Learning to breathe, minus oxygen

Four volunteers are learning to breathe in argon -- a gas which planet Mars has got in plenty. It's part of a Russian project that, one day, hopes to send a manned crew to the Red Planet. A 10-day experiment is underway to find out if people can endure a lack of oxygen.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Mars
• Red
• Planet
• breathe
• argon
• lack
• oxygen
• experiment

[duba3988]

good luck my fellow human beings.

[supperstorm]

go russia go :)

[granddad2002]

that is an amazing physiology experiment.

[Neso1991]

Even if you had 100% Oxygen on Mars, the atmosphere is so thin that you would not have enough air to breath. Getting oxygen to Mars is a not the main problem, it is enlarging it's thin atmosphere!

[Neso1991]

@SolgerSK67 There isn't 100% Argon on Mars. Mars is actually composed of 1.6% Argon, over 95% CO2 and the rest is really insignificant. Humans can breath Argon with a mixture of Oxygen. It is actually used by divers to allow them to breath in various depths. The problem with the atmosphere on Mars is that the pressure is so low your blood would boil and your lungs deflate...you would literally explode. Not only that, but CO2 is poisonous.

[CrownChanel]

I dont get it .. so humans can breath this....argon ?

[fmthebaron]

That is so cool.

[raoneill]

The atmosphere on earth isn't 100% oxygen, it's mostly nitrogen (which is inert and doesn't do anything to us at all). On Mars instead of the Nitrogen there is Argon, so they're testing whether that (also an inert gas) has any effects on humans at all. They'll still breathe in the normal 20% (or something like that) oxygen that they do on the Earth.

[SolgerSK67]

oh my god, explain me how can a man breathe 100% Argon on Mars? Russians will have a MURDER problem if those people dye, in that cabin or on Mars later.

[12valvepower1]

russia is good yes