MARS SIMULATION: Earlier this month, the Austrian Space Forum set up a simulated Martian base together with the Israel Space Agency at Makhtesh Ramon, a 500-m deep, 40-km wide crater, in Israel’s Negev desert. During a three-week mission, six astronauts from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Israel, Portugal and Spain will remain in complete isolation in a unique structure meant to simulate a space station. The astronauts will undertake a variety of experiments that have been selected for the project, in which more than 200 scientists from 25 countries are involved. Photograph: Amir Cohen for Reuters