MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to take part in the next stages of the research experiment SIRIUS (Scientific International Research in Unique Terrestrial Station), in which the crews will be isolated for eight and twelve months, the project’s manager, Mark Belakovsky, told the media.

"We’ve received a message from the ESA. They are prepared to join the eight-month and twelve-month long isolation experiment," he said.

Today, on March 19 an international crew of six will enter the ground experimental module SIRIUS to spend 120 days there.

SIRIUS project

The project SIRIUS is being held by the Institute for Bio-Medical Problems under the Russian Academy of Sciences and the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA in cooperation with partners in Germany, France, Italy and other countries. It envisages a series of experiments to make preparations for deep space missions.

The first in the series of joint Russian-US experiments SIRIUS was held in November 2017. It lasted 17 days. Now four-month, eight-month and twelve-month long experiments are due.