December 20, 2009 by Alexander Osipovich
The monkeys at this run-down research centre which was once the pride of Soviet science have seen it all — a brutal civil war, freezing winters and starvation.
Now, if the scientists at the Institute of Experimental Pathology and Therapy have their way, one of these furry apes could someday be plucked from its cage and sent on a pioneering mission to Mars.
“We have plans to return to space,” declared Zurab Mikvabia, the director of this institute nestled in a lush forest on a hill overlooking the Black Sea coast of Abkhazia, a breakaway region of ex-Soviet Georgia…
The institute is in preliminary talks with Russia’s Cosmonautics Academy about preparing monkeys for a simulated Mars mission that could lay the groundwork for sending an ape to the Red Planet, Mikvabia said.
Such an initiative would build on Mars-500, a joint Russian-European project that saw six human volunteers confined in a capsule in Moscow for 120 days earlier this year to simulate a Mars mission.
“Earlier this programme was aimed at sending cosomonauts, people (to Mars),” Mikvabia said.
“But given the length of the flight to Mars, and given the cosmic rays for which we don’t have adequate protection over such a long trip, discussions have focused recently on sending an ape instead of a person.”
Estimates for the length of the journey to Mars vary depending on the type of mission envisioned, but the European Space Agency says its proposal for a round-trip mission would take 520 days, or about a year and a half.
If Russia pursues the idea of sending monkeys to Mars, Mikvabia’s institute could become the site of an enclosed “biosphere” where apes would be kept for long periods to simulate spaceflights.
In a twist reminiscent of science fiction, the project would also include a robot designed to take care of the imprisoned ape.
“The robot will feed the monkey, will clean up after it. Our task will be to teach the monkey to cooperate with the robot,” Mikvabia said.
History shows, however, that monkeys and technology can be a volatile combination.
Yerosha, perhaps the institute’s best-known ape, freed a paw on his 13-day spaceflight in 1987 and started fiddling with buttons and tearing sensors off his body, much to the consternation of scientists on the ground.
Today’s mission planners are determined to prevent such monkey business on the much longer and costlier trip to Mars.
“Technicians have told us that it’s not difficult to build such a robot,” Mikvabia said. “The hard part is teaching the monkey to live with the robot.”
Source: Physorg.com
Re: “War-torn ‘nursery’ hopes to send monkeys to Mars”
Published: December 20, 2009 by Alexander Osipovich (c) AFP
Source: http://www.physorg.com/news180532052.html
This is an article about Russia wanting to send *one* rhesus monkey to Mars for a round trip duration of 1 1/2 years, or over 500 days. All by itself. All alone. No one else. It’s solitary confinement. It will be accompanied by a robot to feed and clean up after it. This is not company. It’s thoughtless, cold-blooded mental and emotional cruelty. The monkey will have serious mental problems by the time it returns to Earth, if it lives long enough from the loneliness that will ensue.
(Directed to the Space Agency that will be sending it into space: How would you like to be isolated for over 500 days with *no one* to see or speak with and *nothing* to occupy your time, just sitting there 24/7/500+ days and nights? It’s cruelty over a very prolonged period of time. Animals have emotions. Even astronauts in the International Space Station have at least one other astronaut to accompany them during very long missions!)