Learning to Breathe Mars Air (Video)

Written by Nancy Atkinson

Talk about dedication! Volunteers in Russia are testing the ability of humans to breathe argon-enriched air, as part of a research program that simulates a manned trip to Mars. Researchers want to know if humans can survive breathing air similar to that found on Mars. Of the experiment one Russian scientist said, "Our experiments show that argon combined with the right portion of oxygen is safe for humans. I tested it on myself and I'm OK, and volunteers are also doing fine." Somehow, I'm not convinced about the rationale and safety of this test. This is preliminary research for the Russian Mars 500 project, which will simulate a manned Mars mission next year.

People will spend 520 days locked in a bunker-like habitation module, creating an environment like a real mission to Mars, which would take about that same amount of time, with round trip and a month spent on Mars.

For the current research, volunteers stayed inside a sealed capsule for ten days at a time, breathing a combination of argon, nitrogen, and oxygen. The TV news report below seems to advocate this type of research, saying that Western researchers "still use mice" for such experiments.

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