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from the at-least-women-will-live-on-venus dept.
When astronauts first began flying in space, NASA worried about "space madness," a mental malady they thought might arise from humans experiencing microgravity and claustrophobic isolation inside of a cramped spacecraft high above the Earth. Now Megan Garber writes in The Atlantic that NASA is hoping to find out what life on Mars does to the human emotional state by putting three men and three women in a 1,000-square-foot habitat shaped like a dome for four months. The volunteers in the second HI-SEAS mission a purposely tiny group selected out of a group of 700 applicants include, among others, a neuropsychologist, an aerospace engineer, and an Air Force veteran who is studying human factors in aviation. "We're going to stress them," says Kim Binsted, the project's principal investigator. "That's the nature of the study."
That test involves isolating the crew in the same way they'd be isolated on Mars. The only communication they'll be allowed with the outside world-that is to say, with their family and friends-will be conducted through email. (And that will be given an artificial delay of 20 minutes to simulate the lag involved in Mars-to-Earth communications.) If that doesn't seem too stressful, here's another source of stress: Each mission member will get only eight minutes of shower time ... per week. The stress will be compounded by the fact that the only time the crew will be able to leave their habitat-yurt is when they're wearing puffy, insulated uniforms that simulate space suits in the Hawaiian heat. Throughout the mission, researchers will be testing the subjects' moods and the changes they exhibit in their relationships with each other. They'll also be examining the crew members' cognitive skills, seeing whether-and how-they change as the experiment wears on. Binsted says the mission has gotten the attention of the TV world, but don't expect to see much inside-the-dome footage. "You wouldn't believe the number of producers who called us," says Binsted. "Fortunately, we're not ethically allowed to subject our crew to that kind of thing."
(Score: 2, Interesting) by gishzida on Saturday April 05 2014, @12:04PM
I think you may be correct... We can't have a real "wagon train to the stars"-- After all *that* does not have all of the pork barrel and kickbacks of a "federally funded study". I fully expect something like "(in)voluntary" colonization of the moon will be something the PRC will consider in 30 to 50 years... that is if they don't implode first and take a lot of us with them.
The truth is we NEED frontiers and have needed frontiers for over fifty years... What do we get instead? Wars and Circuses. We need some place where we can send the rift-raft, the bad men, *and* the risk takers... so they are kept so busy staying alive they have no time to harm, hinder, or victimize those left behind. It's how the American west was "opened" [after of course stealing the land].
OTOH I can see that some of the other posters in this thread seem to be enamored with the idea that colonizing Mars or other real estate should be reserved for the "elite" pre-selection process sponsored by Governments everywhere. These posters seem to believe that this is about "science" and not species survival. There is no point in a man or woman going to Mars to "do Science". It can be done quite well by robot probes and landers and be a lot cheaper in the terms of money expended.
The only reason to go to Mars or the Moon is to get us off Earth and out from under the weight of our own civilization... to get us more real estate so we have a longer term chance of survival as a species. If we go there with no intention of staying then there is no point in going in the first place. Where are all the Libertarian types who usually are calling foul at government interference?
The old west was opened not by "pre-selection" of Government sponsored colonist or "scientists" but by "self selection" of people that wanted to be be free or to "get somewhere" economically by "going somewhere".
Most of Australia was opened by convicts that had been transported for criminal offenses-- their national anthem is about a sheep thief!
If you want a no risk way to colonize the solar system then send the convicts, politically undesirable, the volunteers, or the involuntary volunteers on a one way. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress speaks to the "reality of what it might be like.
OTOH the way the US Government is going about this we will never colonize the Moon or Mars... PRC, India, the EU or Brazil will get there first. I don't include Russia in the list because they, like the USA, have a political elite that is only interested in lining its own pockets.
Oh, then there are those who will ask "What right have we to mess up another planet?" and the only conclusion I can draw from those folks is they are more concerned with the ecology of a dead rock in the sky than the future of their children's children many times removed.
Humanity needs frontiers.