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Russian scientists hope to continue Martian mission modeling experiments

Russia has come closer than other countries to launching sustainable long-term manned space missions, Vladimir Uiba, head of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency said

MOSCOW, August 03 /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Institute of Biomedical Problems hopes to continue modelling a manned mission to Mars in the years to come, Institute Director Igor Ushakov said on Saturday.

“The federal space programme for 2016-2025 has not been approved yet, but we hope that it will envisage further experimenting. We would like to study many issues during such experiments,” he said at the 40th COSPAR Scientific Assembly underway in Moscow on August 2-10, referring to a possible continuation of the Mars-500 Programme.

His deputy, Oleg Orlov, said a biosatellite, Bion-M j 2, would be orbited as part of the programme in 2019. It will be followed by another one, Bion-M j 3, approximately in 2022.

Also, Vozvrat-MKA spacecraft will be launched in 2021 and 2025.

Russia has come closer than other countries to launching sustainable long-term manned space missions, Vladimir Uiba, head of the Federal Medical and Biological Agency told ITAR-TASS this week.

“We expect positive results from experiments. Then we will be able to say whether or not we know how to provide for the vital life sustenance of cosmonauts during a long mission,” he said.

He said man would fly to Mars and beyond in the future, but “without experiments like those we are doing on Foton [satellite] no one can say how to provide sufficient supply of oxygen, food and so on for such a long flight”.

Uiba said no one in the world had such information, “neither the United States no China”. “We have come closer to the answer as our Fotons allow us to model life-support systems for people,” he said.

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