SIRIUS-21 participants prepare to launch international isolation experiment in Moscow

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Experiment and researchers spoke about their preparations for an international isolation experiment, known as the SIRIUS-21, at a training centre at the Institute for Biomedical Problems (IBMP) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) in Moscow on Friday.

The upcoming SIRIUS (Scientific International Research In Unique Terrestrial Station) project will model a space flight to the Moon and is scheduled to start on November 4 of this year.

The project is run by NASA’s Human Research Program and the RAS institute, with two experiments having already been conducted across 17 and 120 days.

In the upcoming experiment, the isolation will last 240 days (eight months). Participants will spend this time in a specially equipped IBMP ground-based experimental complex, designed for six people.

Twelve candidates - six Russians, four from the United States and two from the United Arab Emirates - have been pre-selected to take part in the next experiment.

Training for the candidates began in August. Researchers are testing them on their physical endurance and mental abilities.

The team will spend the entire eight months in complete isolation from the outside world.
They will only be able to communicate with the control centre by audio and with relatives by email.

The Roscosmos press service specified that according to the plan, the crew will perform tasks related to space flight operations including daily medical monitoring and in-depth health assessment, regular physical training and activities corresponding to different flight scenarios.

The project also aims to test elements of a manned expedition to more distant space objects and to study the effects of isolation on human psychology and physiology.

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SOT, Fabian Müller, researcher: “In our experiment we do an exercise test to estimate capacities and kinetics of physical performance. So, we look into physical performance as well as we look into the interaction between physical performance and cognitive performance. So, all the participants will be running on the treadmill. They will also do combative tasks using their fingers by answering a [inaudible] test. So, we will look into the interaction between different exercises’ intensities during running on the treadmill and cognitive performance”.

SOT, Oleg Blinov, Participant at SIRIUS-21 isolation experiment (Russian): “Active training started in August, almost three months before the start of the experiment. The whole stage of preparation is divided into stages related to medical examination, admission. And then [there is] training that’s both methodological, physiological, psychological and in some techniques related to immune and operational-technical research. [Can I] say that they (the experiments) are complicated? Yes, they are complicated, but they are very interesting and, accordingly, you don’t put them in the category of complicated and impossible.”

SOT, Ashley Kowalski, Participant at SIRIUS-21 isolation experiment: “All of us bring to the table something very unique. We all bring together different educational backgrounds, different cultural backgrounds, different professional and personality backgrounds. From my point of view, the crew composition, the way it has been selected is very good. We’ve really fed-off each other very well. We read each other’s personalities well, and we are coworking together well. And I couldn’t ask for a better crew to be going into isolation with.”

SOT, Sergey Ponomarev, Head at Laboratory of Immune System Physiology and co-director at SIRIUS project on Russia’s side (Russian): “The installation is indeed quite unique. It is the largest in the world at the moment. There are analogues in the USA and Japan, for example. There are slightly different tasks to be solved there. This model was designed by Sergei Korolev as a mock-up of an interplanetary spacecraft. It has now been modernised: new video surveillance systems and new life support systems have been installed there. And one of the important features of this facility is that it is possible to create completely unique conditions in each module, such as temperature, humidity and pressure.”

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