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The Real Mission to Mars
The Mars Society is looking for "anyone in good physical condition between 18 and 60 years of age... Scientific, engineering, practical mechanical, wilderness, and literary skills are all considered a plus." Only the passionate need apply: "conditions are likely to be tough and the job will be very trying." And that's before the robot switches into hunter-killer mode.
If you prefer roasting to freezing, there's a mission somewhere in the Australian Outback next year as well. Either way, go visit the Mars Society homepage and check it out.
I spoke with a friend of mine, Daniel Slosberg, who coordinated Mission Support for the Michigan Mars Society during two similar, less-audacious experiments this year. His was the easy job of sitting at home, coordinating communications (chiefly email, with simulated 20-minute round-trip delay), answering questions from the field, and giving advice.
Daniel happens to be working on an idea for distributed mission support; if you're interested in being part of the ground crew, drop him a line.
For the team that actually goes into the wilderness and lives in the "hab," you'll be simulating Mars isolation as accurately as possible. You'll be brutally far north, for one thing. You'll wear a mock-spacesuit every time you go outside, which will help identify where the problems are in e.g. mobility or hygiene. You'll also spend an hour in the airlock when you enter or leave, which will help remind you not to forget your hammer.
The excursions get more sophisticated each year: next year will be the first with an already-completed hab and the first with more than one mock-suit. Your chance to be part of history.
In related news, Odyssey continues aerobraking, and its mission looks good -- if you've read Robinson's Red Mars series, you know how delicate orbital insertion is. Great work, JPL.
And just for kicks, here's a New Scientist article about synthesizing fuel from the Martian atmosphere to power a "hopper"-lander. If you find the practical chemistry of planetary travel interesting, go read Robert Zubrin who is just all about using whatever resources already exist outside Earth's gravity well.
If you have a month free next summer and you'd like to spend it freezing your ass off, read on.
On the other hand, if you have a week free next winter (and money coming out the wahzoo), and you'd really really like to freeze your ass off, try out the Ice Hotel.
Ceci n'est pas une sig
Personally, I think the entire Internet community has been in training for long-duration space missions. How long can you stay in an enclosed space with nothing but a computer, food, water and sanitary facilities? I don't know about you, but I've done it for days on end, and only stopped because I had to go to work. And I'm getting better at it all the time.
Aren't we all a bit less dependent on interpersonal contact thanks to the ability to drown ourselves in information at the click of a mouse?
Or is it just me?
Come on, you can be honest...
did the m-dog come out to play?
Blaze a trail to the New World