MARS 500 Simulated Mars Mission Project. MARS-500 is a ground-based experiment simulating manned flight to Mars.A 105-day experiment to simulate a flight to Mars started on Tuesday, March 31 at the Institute of Medical and Biological Studies in Moscow.During the mission investigators-volunteers live and work in the special complex, communicating with the outer world only by means of e-mail. Pictured: Air France pilot Cyrille Fournier (left), German mechanical engineer Oliver Knickel (second left) and russian crew members of Mars-500 : crew commander Sergei Ryazansky, cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev, medical doctor Alexei Baranov and sports physiologist Alexei Shpakov