idiotrant.com

MOSCOW (Reuters) –
Six European men embarked on a 105-day simulated trip to Mars at a Russian space institute on Tuesday to test how humans would cope with the long isolation.

The volunteer crew of four Russians, one German and a Frenchman smiled and waved to cameras before sealing themselves in the maze of cramped compartments in an imitation spaceship.

A padlock was clamped on the giant metal hatch of the warren, the focus of a project which space officials said was a small step towards eventually sending people to Mars.

"I believe this team should have no psychological problems," Russian crew commander Sergei Ryazansky told a news conference at Moscow's Institute of Medical and Biological Problems.

"I also want this mission to be at least a little bit like a real space flight, which all of us are craving," said the 34-year-old scientist, who is a trained cosmonaut.

Reaching Mars on current space ships would take at least 500 days and would subject astronauts to massive doses of radiation. Russian officials say the earliest such flight could be expected in 2030.

The cost of such a voyage would be astronomical and a spaceship three times the size of the International Space Station (ISS) would be needed if current technologies were used, said Alexei Krasnov, head of piloted programmes at the Russian space agency Roskosmos.

ISOLATED ODYSSEY

The experiment, which is jointly run by Roskosmos and the European Space Agency (ESA), is aimed at testing how humans deal with the psychological and physical effects of long periods in closed quarters.

"I feel like I am taking part in a world soccer championship and I am just dying to go out into the pitch," German Oliver Knickel told reporters. Knickel is a 28-year-old military engineer who in 2002 was on a NATO mission in Afghanistan.

The crew members will be closely monitored to assess the impact of isolation on stress levels, hormone regulation and sleep. A much longer, 520-day simulated experiment is scheduled to start later this year as part of the Mars-500 project.

"We can say this triple exploration — the International Space Station, the Moon and finally Mars — is really our space challenge of the 21st century," said Martin Zell, head of the ISS Utilisation Department at the ESA.

The current crew will not be subject to weightlessness or exposed to radiation during its stint due to end on July 14. It is neither the first nor the longest isolation experiment conducted at the Moscow institute.

Ryazansky said the experiment was different because it would focus on the problems that could occur on a Mars mission.

The crew will face specially designed emergencies and problems such as delays of up to 20 minutes in communication with flight control as the radio signal travels the enormous distance to Earth and back.

"The social aspect should be part of everyday work," said Frenchman Cyrille Fournier, 40-year-old captain of an Air France Airbus A320. "I believe I will add my competence and qualities to make the atmosphere the best possible."

Some crew members were already deciding what they would do when they come out of the experiment. Fournier said he would get married.

"I plan to take my sweetheart to the sea," said Russian flight engineer Oleg Artemyev. "Then I will attend Cyrille's wedding, if we are still on speaking terms," he said with a smile.

(Reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Jonathan Wright)

LONDON (Reuters) –
Chinese beer Snow leapt ahead of Bud Light to become the world's biggest selling beer as China stretches its lead as the largest beer market in the world, according to provisional data from researcher Plato Logic.

Snow, which is brewed by SABMiller and its Chinese partner China Resources Enterprises Ltd, saw its 2008 sales volumes jump 19.1 percent to 61 million hectoliters putting it well ahead of Bud Light and sister brew Budweiser.

Belgium-based InBev based in Belgium and brewer of Stella Artois and Beck's, took over Bud Light and Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch for $52 billion in November 2008 to create the world's largest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Plato lists the top six beer brands as the Snow range of beers followed by the Bud Light range, including Dry and Ice, at 55.6 million hectoliters, Budweiser at 43.4 million followed by AB-InBev's Brazilian beer Skol, Modelo's Mexican beer Corona and the Heineken brand.

The Snow brand has grown rapidly as China overtook the United States earlier this decade to become the biggest beer market in the world in terms of volume and is now over 50 percent larger. In 2007, Plato put Snow second to Bud Light and ahead of Budweiser.

The Snow range of brands accounts for 84 percent of sales at the China Resources-SABMiller joint venture in 2008, the Chinese group reported in its 2008 results earlier on Tuesday.

However, AB-InBev argued that Bud Light was the world's best selling beer as a single trademark brand as Snow represents a family of beer brand that include at least 25 extensions.

It added that the Budweiser family of brands which include Budweiser, Bud Light, Bud Select, Bud Light Lime and others remain the best-selling family of beers in the world.

"By itself, Bud Light remains the largest single brand in the world," AB-InBev said in a statement sent to Reuters.

In 2008, AB-InBev said its own beer brands saw sales volumes fall 0.3 percent, while its focus brands which include Stella Artois, Beck's, Budweiser and Bud Light rose some 2.6 percent, but it did not give individual brand performances.

World's leading beer brands in million hectoliters, 2008 provisional figures from Plato Logic

1. Snow (range) 61.0

2. Bud Light (range) 55.6

3. Budweiser 43.4

4. Skol (Brazil) 35.4

5. Corona 32.7

6. Heineken 29.1

(Reporting by David Jones; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
A luggage handler flew from New York to Boston after falling asleep in the cargo hold of a JetBlue airliner but was unharmed and not charged with any crime, media reports and officials said.

Massachusetts state police said the 21-year-old man was discovered in the cargo hold when the plane landed at Boston's Logan Airport on Saturday but provided no further details.

JetBlue would only say it was investigating the incident.

Channel 7 News in Boston reported the man fell asleep with the luggage in New York and that baggage handlers in Boston were shocked to discover him when they opened the cargo door.

(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Michelle Nichols and Bill Trott)

WARSAW (Reuters) –
A Polish lawmaker who failed a drink-driving test said he had eaten too many apples, the website of daily Gazeta Wyborcza said Monday.

Asked why a traffic police check Sunday showed he had 0.7 units of alcohol in his blood, Marek Latas denied having drunk alcohol that day.

"I am diabetic, I ate a few apples before driving.

"I have been involved in no accident, I underwent a routine roadside check. I was confident there was no chance I had alcohol in my blood," said Latas, a member of parliament for the conservative opposition Law and Justice Party.

The prosecutor's office is investigating his case, the website said. In Poland, the legal limit for alcohol when driving is 0.2 units. Fermented apple juice can be used to make cider, an alcoholic drink.

(Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Robert Woodward)