Life inside the simulator
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Life on “board”
Self-sufficiency The crew is self-sufficient; it solves most problems without the help of the Control Centre and the crew members organize a large part of their daily activities themselves. A week in the simulator is the standard 7 days long, two days are off, with the exception of special and emergency situations (breakdowns etc.). The crew members are under constant supervision of the Control Centre; their health, mental and physical state is recorded. Just like in the case of real space flights, the members of crew were allowed to bring some personal belongings along. They have books, movies and notebooks available; they can also engage in physical exercise or studying.
For the entire period of 520 days of simulated interplanetary flight, the 6 members of crew will have 5 tons of water and 6 tons of food and oxygen available: this will considerably limit the comfort of their journey. The food allocation is very exact and strict: consumed rations of individual members are individually controlled. The food rations are identical with those already used at the International Space Station (ISS). Oxygen and water are – to a limited extent – acquired through recycling of life produce of the crew. Waste is taken out of the NEK module complex.
Crew life is made up of routine operations (medical check-ups , physical preparation, monitoring and maintenance of technical devices and systems, controlling the operations of the complex), of scientific research and sanitary-hygienic maintenance. Also, the modelling of exceptional and emergency situations is scheduled of the on-board systems and other technical equipment, as well as of emergency situations caused by human factor (decline in performance, attention and reliability). |
