国际科技信息

国际科技信息

德班大会闭幕决定实施京都议定书第2承诺期

经过近两周“马拉松式”的谈判，《联合国气候变化框架公约》第17次缔约方会议暨《京都议定书》第7次缔约方会议当地时间12月11日凌晨在南非德班闭幕，大会通过决议，建立德班增强行动平台特设工作组，决定实施《京都议定书》第二承诺期并启动绿色气候基金。

大会原定于9日晚闭幕，但由于各方对部分焦点问题分歧严重，争执不下，最后将谈判拖入“加时赛”。最终，大会通过了《议定书》工作组和《公约》之下的“长期合作行动特设工作组”的决议，宣布继续《议定书》第二承诺期，从2013年开始实施。

大会还决定，建立德班增强行动平台特设工作组，并将于2012年上半年投入工作，不晚于2015年制定一个适用于所有《公约》缔约方的法律工具或法律成果，降低温室气体排放。与此同时，绿色气候基金正式在德班启动。

本届大会主席、南非国际关系合作部部长马沙巴内宣布会议闭幕。

德班气候大会于11月28日开幕，共有来自世界约200个国家和机构的代表参会。

Durban conference concludes

U nited Nations climate change conference concludes sunday in Durban, the second largest city in South Africa.

The Chinese delegation says that the conference has produced progressive and balanced outcome.

China Report has their words.

After 14 days of gruelling talks, the conference passed a package of decisions on subjects including the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, the Green Climate Fund and a new process to arrange emission-cut pledges after 2020.

Xie Zhenhua, head of the Chinese delegation, says the outcome is fully in accordance with the mandate of the UN Framework Convention of Climate Change(UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol and the Bali Roadmap.

Xie notes that the conference has made decisions on the arrangement of the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol, which is the most concerned issue of developing countries.

Also, there is an important progress on the fi nance issue, the establishment of the Green Climate Fund, which can benefit the developing countries with fi nancial support.

SOUNDBITE XIE ZHENHUA,HEAD OF CHINESE DELEGATION

We all sustain the decisions passed in the conference. The outcomes prove the effectiveness of the multilateral mechanism tackling with climate change.All the countries should abide by the decisions, implement the convention, and fulfill their commitments, as well as take actions actively in order to get substantial results of the global endeavor.

However, Xie said, the Durban conference did not accomplish the completion of negotiations under the Bali Roadmap.

The implementation of the Cancun Agreements and the Durban Outcome will not be achieved in a short run. A heavy load of work ahead on the post-2020 arrangement needs to be done in order to enhance the implementafton of the Convenfton.

Xie stressed that China will make further contributions to the global cause of tackling climate change by taking stronger domesftc actions and continuing to play an acftve role in relevant internaftonal talks.

第五届世界科学论坛在布达佩斯举行

第五届世界科学论坛于11月17日至19日在匈牙利首都布达佩斯举行。本届科学论坛的主题为“变化中的科学－挑战和机遇”。

全世界100多个国家的科学界代表参加了论坛。匈牙利总理和总统先后出席了会议。联合国秘书长潘基文通过视频向论坛致贺。国际空间站上的科学家向会议发表了视频讲话。

本次科学论坛广泛地讨论了科学对世界发展越来越大的影响和作用。会议指出，当今科学面临着巨大的挑战。这些挑战包括了人口增长，气候变化，粮食供应，能源短缺，自然灾害和技术灾害以及传染病等。可持续发展需要全球科研机构承担起新的责任。论坛还注意到，北美、欧洲和日本这全球知识生产三强的主导地位已受到严重挑战。伴随着新的科学强国的崛起，出现一个新的多极化的科学世界。

这些科学强国现在不仅在世界经济中的表现突出，同时成为尖端研究和开发活动的关键角色。论坛闭幕时发表了题为《全球科学新时代》的宣言。两年一次的世界科学论坛由匈牙利科学院、UNESCO和ICSU共同举办。地点设在布达佩斯。

The Changing Landscape of Science: Challenges and Opportunities

The fi rst plenary session of the World Science Forum 2011 held in Budapest for the fifth time focused on changes in the global landscape of science.These phenomena are comprehensive involving both geographical and poliftcal re-structuring, the emergence of new fi elds of science as well as the general growth in the social role, signifi cance, and responsibility of science.Speakers of the session chaired by József Pálinkás, president of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences talked about the challenges and opportunities generated by a changing world of science.

Gretchen Kalonji, Assistant Director-General of Natural Sciences of UNESCO, raised awareness on three different issues including climate change,human related issues, and the world economic crisis. The UNESCO Science Report 2010 is available online and its key topic is the emergence of new players and the importance of international collaborations. There is a blurring between science and engineering nowadays. The relationship between science and society needs to be reformed and regenerated,forging new internaftonal alliances and opening new funding opportunities. Science attracts diff erent people and welcomes the interest of all members of UNESCO said Ms Kalonji.

The pursuit of scientific discovery has an enormous impact on our society, said William Colglaizer, Science and Technology Adviser to US Secretary of State Ms Hillary Clinton. He analysed the situation in the US where science is pursued in an innovative way and incorporated in everyday life through the mass media offerring a great adventure to the public.Science and technology are present and aff ect everyone's life. Countries are aiming to involve world leaders to parftcipate in science innovafton and sustainability. Science has been proven to be a great diplomatic tool and the common language between different cultures.As an example Mr Colglazier mentioned the situation between the US and the USSR. The two countries resolved their issues by communicating through scientific channels and presently they are forming a scientific alliance to resolve situaftons in other countries around the world. The values and ethics of doing science can be a source for future optimism and positive changes in attitudes. The spread of the scientific spirit has changed the worldview of ordinary people's lives as well as those of the decision makers.

Sir Chris Llewellyn Smith FRS, Chair of the Royal Society Advisory Group on global science report examined the importance of international scientific collaborations. He shed some light on the changes in publicafton trends. By 2013, he predicted,China will be a world leader in peerreviewed publicaftons. China is also rising in citafton trends and in the not too distant future it will be the second in the world only to the US. Changes are also happening in patents registration but Japan and Germany are still in the lead.International collaborations have risen in the past fifteen years by 35% (25% before) and the reasons are quality, effi ciency and necessity.Important collaborators are the US followed by the UK, Germany,and France. China is emerging,having finished the publication of its fi rst generafton scienftfi c papers,collaboration and referencing are taking place now. The benefits of joint authorship are that only the best people are invited for international collaborations,which creates better value as an outcome. There are three steps to take to commence international collaboration, said Sir Llewellyn Smith. The first step is identifying the problems,followed by partnering with the right professionals resulting in combining forces and delivering the right soluftons for the common good. Global scienftfi c collaborafton should be fostered to have government, science, and society work together.

欧、美、日合作推进电动汽车国际标准

11月17日，欧盟、美国和日本一致同意加快推动电动汽车国际标准的制定和应用，并在联合国世界车辆法规协调论坛（UN/WP29）框架下密切合作，促进全球电动汽车相关技术标准和规范的协调一致。

UN/WP29是负责国际汽车技术法规的协调与统一的权威组织，美国、欧盟、日本、俄罗斯、中国、韩国、印度等均为该组织《1998年协定书》的缔约方。

此次欧盟委员会、美国国家公路交通安全管理局、美国环保署和日本国土交通省联合提出合作协议，建议在UN/WP29下成立两个关于电动汽车的非正式工作组。一个工作组负责电动汽车及其零配件安全方面的问题，包括电池安全性能、电击防护以及充电安全等，另一工作组负责与电动汽车有关的环境和法规问题。两个工作组将就有关电动汽车规范方面的信息进行沟通，加强协调，并努力推动制定全球电动汽车技术规范的共同标准。这两个工作组还将向包括中国和印度在内的UN/WP29相关协议缔约方开放。

欧盟委员会指出，目前全球电动汽车产量较低，欧美日三方达成上述协议，有利于加快电动汽车的大规模推广应用，降低电动汽车制造成本。

此外，三方合作为规范电动汽车的共同技术标准提供了难得的机会。欧盟委员会负责工业事务的副主席安东尼奥·塔亚尼说：“这项合作是在电动汽车的开发和推广道路上迈出的关键一步，有利于提升电动汽车的市场潜力和竞争力，有助于道路交通运输的可持续发展。”

EU/US/Japan : Electric vehicles:Agreement on regulatory cooperation

On 17 November in Geneva, Switzerland, an international agreement was signed between the EU, the US and Japan, which agreed to closely cooperate on convergence of regulatory obligations related to electric vehicles. Taking into account that the rules for electromobility technologies are currently being developed on both sides of the Atlantic and in Asia, the cooperation is particularly interesting as it offers a unique opportunity to develop common approaches, notes the European Commission in a communication. This will lead to cost savings through economies of scale for automotive manufacturers.

T he agreement was signed as part of the World Forum for Harmonisation of Vehicle Regulaftons, also known as Working Party 29 (WP.29),which operates under the United Naftons Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). It defi nes a large number of vehicle regulations,covering safety and environmental requirements for cars and other vehicles. The aim of the forum is to promote harmonised technical requirements, which reduce development costs and avoid duplication of administrative procedures for industry and therefore contribute to economic efficiency and lower costs for consumers and society.

T w o informal working groups on electric vehicles will be set up;the initiative was taken by the European Commission.These are: the Naftonal Highway Traffic Safety Administration(NHTSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the US and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure,Transport and Tourism of Japan.The working groups are indeed open to all countries that are contracftng parftes to the relevant UN agreement, including India and China. The fi rst group will address the safety aspects of electric vehicles and their components,including the battery. It will cover the safety of occupants against electric shocks in-use, while recharging as well as after an accident. The second group will focus on environmental aspects of regulations applied to electric vehicles.

The aim of both groups is to exchange information on current and future regulatory initiatives in this field, to avoid unnecessary differences between regulatory approaches and, where possible,develop common requirements in the form of a global technical regulafton (GTR).

European Commission Vice-President Antonio Tajani,responsible for industry and entrepreneurship, said: “This is a crucial step towards the development and reach-out of electric cars. The regulatory cooperation agreement will help to increase the market potential for this important breakthrough technology, contributing to competitiveness and a more sustainable road transport”.

加拿大科技政策反思：经济增长的直接动力来自创新而非科学发现

近一段时间以来，加拿大在反思国家科技政策的得失，获得的一条重要结论认为，推动经济社会发展的直接动力来自于创新而非科学发现。11月21日，加拿大《环球邮报》刊登多伦多大学罗特曼管理学院院长罗杰·马丁的文章，直指加拿大研发链条的缺失，认为加拿大的科技政策重心应该转移到创新上，而非长期以来放在科学发现和发明上。

文章认为，苹果公司创始人乔布斯过世后，很多纪念文章都认为苹果的成功在于持续的技术创新，不断推出广受用户喜欢的新产品，无论是iPod、iPhone或iPad，在技术创新上达到了非常高的水平。但很多人没有注意到的一点是，苹果公司并没有产生任何科学上有重要意义的发明或发现，诺贝尔奖也不会光顾苹果或谷歌公司的技术创新成就。苹果拥有众多的技术专利，但并不拥有贝尔公司那样的基础科学研究型机构。进一步分析表明，苹果或谷歌获得的技术，很少来自于一流的研究型大学，像哈佛、耶鲁或者牛津等，多数技术来自兼并一些创新型的小公司或者交叉使用其他公司的专利池。一般一流大学专注于新的发现和发明，对于技术发展过程中的创新则不太关注，认为应该交由技术人员去完善。回顾历史，世界一流大学对于计算机发明、二进制计算机语言编码、互联网的TCP/IP等带有重大科学意义的发明和发现发挥出关键性的作用，几乎重大的发明都是由大学完成的。但是，像微机上的鼠标、iPod上采用iTunes技术、iPhone上采用App Store（应用软件库）以及平板电脑等，都不是大学研发的成果，而是企业创新的结晶。苹果获得的成功很大部分来自于产生这些技术的新概念和将新概念付诸创新的持续不断的努力。这些新概念的产生必须要对市场、对用户需求、消费理念以至文化传统有深入了解才能得到，而这些并非是一流大学擅长科学发明和发现的优势和强项。文章认为，对于重大科学发现和发明，很多世界一流的研发机构都参与了研究，获得的成果全世界都可以分享。但是，技术创新取得的成功却只有拥有技术专利的少数机构独享，将大量参与研究的很多大学和研究机构摒弃在外。科学发明或发现的大学并不意味着所在国必定会在技术创新上领先世界，“墙内开花墙外香”的例子比比皆是。反观技术创新能力强的企业，无论技术是通过并购获得的还是交叉池得到的，都会让“肉烂在自己的锅里”，不会拱手与别人分享。长期以来，加拿大比较重视大学在科技创新中的作用，众多的国家资源都流向大学的研究开发，可惜结果却是，很多大学研究结果和技术型小公司的创新成果都被美国大公司以低价买断，以致加拿大本应获得的创新利益和市场占有率，都让美国公司拿走了。对此，加拿大应该反思本国的科技政策导向。

Canada, like Steve Jobs, should zero in on innovation (Excerpt)

ROGER MARTIN

Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto

In the wake of the tragically premature demise of Steve Jobs, it seems appropriate to ask: What can Canada learn about innovafton from the career of Steve Jobs? I think there are two important lessons that we could take away.

The first lesson is that commercial success and impact is more about innovation than about invention. Invention is the creation of some newto-the-world technology, molecule, material, or formula. It is typically the product of the curiosity of a scienftst. It can be prefty earth-shaftering when it is electricity or insulin. But it can be prefty irrelevant when it is a technology in search of a user.

The second lesson is that successful innovation actually means trying things that are unproven – optimally that have never been tried before. Apple’s biggest successes derived from doing posiftvely unproven things –like controlling a PC with a mouse,like twinning iPod with iTunes,like twinning iPhone with the App Store, like creaftng the tablet. Apple couldn’t analyze and benchmark the success of somebody else who had done these things already to demonstrate that the idea would succeed. Apple had no chance of knowing that they were going to have absolute smash hits on their hands. That is what is required for innovafton – otherwise they would call it something else, replication perhaps.

What would Canadian governments do if they took these two lessons to heart?

First, they would recognize that they have invested enough in invention. There is nothing whatsoever to suggest that pushing harder on the governmentfunded invention button is going to produce more innovation in Canada. Our government investment in R&D is already higher(adjusted for country size) than that of the United States, despite the U.S.being 15-per-cent richer than we are.

Second, they would commit to innovation in innovation policy. Rather than innovate,Canadian innovation policy pretty much benchmarks what is done elsewhere, and does it here. If the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. appears to be a success,then we restructure the Medical Research Council to become the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. If other jurisdicftons have Centres of Excellence, then we decide to have some of those too.If Israel has a Chief Scienftst, we get one of those too. And we operate them all as close to the success models elsewhere as possible.

Let’s remember that some of the most eff ecftve policy moves Canada has ever made were unique– they were actually innovaftve, like creaftng naftonal parks, establishing socialized health care, indexing tax brackets to combat bracket creep and setting strict inflation targets to guide monetary policy. We didn’t benchmark and replicate;others were left to do that while we prospered based on the policy innovafton.

So let’s do something unique that is in keeping with a century that is going to be more about innovafton than we have ever seen.With global competition and lowcost jurisdictions like China, India and Brazil more quickly than ever before replicaftng and producing at lower costs everything we do, we need to be an innovation nation.Let’s become the fi rst nafton on the planet to have universal educafton in innovation by explicitly and clearly teaching innovation in the primary and secondary school system.

If it seems farfetched and undoable, think again.One particularly clever nation,Singapore, is currently piloting secondary school innovation pedagogy – designed and taught by Canadians from the Rotman School of Management. We can create an innovafton nafton, if we take a couple of lessons from Steve Jobs.

最先进的生物安全试验室在澳大利亚启动

11月18日，世界上最先进的生物安全试验室（The world's most advanced biosecure laboratory）－AAHL合作型生物安全研究设施【AAHL Collaborative Biosecurity Research Facility (ACBRF)】在澳大利亚联邦科工组织（CSIRO）的澳大利亚动物健康试验室（AAHL）正式启用。

该中心是在具有生物病毒物理防护PC4级水平的AAHL的基础上建设，并得到了联邦政府850万澳元的支持，达到世界上最高等级的生物防护水平（highest levels of biological containment.），它为澳大利亚与各国科学家针对人类、动物以及农作物所面临的各种生物威胁进行科学研究提供了平台。就人类健康而言，生物学安全方法（One Health approach）越发重要，因为各种新生的人类疾病有70%最先是来自动物，包括亨德拉（Hendra）、禽流感和SARS等，人畜共患病更为常见。

澳大利亚动物健康试验室是世界上著名的动物生物学研究机构，联邦政府投资超过5亿澳元，它与澳大利亚微复制与微分析研究设施（Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Facility）合作密切，能够从事感染性疾病的基础性研究和其它复杂的生物学研究。

各国科学家可以利用该机构最好的感染性微生物的生物防护设施－PC3级和PC4级试验室从事多项工作，包括：

1、科研课题合作；

2、进行生物防护培训（Biocontainment training）

3、应用生物安全微复制设施（Biosecurity Microscopy Facility）等。

Specialised biocontainment facilities: enabling world-class research

The AAHL Collaborative Biosecurity Research Facility(ACBRF) is a shared resource dedicated to research on infecftous diseases that affect the health of humans, domestic animals and wildlife.

It provides advanced technology and infrastructure for scienftsts undertaking research that requires a laboratory environment with high biosecurity.

It provides researchers from Australia and overseas with access to AAHL's physical containment level three (PC3) and four (PC4)laboratories

Currently the ACBRF offers access to:

physical containment level three (PC3) space, enabling work with exotic pathogens affecting animals and humans

specialist microscopy services and equipment within the PC3 environment, available through the AAHL Biosecurity Microscopy Facility (ABMF)

a dedicated PC3/PC4 training area

an insect-proof large animal room within the PC3 environment,enabling work with large animals –such as ruminants and marsupials –and insect-borne pathogens

additional specialised PC3 faciliftes, including an insectary and associated laboratories

PC4 space, including small animal facilities and an insectary,enabling work with the most hazardous pathogens affecting animals and humans

advanced microscopy equipment within the PC4 environment.

The Australian Government has provided $8.5 million for the construction of the AAHL Collaborative Biosecurity Research Facility through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS),under the Networked Biosecurity Framework capability.

Biocontainment training

Training is an important component of accessing the ACBRF.

The ACBRF offers a training facility to help visiting scientists gain experience and confidence working in condiftons that mirror a high biocontainment environment.

The 60 square metre facility includes fully encapsulated suits,simulated chemical showers and laboratory equipment to closely mimic the actual PC3 and PC4 environments.

The training area is designed to avoid the distractions, delays,and most importantly, the risks associated with early training in an active workspace. This allows training and competency assessment to be carried out safely and ftmely.

AAHL Biosecurity Microscopy Facility

Incorporated within the ACBRF, the AAHL Biosecurity Microscopy Facility (ABMF) is a specialist microscopy service and a Linked Laboratory of the Australian Microscopy & Microanalysis Research Facility (AMMRF).

The ABMF is available to the Australian and international research fraternity. It is a national facility for diagnosftcs and research specialising in identification and characterisation of viruses, and microscopy of infecftous diseases.

Offering microscopy facilities within a microbiologically secure environment, the ABMF enables fundamental research with infectious disease agents that require the highest levels of containment.

人类首次探索红色星球之旅

2011年11月4日，人类首次“火星之旅”地面模拟试验“火星-500”圆满结束。来自中、俄、法、意等国的6名志愿者圆满完成试验任务，顺利走出模拟飞船，回到“地球家园”。该试验于2010年6月3日开始，历时520天，前250天模拟飞往火星、中间30天登陆火星、最后240天返回地球。志愿者模拟飞往火星、环绕火星、登陆火星和返回地球等全过程。

模拟登陆火星项目整体经历了三个阶段，前两个阶段已经分别在2007年和2009年结束，大部分经费由俄罗斯航天署和俄罗斯科学院支持。“火星－500”为第三阶段，模拟飞行试验任务从2010年6月3日开始，至2011年11月4日结束。项目具体任务由俄罗斯科学院生物医学研究所执行，得到欧空局的资助。“火星-500”项目耗资1500万欧元，其中包括给予每位志愿者10万美元的一次性奖励。

“火星-500”试验是由俄罗斯组织、多国参与的人类首次载人登陆火星地面模拟实验。这次试验是一个巨大的成功，是证明了登陆火星是可能的。正如项目执行单位俄罗斯科学院生物医学研究所副所长、“火星-500”主要负责人别拉科夫斯基指出：在“火星-500”任务中，人们在地球上实现了有史以来的最长久的模拟试验太空飞行。据此，人类有一天或许可以在一个遥远但可以到达的星球上迎接新的曙光。”

进行试验目的是探索“人与环境”相互作用，了解长期密闭环境下乘组人员健康状态及工作能力状况。其中包括了解宇航员在飞往火星过程中的心理和生理状态，行为能力等可能出现的各种问题，特别是获取超长时间飞行、资源供给、无法实施身体及心理特殊治疗等条件下的相关数据，为将来载人飞行探测火星积累经验和实验数据。

“火星-500”试验任务由6名志愿者共同参与完成，志愿者的饮食起居完全模拟太空生活，并体验了飞往火星、着陆火星和返回地球的全过程。参与执行该项目的俄罗斯专家们对6名志愿者的工作均给予了极高的评价。俄罗斯专家指出，在长达520天的时间里，生活在狭小密闭的空间，对人的生理和心理都是严峻的考验和挑战。他们不负众望，经受住了长时间与世隔绝的生活，忍受住了极大的心理压力，沉着应对了各种突发情况，最终圆满的完成了实验任务。志愿者每人都参与科学试验，共计完成106项科学计划。整个试验所需资源要求一次装备到位，中间不再补给。这对长期飞行所需的运载配给能力也是巨大考验，例如食品要求保质期至少两年以上。通讯延时40分钟，影响到通讯方式改变，也是对信息传输能力的考验。6名志愿者出舱后，还将进入检疫阶段，接受全面系统的医学检查，检查结果将作为研究依据，继续为人类登陆火星研究提供帮助。

“火星-500”试验项目被科学界誉为“把人类对于火星乃至对于人类自身的探索向前推进了一大步”。其重要意义在于探测研究“载人”航天器往返火星，是为了让人类航天员真正踏足火星，比人类此前仅限于向火星发射探测器的探测活动前进了一大步。其意义就像几十年前，阿姆斯特朗在月球上迈出那“人类一大步”。鉴于火星模拟飞行实验的成功，俄专家表示，有望在两三年后将火星模拟飞行试验中的部分成果运用到国际空间站的工作和试验中，而人类实际飞向火星可能在2030年前后得以实现。

Mars 500 experiment successfully completed: hatches opened, the crew is back on Earth

A year and a half has passed since the astronauts of Mars-500 virtually left the Earth, headed to the Red Planet. Over 520 days,Frenchman Romain Charles, Italian-Colombian Diego Urbina, Wang Yu of China, and Russians Alexander Smoleevsky, Sukhrob Kamolov, and Commander Alexei Sitev, simulated all aspects of spaceflight while remaining solidly attached to the hangars of the Russian Insfttute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow.

The simulation, designed to test the psychological and physical reactions of astronauts during a hypothetical trip to Mars, ended Nov. 4 with the virtual re-entry to Earth. After emerging from their capsule, the parftcipants appeared pale and thin, but smiling.

“It’s a unique project,” said Boris Morukov, the director of the experiment. “The results are beyond satisfying, although we’ll have to wait several months before we can publish the official data.But, there’s no real need to hurry,”he joked, “Since it will be another 20 years before we reach the real Mars. Nevertheless, after this experience we feel a liftle closer to the Red Planet.”

The crew remained isolated from the rest of the world for 17 months, breathing artificial air, rarely bathing, and eating mostly freeze-dried food. They were allowed occasional brief communications with scientists and family members, which were received with a “space” delay of 40 minutes.The participants underwent daily tests, but spent most of their time exercising,reading books and studying foreign languages. Chinese, however,remained a “mission impossible.”Our colleague Wang Yu tried in every way to teach us Chinese,”said Alexander Smoleevsky. “It was a complete failure.”

Despite some ups and downs,there were no serious problems among the roommates. “Being together with people of different languages and cultures made the cohabitation easier,” said the youngest member of the group,Diego Urbina. “Days passed prefty much the same way: We worked eight hours a day. After the first morning tests, we had breakfast together and then usually started the experiments. In our free time we read or played videogames.”

Even after their virtual reentry to Earth, the participants continue to look with much curiosity toward the planet they visited, if for now only virtually.“We’ll have to wait many years before mankind can land on Mars,”concluded Romain Charles. “But with this experience we took great steps forward. This planet is now much closer to Earth than it seemed before.”