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Volunteers Simulate Mission To Mars
Hugh Pickens writes "Six volunteers have climbed into a small metal capsule in Moscow as part of a three-month experiment meant to simulate a voyage to Mars. The crew — a German engineer, a French airline pilot, and four Russians — will spend the next 105 days living in a minimally furnished facility erected in a hangar on the outskirts of the Russian capital. The German said, 'I think we are going to learn a lot about each other.' A cosmonaut-in-training who will lead the mission was quoted: 'On the inside, we will have a lack of incoming information, so it's the science of sensory deprivation.' A similar experiment in Moscow virtually collapsed when a multinational team of men and women were allowed to drink alcohol on the eve of the millennium, and simmering tensions between Russian and non-Russian volunteers exploded in a fight for the affections of a female Canadian scientist. Only men are involved this time, and no alcohol. Scientists will keep a constant vigil on the team via cameras erected in each of the facility's three modules. Those who survive more than 100 days will earn a $20,000 reward. The current project is a warm-up for a much more ambitious experiment, scheduled for December, which will see another group of volunteers spending over 500 days in the same conditions. With current technology it is estimated that a return trip to Mars will take at least 18 months." The amazing thing is that 5,600 people applied to be part of the experiment.
They earn more per day than an ordinary minimum waged Russian do for a month. And in my country where I could consider myself a middle class person (still single), they earn more in 100 days than I could possibly earn in a year.
They would still be weightless whenever the engines aren't firing. The key is you don't travel /directly/ to Mars, you go into "freefall" with enough initial velocity in the right direction so that you "fall" to Mars. To travel there in a straight line would require a massive, totally unfeasible amount of fuel.
Especially if you take a laptop as hand luggage and sign up for wireless broadband... $20k plus 100 days straight to play WoW, hell I'd sign up!
Rampant carbon sequestration destroyed the Dinosaurs' tropical paradise. I'm here to help repair the damage.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Judith%20Lapierre&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
Sexual harassment, rather than a soap opera.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6955149/page/3/
The most rabid believers in American Exceptionalism are the exact same people whose policies are destroying it.
Here ya go http://www.uqo.ca/corps-professoral/prof/lapierrejud.asp
I was thinking that this experiment would be a breeze, if you just filled the capsule with a small team of coders .. and gave them 100 days straight of peace and quiet to actually work on the completely unrealistic specifications and deadlines that they may have on their plate at the moment.
It would be most productive.
But I am sure some management types would interfere in devious ways, and install a telephone in the capsule, so the coders would constantly field calls like these :
- Hey guys, its me from accounts again. I know you are all 'busy' (suppressed chuckle), but could could just drop whatever you are doing, and have a look at my computer for a minute, I think I might have a virus .. just like I had last week. If its not too much effort, do you mind fixing it for me so I can get some 'real' work done. Thanks - oh, and make sure its fixed by lunchtime, because I have a dinner engagement tonight and have to leave at 5 on the dot.
- Hey guys, its me from sales again. We promised a customer several weeks ago that we would provide them with this 'feature' that doesn't exist, and its now overdue. I know this is the first time we have bothered to tell you guys about this, but hey, its really important, so please get on it to immediately. It has to be ready by first thing tomorrow morning .. OK.
- Hey guys, its me from customer support again. I know I have been doing this job for about 5 years now, but I still have no clue how the system operates. I have a customer on the phone you wants to know how they can change their account balance - but I cant find a field on the screen that lets them do that. They are getting irate !! Can you take the call for me please .. I am really busy with other stuff. Putting them through now, thanks.
- Hey guys, its the company director. I have some VIPs here at the moment for a meeting, and I need the boardroom setup so the projector is connected to the internets. And have a look at my laptop whilst you are at it - it still pops up all those windows with that porn stuff. I thought you fixed that for good last week ? I need it fixed properly this time ! And by the way - why weren't you in the office at 8am this morning ? We had so many phone calls to answer, and you guys were nowhere to be seen. My patience is really wearing thin, we have to act as a team here !
- Hey guys, its the company director's teenage son. Im playing CS at home and Im getting my ass handed to me by these n00bs. I reckon its because my gRaPhIcs card doesn't have enough memory. Can you guys pop down the computer shop and organise a decent upgrade part for me, ta. Dad said he would reimburse you next week, no probs. I need it ASAP, thanks guys.
100 days of this crap, and I would be surprised if a team of coders, even in the relative peace, quiet and isolation of a soviet space capsule, would make a significant dent in the growing pile of work on their plates. Werll, at least during 'office hours' that is.