Russia to continue experiments to simulate human flight to Mars

Russia's Biomedical Problems Institute (IMBP) will continue experiments to simulate a human flight to Mars, IMBP's director, Igor Ushakov, told reporters at an international conference, organized by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR).

"The federal space program for 2016-20 is undergoing approval procedures, but we hope for a resumption of such experiments. We have yet to study many problems," Ushakov said, while speaking about further experiments similar to Mars 500.

If more of such experiments are conducted, serious attention will be given to life support aspects and to the equipment and software system of psychological and physical support, he said.

IMBP's deputy director, Oleg Orlov, told the conference that a biosatellite, Bion-M2, is to be launched under a program of biological experiments in 2019. It will orbit the Earth at an altitude of about 1,000 kilometers. In about 2020, another biosatellite, Bion-M3, will be sent to an orbit of about 575 kilometers from the Earth.

Under a research program, satellites of the Vozvrat-MKA series will be launched in 2021 and 2025, Orlov said.

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