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NASA Tackles Ethics of Deep-Space Exploration
TheTony writes "With long-term projects like manned Mars exploration on the horizon, NASA has begun discussing previously taboo subjects. Ethical and practical questions involving illness, death, genetic profiling, and astronaut relations and behavior in space need to be addressed, as NASA begins to consider new policies with these extended missions in mind." From the article: "One topic that is evidently too hot to handle: How do you cope with sexual desire among healthy young men and women during a mission years long?"
That only worked, because there weren't many females in close proximity. If you interact with them daily, no chemical will help much.
Personally, I think, they should pick swingers for the mission — there will be no reproductive sex on board, so the partners need no particular attachment to each other (as parents-to-be should have). Swingers, who change partners easily, supposedly, can enjoy the physical aspect of it without "drama"...
Finding capable astronauts, who are also into swinging, may be difficult, though...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
I work with my wife in the same room, metres away. I am her boss. We are within metres of each other nearly 24 hours a day.
The secret? Knowing when the other person needs personal space and giving it to them. Same house, different headphones.
More seriously than my other answer, sexual relationships are a lot tricker in a small group in a spaceship than in normal society:
1) You cannot get away from a person who rejected you
2) You cannot avoid someone who refuses to accept a rejection
3) You cannot avoid living and working with some who took a third person from you.
4) People's sexuality can be affected by unusual conditions.
The best solution is probably to use stable couples for really long missions (months to years), but that makes it harder to recruit the best. Even then if things do go wrong you have a horrible mess.
Psychological screening is essential in any case - and not just for the headline grabbing sex issue. There are plenty of ways in which a small group at close quarters can go wrong.
(This idea is not mine, but I can't remember where I first saw it)
The problem with a Mars expedition is not getting there; it is getting there with enough fuel to return the crew to Earth. Solution? Don't return. Rather than sending the young and healthy, send the old and reasonably healthy: men and women in the 60+ age range who are in reasonably good physical shape and who volunteer for a one-way mission. They are told from the outset that they have x years supplies; that more will be sent if possible; and that if the impulse engine is invented someone will come pick them up. Otherwise they should reserve some time early on after landing to locate a suitable site for a cometary and chip out some tombstones, then get to work exploring and naming things after themselves.
This wouldn't automatically solve the sex problem given today's "more active seniors", but people of that age have less urgent sex drives and are generally better able to negotiate/handle the emotional and interpersonal situations as well.
sPh