Slashdot Mirror
Simulating Life On The Red Planet
Cybernetic Wolf writes: "The Mars Society has just finished building the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station in the Canadian Arctic. The station has been built to simulate what life on Mars will be like for future astronauts. This is a really cool first step in getting humans closer to colonizing other planets. There is a webcam and video of them as well."
Isn't this just the set for Big Brother 2001?
Kevin Fox
Kevin Fox
A cat-5 cable can be how long again??
FluX
After 16 years, MTV has finally completed its deevolution into the shiny things network
"It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once." -David Hume
Okay, I'll bite...
Sure, I want to go to Mars. (Actually, I want to visit other places in the Solar system as well, but Mars is a good first stop...) Sure the creature comforts would be on the sparse side. So? "Sorry, I won't be climbing Mt. Everest with you; the nearest Blockbuster is 500 miles away!" Those "early adopters" helped settle the "New World" a few hundred years ago.
Can I explain why I want to go to Mars? No, not yet. I've been trying for years, and so far, people either get it (and don't have to ask the question), or they don't and can't. The scene in Contact where Bryant Gumbal (sp?) is asking Ellie (Jodi Foster), why she's willing to risk her life "in the chair" is a clear example of this; to me (and only a couple other people I've discussed this with) this was a clearly stupid question. But to most people it is as valid as it is puzzling.
I could resort to clichés like "Because it's there." or pick at your "home of humanity" metaphor and suggest that I feel its time to leave home and strike out on my own. But the truth is simpler; I want to go. I am not only ready to sacrifice the local scenery (I live in the mountains just west of Denver), but I'm also abandoning a 16 year career in IT (this Friday, in fact) so that I can pursue an educational path which (I hope) will lead to participating directly in space exploration in the near future.
"I'm a scientist! I don't think, I observe!" - Dr. Clayton Forrester
This rover would be used by the Artic Base simulated missions. It is also an investigation into what is possible with a Martian rover.
It will be presented at the Mars Society conference in Toronto in 10 days.
You can see an image of the
Email our team for more information.
This vehicle will be constructed in the next year or two.
----
Warren Strong
Life Support & Internal Systems Design Leader
Michigan Mars Rover Design Project
Coming soon to CBS...
BIG MARS SURVIVOR!
16 people locked in a simulated Martian colony on a frozen island with cameras in the bathrooms! Go to our gif-ridden website and vote to see who gets kicked out of the colony and forced to swim back to civilization. No sissy boat ride on this show! These people are SURVIVORS!
If the fad doesn't run out before we're done then we'll have part two: CBS EXECUTIVES ON THEIR WAY TO THE SUN SURVIVOR!