MOSCOW, August 14. /TASS/. The Ground-based Experimental Complex (NEK) (located in the premises of the Institute for Medico-Biological Problems, IMBP), which will be used in the SIRIUS four-month simulated space mission will have been completely renovated by late October, said Valery Yesin, head of the NEK, in a conversation with TASS on Tuesday.
"The repair work is scheduled to end in late October, after which the testing of the complex will start and will last two to three weeks. However, we may say already that the complex is about 50% complete, and the process is going on a routine basis," he said.
Now there is work underway to replace the lighting and video control systems in the complex, Yesin said. Video surveillance will be digitalized and will have sound recording. "We are changing all cameras, software and the server; there will be dynamic solid-state lighting, in which each bulb will be programmed and will change the force of color and the color temperature depending on the established program," he said.
The lighting will make it possible to model time of day - morning, day or evening - the expert said. "Scientists, in particular those from the US, believe that it will help increase the crew’s working capacity," the NEK head said.
The SIRIUS analog
SIRIUS (Scientific International Research In Unique Terrestrial Station) is a series of joint ground-based analog missions by Russia’s IMBP and US NASA to study the psychology and working capacity of human beings in long space flights, primarily to the Deep Space Gateway lunar orbit. Participants of the experiment are to spend between 17 days and one year in total isolation.
It emerged earlier that cosmonaut Yevgeny Tarelkin agreed to take part in the project. He will head the crew of six people. All the experiment participants will have been selected by October 15, 2018. It was also noted that millions of dollars will be needed to implement the SIRIUS program.
The first in the series of joint Russian-US analog missions dubbed SIRIUS was held in November 2017 and lasted 17 days. The crew had to carry out 60 experiments, "catch" satellites with a manipulator arm and operate a rover on the "Moon." The four-month analog mission will take place is to take place now, then an eight-month analog and a year-long mission.