Life on Mars: Beijing students take part in two hundred day space station similation

Record ID: 898670

  • Title: Life on Mars: Beijing students take part in two hundred day space station similation
  • Date: 9th July 2017
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (JULY 9, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 29-YEAR-OLD PHD STUDENT LIU HUI, SAYING: "The hardest thing to deal with is... how to put it... at the moment when you sit down once you've finished being busy at the end of the day you sometimes feel a bit low. If the four of us are together talking and having fun it's better but sometimes you can miss your family." VARIOUS OF WOMAN MONITORING STUDENTS MONITORING SCREEN (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) GENERAL DESIGNER AND PRINCIPAL SCIENTIST OF THE LUNAR PALACE ONE, LIU HONG, SAYING: "Compared to the outside it's quite a confined environment, so if you spend a long time in this type of environment it can create some psychological problems, actually one of the research areas of this experiment is to see how to deal with this kind of problem." NEW STUDENTS WHO WILL SPEND 200 DAYS IN THE MOON PALACE WALKING IN PROFESSOR LIU TALKING VARIOUS OF STUDENTS TAKING OATH (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) 26-YEAR-OLD PHD STUDENT WHO WILL SPEND 200 DAYS INSIDE, LIU GUANGHUI, SAYING: "For the past two years all the project team members have been taking part in this experiment and to now get selected as a volunteer I'm really looking forward to the work. After we enter the biggest challenge will probably be psychological because this time it's quite long." VARIOUS OF STUDENTS WAVING
  • Embargoed: 23rd July 2017 08:23
  • Keywords: Moon Palace students space simulation
  • Location: BEIJING, CHINA
  • City: BEIJING, CHINA
  • Country: China
  • Topics: Science
  • Reuters ID: LVA0056OZV685
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Sealed behind the steel doors of two bunkers in a Beijing suburb, a group of students are attempting to recreate life on another planet.
    They are part of a project initiated by the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which tries to produce a closed ecosystem that can provide for all man's needs, and, crucially, that can be self sustaining.
    China is keen to test the ability for future astronauts to stay on the moon for extended periods, as Beijing accelerates its space program and looks to put people on the surface of the moon within the next two decades.
    President Xi Jinping has called for China to become a global power in space exploration, with plans to send a probe to the dark side of the moon by 2018, the first ever such trip, and to put astronauts on the moon by 2036.
    Everything from the off-cuttings of plants raised by the students in two UV labs to urine is reused in the project. All inputs needed for human survival have been carefully calculated, making the entire system 97 percent sustainable, reckons Professor Liu Hong, the principal designer of the project.
    While satisfying man's physical needs is a relatively straightforward matter, a large part of the project revolves around charting the mental impact being confined in a small space for such a long period of time.
    The project's support team have found mapping out a specific set of tasks for the students to achieve each day is one way that helps them remain happy. There's also a rigourous selection process.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2017. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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