Scientists Training Monkeys For Mars Mission In 2017


Monkeys paved the way for us to reach the moon. Now scientists are hoping the animals will be key to getting a human colony to Mars, several news media outlets reported.

Experts from the Russian Academy Of Science said that they are “training four rhesus macaques to travel into space as part of an ambitious mission to Mars – and it leaves in just two years.”

Image: Video Frames

According to the report, the animals are being trained for three hours a day so they can travel safely into space by themselves and eventually land on the Red Planet by 2017. They hope the training, which includes using a joystick and solving puzzles, make them capable to man a mission within the next two years.

“What we are trying to do is to make them as intelligent as possible so we can use them to explore space beyond our orbit,” Leading expert Inessa Kozlovskaya told reporters.

Image: imgur

Macaques typically have a lifespan of around 25 years, so it is hoped there is enough time to train them properly and for them to survive the six-month trip to Mars.

The video below has more on this story. Make sure to turn on CC to see the translation (click the setting icon in the right-hand corner, then Subtitles, Translate, English.) Watch:

Last year NASA announced that American astronauts will reach Mars by 2030, while China is also setting out an ambitious project to be the first to land on Mars.

Somehow this reminds me of ‘Planet Of The Apes’. What do you think of this ambitious project?

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