Inside the Cold War's top-secret 'Mars simulator': Meet the bionauts who were locked inside the lab for more than a year at a time to test how Communists could colonise the red planet

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Pictures have emerged of a Soviet experiment in the Cold War that was designed to make life possible for humans on the moon and Mars.

In a remote research institute in the heart of Siberia, scientists sought to create a self supporting ecosystem enabling total self-sufficiency in oxygen, water and food in an otherwise hostile environment.

The aim in Krasnoyarsk - far from the West's prying eyes some 2,094 miles (3,370km) east of Moscow - was to create a micro-Earth that could one day be transported around the solar system.

In a remote research institute in the heart of Siberia, scientists sought to create a self supporting ecosystem enabling total self-sufficiency in oxygen, water and food in an otherwise hostile environment. Bionaut Nikolay Bugreyev is pictured with a colleague in the then-secret experiment that began in the 1960s

One researcher Nikolai Bugreyev, now 74, was an engineer-turned-bionaut in the 1980s. 

He was nicknamed the Siberian Martian after being shut away in the sealed ecosystem, dubbed BIOS-3, for a total of 13 months.

He twice celebrated New Year inside BIOS-3 as scientists sought to finesse the technology to allow the moon or Mars to be conquered and colonised by the Communists.

A special hermetically-sealed laboratory was set up in the basement of the Institute of Biophysics, with four sections - three for growing food and regenerating the environment, and another providing cramped living space for three human guinea pigs.

'I lived in this compartment. It's really small but it was enough, it's just 5 square metres,' Bugreyev told The Siberian Times. 

'There was a table, bed, a shelf for clothes, and that was it, you don't really need anything else. You could see outside of the round window, there were colleagues walking there, researchers, they were waving to us.

Bugreyev, now 74, and an engineer-turned-bionaut, was nicknamed the Siberian Martian after being shut away in the sealed ecosystem (pictured) for a total of 13 months. He twice celebrated New Year inside BIOS-3 as scientists sought to finesse the technology to allow the moon or Mars to be conquered for the Communists

A special hermetically-sealed laboratory was set up in the basement of the Institute of Biophysics, with four sections (one pictured as it is today) - three for growing food and regenerating the environment, and another providing living space for three human guinea pigs

There was a table, bed, a shelf for clothes and bionauts could see outside of the round window where colleagues were walking by and researchers were waving to them. Dr Alexander Tikhomirov, executive director of International Centre for Study of Enclosed Environmental System is pictured at the entrance to one of the compartments

'But we couldn't really speak because you couldn't hear anything through the walls. We used a special phone if need was. Relatives would come at the weekends.

Bionauts were working all day, so Bugreyev explained there was no time to miss family and home.

Every night they went to bed covered with wires, and there was a doctor sitting on the roof of the station that monitored the devices every night.

'Yet there was no even tiny, deviations in the health of researchers as a result of the experiment,' continued the bionaut. 'Quite the opposite - healthy food, routine, favourite job - what else do you need to be happy and healthy?

'If a bionaut wanted to leave the station, he or she could do that even without talking to his colleagues. But no-one was even thinking of giving up.'

Dr Alexander Tikhomirov, executive director of International Centre for Study of Enclosed Environmental Systems, said that initially two of the three sections grew food, such as wheat, oilseeds and vegetables.

'They provided a balanced diet in terms of biochemical elements,' he explained.

'Plants were carefully selected so that you do not get bored of them, on one hand, and to provide all the necessary nutrients, on the other.'

Among the foods were soy beans, salad, carrot, radish, beetroot, potato, cucumbers, cabbage, and onion, which were grown in a greenhouse, with artificial lighting.

Grown, too, were rumex patientia - also known as 'garden patience' or 'monk's rhubarb', and chufa, or Central Asian grass, to produce oil.

'The plants were used not only for food but also to produce oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide and support water cycle,' Dr Tikhomirov continued. 'There was a full water cycle, people had enough water.'

The final compartment initially contained chlorella, a single-celled type of green algae containing large amounts of chlorophyll, used to absorb carbon dioxide and participate in the water cycle.

Initially two of the three sections grew food, such as wheat, oilseeds and vegetables. A wheat 'field' is pictured in 1974. Plants were carefully selected so that the bionauts did not get bored of them, on one hand, and to provide all the necessary nutrients on the other

Among the foods were soy beans, salad, carrot, radish, beetroot, potato, cucumbers, cabbage, and onion, which were grown in a greenhouse with artificial lighting (pictured today)

Grown, too, were rumex patientia - also known as 'garden patience' or 'monk's rhubarb', and chufa, or Central Asian grass, to produce oil. Today limited experiments continue (pictured), but the scientists hope that they will be able to start a new full-scale experiment as interest in long distance space travel grows

Later this algae was replaced with plants which were also edible.

The longest experiment lasted 180 days and was held from 1972 to 1973. Gas and water systems were completely enclosed and 80 per cent of demand in food was also met within the system.

Dr Tikhomirov said: 'Most importantly, it proved that humans can live and work in an enclosed space for a long time with a full cycle. There were attempts to copy us but they failed.'

American scientists 'wouldn't listen to us and tried to make everything themselves but didn't consider nuances of growing plants. This caused a disbalance in terms of oxygen and they were forced to stop the experiment.'

The final compartment initially contained chlorella, a single-celled type of green algae containing large amounts of chlorophyll, used to absorb carbon dioxide and participate in the water cycle. Later this algae was replaced with plants which were also edible. A current experiment as viewed through one of the portholes in the lab is pictured

BIOS-3 was the third ecosystem built in Siberia after an order in 1965 from the father of Russian space exploration, Sergei Korolyov. The longest experiment lasted 180 days and was held from 1972 to 1973. Gas and water systems were completely enclosed and 80 per cent of demand in food was also met within the system (section pictured)

If a bionaut wanted to leave the station (control room pictured), he or she could do that even without talking to his colleagues. The aim in Krasnoyarsk - far from the West's prying eyes some 2,094 miles (3,370km) east of Moscow - was to create a micro-Earth that could one day be transported to the moon or a planet

He also claimed Western researchers tried to make similar ecosystems too 'stylish - and decorated everything with plastic.' Yet there are some emissions from plastic that build up in an enclosed system.

'It's not only dangerous for people but also for plants which start dying,' the doctor continued. 'We had everything done in stainless steel. Not very attractive but very practical.'

BIOS-3 was the third ecosystem built in Siberia after an order in 1965 from the father of Russian space exploration, Sergei Korolyov. 

Today limited experiments continue, but the scientists hope that they will be able to start a new full-scale experiment as interest in long distance space travel grows.

Researchers are slowly refurbishing BIOS, taking into account new technologies.  

Dr Tikhomirov is pictured in one of the research rooms on the site. He said: 'Most importantly, [the lab] proved humans can live and work in an enclosed space for a long time with a full cycle. There were attempts to copy us but they failed'

Dr Tikhomirov claimed Western researchers tried to make similar ecosystems too 'stylish - and decorated everything with plastic.' Yet there are some emissions from plastic that build up in an enclosed system. The row of compartments is pictured

One of the current experiments is pictured. Researchers are slowly refurbishing BIOS, taking into account new technologies