Volunteers experience simulated year in space

Ever wondered what it would be like to live in space?

A team of volunteer researchers from a Beijing university is being given the opportunity to do just that without the need to leave the Earth’s atmosphere.

Volunteers observing plants inside the simulated space capsule “Yuegong 1”, May 10, 2017. [Photo: Beijing Daily]

Divided into two groups, the postgraduate students from Beihang University will experience life in space by entering a simulation of the capsule named “Yuegong 1”, or “Moon palace 1” in English.

The first group will live in the capsule for the first 60 days, swapping over with the second group who will stay for 200 days, before the first group reenters for the rest of the project’s duration.

A group of volunteers taking an oath under the Chinese national flag before entering the simulated space capsule “Yuegong 1”, May 10, 2017. [Photo: Beijing Daily]

The capsule consists of two ‘plant cabins’ where the volunteers will cultivate more than 30 different kinds of vegetables such as tomatoes and potatoes, plus a number of compartments such as living rooms and bathrooms. 

Inside “Yuegong 1”, the air, water and waste products will all be recycled using special ecological systems. This would allow humans to survive in space environment for long periods of time, Beijing Daily reports.

Such recycling technologies could also be applied on Earth, such as in the desert, on plateaus and in polar regions.

Two volunteers waving inside the simulated space capsule “Yuegong 1”, May 10, 2017. [Photo: buaa.edu.cn]

Space missions can’t be conducted without food, water, and oxygen, and the problem of how to continually recycle them in a confined space is a task that all space missions face, according to media reports. 

A 24/7 control room is stationed near the simulated space capsule to monitor the welfare of the volunteers. In addition, a series of experiments in fields such as optics and psychology will be conducted jointly by people in the control room and by researchers inside the capsule. 

The teams will take a variety of food such as chicken and pork into the capsule, and will augment the rations with vegetables and fruit to maintain a balanced diet. 

To keep fit, they will be able to use a treadmill, and can keep in touch with the outside world by phone, use the internet, and play games of ‘Go.’

A group photo of the eight volunteers and leaders of Beihang University , May 10, 2017. [Photo: buaa.edu.cn]

This isn’t the first time the researchers in Beihang University have carried out such a mock mission. Back in 2014, three students lived inside a simulated space capsule for 105 days.

Liu Hong, chief designer of “Yuegong 1” and a professor at Beihang University, said they have upgraded the systems such as the solid waste disposal units and the water purification and regeneration system in the past three years. 

All eight volunteers are members of Liu’s research team.