MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/. The year-long international terrestrial isolation experiment SIRIUS-23 simulating a flight to the Moon has started in Moscow at the Institute for Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a TASS correspondent reported.

The mission crew consists of six volunteers: crew commander Yury Chebotaryov, flight engineer Angelika Parfenova, crew doctor Ksenia Orlova, scientist Ksenia Shishenina, scientist Rustam Zaripov (all Russians), as well as scientist Olga Mastitskaya from Belarus.

SIRIUS-23 simulates a lunar mission and conducts training on docking with cargo ships, orbiting the satellite in search of a landing site, multiple landings of four crew members on the lunar surface, and remote control of the rover. Special simulators and a virtual reality complex developed at the Institute for Biomedical Problems will be used to simulate terrestrial life, including emergency situations.

According to the institute, physiological, psychological, sanitary-hygienic and microbiological aspects related to the long-term stay of humans in a small, artificially contained environment with limited resources and communication delays will be studied during the experiment. The project will include 52 studies of the scientific program and 15 studies of the operational and technical program.

About SIRIUS

The SIRIUS (Scientific International Research In Unique Terrestrial Station) experiment is an international project carried out within the framework of the International Center for the Development of Biomedical Support System for Interplanetary Missions concept in Moscow under the Institute for Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

It is organized by the Institute for Biomedical Problems and NASA Human Research Program in coordination with specialists from Russia, Germany, Canada, the US, France, Italy, the UAE and other countries.

The SIRIUS project includes a series of isolation experiments. The first one took place in November 2017, after which the crew spent 17 days in isolation. Three annual experiments are planned until 2028, during which deep space missions will be simulated.