Volunteers sought for Mars test

Volunteers sought for Mars test
By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News, Paris Air Show

The Aurora programme envisages Europeans on MarsThe European Space Agency (Esa) is seeking volunteers for a simulated human trip to Mars, in which six crew spend 17 months in an isolation tank.
They will live and work in a series of interlocked modules at a research institute in Moscow.
Once the hatches are closed, the crew's only contact with the outside world is a radio link to "Earth" with a realistic delay of many minutes.
It sounds like Big Brother, but there are no plans to televise the test.
The modular "spacecraft" measures some 550 cubic metres (19,250 cubic feet), the equivalent of nine truck containers. It is based at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems in the Russian capital.
The goal is to gain insight into human behaviour and group dynamics under the kinds of conditions astronauts would experience on a journey to Mars.
Big commitment
With the exception of weightlessness and radiation, the crew will experience most other aspects of long-haul space travel, such as cramped conditions, a high workload, lack of privacy, and limited supplies.
The volunteers will be put through a number of scenarios, such as a simulated launch, outward journey of up to 250 days, an excursion on the Martian surface, followed by the return home.
The 500-day duration is close to the minimum estimated timescale needed for a human trip to the Red Planet.
The Earthbound astronauts will have to deal with simulated emergencies and perhaps even real ones.
But, while Esa says it will do nothing that puts the lives of the simulation crew at unnecessary risk, officials running the experiment have made it clear they would need a convincing reason to let someone out of the modules once the experiment had begun.
"The idea behind this experiment is simply to put six people in a very close environment and see how they behave," Bruno Gardini, project manager for Esa's Aurora space exploration programme, told BBC News.
Team ethic
In all, 12 European volunteers will be needed. They must be aged 25-50, be in good health, have "high motivation" and stand up to 185cm tall. Smokers, or those with other addictions, to alcohol or illicit drugs, for example, will be rejected.
Esa is also looking for a working knowledge of both English and Russian.
"We will do pre-selection, medical tests, psychological tests, etc. But at the end, you really have to see how they react in as close to a real situation as possible on Earth," explained Mr Gardini.
He added that the results would help define the selection criteria for a future Mars mission.
"This is the beginning; it will be a long time before we go to Mars," the Esa official said.
"But this is a field which is difficult to quantify. It's human behaviour, so there's no method. The Russians have done lots of study in the past and we will be sharing some data.
"We have to look at the mix of people; at the end of the day, we want a team."
Robots first
Marc Heppener, of Esa's Science and Application Division, said the crewmembers would get paid 120 euros (158 dollars) a day.
Viktor Baranov, of Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems, said his organisation had received about 150 applications, only 19 of which had come from women.
A precursor 105-day study is scheduled to start by mid-2008, possibly followed by another 105-day study, before the full 520-day project begins in late 2008 or early 2009.
European scientists have been asked to submit proposals for experiments in the areas of psychology, medicine, physiology and mission operations.
Mounting a mission to Mars would face many other hurdles, not least of which would be shielding the crew against the potentially deadly dose of radiation they would receive on the journey.
Esa's Aurora programme has already begun preparations to land a rover - called ExoMars - on the Red Planet. It has the stated aim, however, of trying to get European astronauts to Mars at some time in the future.

Special Occasion In Japan

<The Coming of Age Day>

In Japan, the celebration party for people becoming 20 years old is held every year in each city where people are born. We easily recognize those who will join in the celebration, because most young women wear beauuuuuutiful clothes called "Hurisode" which are a sort of "Kimono" on the day!!!

It can be a delightful time for us to meet old friends as well as have a party.

Those who beome 20 years old and can drink Beer* are treated as a part of society and authorized to vote in elections.

Auctually, I haven't voted in an election, but I really enjoyed taking part in the party (>u<)

Do you want to join in the new year in Japan??? We spend this time eating traditional Japanese food, writing letters or dropping in temples or shrines to pray for our happiness and health.

The Celebration of Japanese style might be silent? I think this time is dangerous for our weight.... Most people eat rice cakes that are typical Japanese food every day during this time!!!

Two weeks passed...
New students have participated in our class and the class is getting bigger and better.
I am motivated to make effort to acquire English by this class and classmates.
Last time, we had first presentations of our own personal or historical things in this term, which had great values to not only improve speaking and listening skill, but also share our own idea respectively!!
Last term, we were given assignments reading newspaper is one of methods for studying English.
We shared airticles extracted from newspapare, which we overviewed once a week.
That was effective study for absorbing the meanings of words!!

Have a splendid holiday!!

Food for Party!!

Tomorrow is a final day on this term! Time flies quickly!!
We must eat several our own traditional food(>u<)

Now, I'd like to introduce famous food in my hometown!!

The food is called "Okonomiyaki" that is made from flour and some ingrediants, such as shrimp, pork. People living in my hometown often make it. This ie easy to make!! Please try!!!

☆How to make Okonomiyaki

Flour: 1 cup
water: 100g
egg: 1
cabbage: 1 out of 3
shrimp
pork　
leek
Okonomiyaki sause

(1) cut the cabbage and the leek into stake shapes, and also cut the shrimps and pork into favorite size.

(2) put the cabbage(1), leek(1) , flour, water and egg in a ball and mix them up.

(3) pour a drop of oil into pan and put all of ingredient into the heated pan.

(4) after fring one side, put pork on the side and turn over the stuff.

(5) You heve to wait until the food cooked well. After turning over again, spread Okonomiyaki souce on a side putiing on pork.

You must eat delicious Japanese food!! Have a nice meal!!

My first blog(2)

I finally set my blog up♪ Happy❤(>u<)o
Now, I am living in my host-mother's(Dina) house with a roommate, Hye-gyoung coming from Korea♪
We watch movies and go shopping on weekend☺




Our host-mother is Italian ,so we can eat delicious meals by luck♪♪
We love sweets... Tim Tam, Chips and Raisin ice ream!
Recently, We exercise to stay in shape after dinner☆

　⇑Dina＆Hye gyoung

My perfect day

In the morning, sunshin made me up and I took fresh air on my balcony.
While I was taking a luxurious bath floating roses and got dress, my housekeeper fixed breakfast that were a cup of loyal milk tea, muffins and fruits raisen in my garden.

After I had a breakfast with my husband and adorable dogs, we went to Italy for sightseeing.
We droped in Venice and got on a gondola with a bottle of champagne and cheeses and watched .....beautiful sunset ☆

During this visit, we run into a festival and danced. While we were dancing, I met a person wearing gorgeous mask. I recognized her as a old friend as soon as she talked to me.
We joined in the festival and spent splendid time until 12 o'clock.

After that, I heard sounds of alarm clock...and noticed that was a fabulous dream....

☆Bowling☆

On May 13, I went to play tenpin bowlings with my friends (>u<)/..........●
We devided us into 2 groups and had a competition and the game heated up ↑↑
Don't ask me my score....How terrible it was!(+n+)
Fortunately, our team won by a neck and got 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　softdrink　☆

After that, we were exhausted...there were a park near the bowling place.
We droped in to take a rest???　　No...
We rode a swing and play on a seesaw like children♪♪
However, every equipment was small for us. That made me realize how fast time was passing. I would like to learn many many things by experience.

We really enjoyed the day!!

It is located between Adelaide city and my house and it takes nearly 10 min to get there from city by bus ☆