experience a trip to Mars without actually going there. The ESA (European Space Agency) is calling for applications from European volunteers to spend 17 months in a simulated isolation tank in Moscow. Interlocking modules create the faux spaceship which consists of only 19,250 cubic feet (9 truck containers.) Participants will be cut off from outside contact except by a delayed radio link.

The study is being conducted to learn about such psychological effects as isolation, boredom, and interaction between the 6 volunteers, who will be paid about $158.00 a day. Set for late 2008 or early 2009, if you think you have the “right stuff” and come from Russia or can figure out a way to quickly join the ESA, you can apply online. Viktor Baranov of Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems, the site of the experiment, says he has received about 150 application so far.

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