6 'Cavenauts' Are Ready For Exciting Project To Explore The World Of Deep Caves In Slovenia

While most of the countries running space programs are trying hard to explore the celestial world, some Slovenians have vowed to discover the untouched spaces underneath the surface of the earth. Six astronauts, in Slovenia's Karst region, are on a mission to explore the deep underground in the area's network of cold, dark and muddy caves, a report in AFP suggests.

The people on mission were seen in their space suits. With the help of caving gear, they will spend six full days underground in the UNESCO-listed Skocjan cave system.

According to reports, they have undergone six weeks of training organised by the European Space Agency's (ESA) CAVES programme.

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Reason behind heading underground?

"Living in a cave is very similar to living in space, mentally. Actually, I thought it was much harder than living in space," 43-year-old Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi told AFP.

The explorers will battle the cave temperature that fluctuate between six and 10 degrees, with 100-percent humidity. They will only be guided by light of their head lamps to guide them.

This was said to be the first outing in Slovenia's caves.

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Speleology, or cave exploration, was taught to the "cavenauts" for two weeks.?

The experiments reportedly include monitoring life in the caves such as microscopic organisms as well as assessing atmospheric conditions.

With AFP inputs

"The main goal for the astronauts is to work together as a team and achieve a mission in a very complex environment, to prepare better for an analogous situation, which is space," the head of the programme's science component Francesco Sauro told AFP.

One of the astronauts, Germany's Alexander Gerst, told AFP about the feeling of complete isolation from the world outside in the silent darkness.

You feel "deprived of all sensual input, out of your comfort zone," said 43-year-old, who has already completed two missions on the International Space Station.