The year-long experiment to simulate life on the moon, which has become the world record for the duration of the stay of people in an isolated cabin, ended on Tuesday in a specialized laboratory in Beijing, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The experiment, which began on May 10 last year, lasted a total of 370 days. It was divided into three phases: 60, 200 and 110 days. A total of eight student volunteers participated in the experiment, who took turns living in the booth of four people.
It is noted that the previous record belonged to a group of three people from the USSR, who were in an isolated space for 180 days, the experiment was carried out in the 1970s.
The experiment took place in the laboratory "Yuegong-1" ("Moon Palace-1"), located at the China State Technical University Beihang. It is a 160 square meter isolated booth. This is the first laboratory of its kind developed in China and the third bioregenerative life support base in the world.
The Lunar Palace consists of a 42 square meter volunteer living module and two plant growing modules. The living compartment contains four separate sleeping modules, one common room, a bathroom, animal quarters, and a waste processing facility.
According to the agency, four volunteers - two girls and two boys - left the laboratory on Tuesday to the applause of academics, researchers and fellow students.
The chief designer of the Yuegong-1 laboratory, Liu Hong, said that the experiment was the longest stay in a biogenetic life support system, in which people, animals, plants, and microorganisms coexist in a closed environment that mimics the lunar base. Oxygen, water and food are recycled in the system, creating an environment like on Earth.
“The system is 98% self-sustaining. It worked steadily and efficiently, providing support for the lives of its passengers,”the agency quotes the scientist.
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The volunteers raised wheat, strawberries and other plants. “The system worked well. There were many different vegetables in the booth for food,”said participant Gao Han.
The plant breeding job was a good therapy to combat the negative effects of isolation, according to the chief designer.
The participants in the experiment had access to the Internet. They could play chess, do yoga, learn English and listen to the radio. Students were required to undergo a medical examination every week.
Scientists will analyze data on the physical and psychological state of volunteers, test results and develop a more compact biogenerative life support system, which in the future can be installed in space laboratories and probes for the study of the Moon and Mars.