The large-scale international isolation scientific experiment SIRIUS – Scientific International Research In Unique terrestrial Station, conducted on the basis of the State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation Institute for Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (hereinafter – IBMP RAS), started in 2017 and continues to the present. The purpose of scientific isolation research in the ground complex is to simulate significant events during the long stay of astronauts on the space station and when landing on another planet in order to solve the problems of biomedical support for flights into deep space. The co-heads of the SIRIUS project are Director of the IBMP RAS, Academician Oleg Orlov, and Director of the NASA Human Research Program (NASA HRP) William Paloski.

As part of the SIRIUS project, experiments were conducted in 2017–2021 to isolate international crews in the ground complex:

SIRIUS-17 lasting 17 days;

SIRIUS-19 – 4 months;

SIRIUS-21 – 8 months.

The crews included researchers from Russia, the USA, Germany and the UAE.

The NAS of Belarus took part in the preparation of the SIRIUS-19 stage. The representative of the NAS of Belarus, the employee of the Central Botanical Garden of the NAS of Belarus, Daniil Dubar, passed the competitive selection, the necessary research and was enrolled as an understudy in the main crew of the international crew of the terrestrial station, and was also a candidate for inclusion in the crew of the terrestrial station for 8 months of isolation.

On November 14, 2023, another SIRIUS-23 experiment began at the IBMP RAS to isolate a crew of six people to simulate a flight to the Moon, which will last 12 months, but without the participation of US representatives (in April 2023, the Americans suspended their participation in these experiments).

A representative of Belarus takes part in this experiment: Olga Mastitskaya (junior researcher at the Institute of Physical and Organic Chemistry of the NAS of Belarus), who will also conduct certain scientific research in the interests of a number of scientific organizations of the NAS of Belarus during the experiment.

We wish Olga Mastitskaya and the entire crew of the SIRIUS-23 experiment success in their scientific activities in such a long isolation experiment.