International space agencies have been conducting experiments about the challenges and issues related to a future manned-mission to Mars writes Adam Mann. Here’s what they’ve found after a test where participants were locked up in a simulated space craft for 520 consecutive days:

• Most volunteers maintained a 24 hour a day sleep cycle – and it is important that all crew members do so in a spaceflight to Mars so that people are awake and sleeping at roughly the same times to maintain cohesion and morale.
• Volunteers also slept a lot more than usual – probably due to boredom. But this added rest increased cognitive performance.
• Overall there were a lot of individual level differences in how the participants reacted to the conditions, with some having significant psychological issues. A future manned mission to Mars will have to carefully screen to ensure that the space-voyagers that go on the trip have the right personality.

Read more about the study and what it found over here.

Source: Wired