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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.
So... $20,000/100 Days = $200 dollars, day. $200/24 hours = $8.33/hour. Some people really need to do the math before going "OMG THATS A GREAT REWARD" >> Kudos to those running the experiment. Cheap labor is great.
Warning: Corny karma killing post above.
Such comfort is a far cry from experiments staged in Russia during the Soviet era. During one project in the 1970s, a group of volunteers was strapped to gurneys, tilted at an angle so their heads were 45 degrees below their feet, for six months, as part of a study on the impact of weightlessness on the human body. The volunteers were fed through tubes placed near their mouths.
Well, that's one experiment I sure as hell wouldn't volunteer for.
I wonder if the Soviet "volunteers" were voluntold. Or if they were only told that they were volunteering for a space exploration experiment, not the details. Heh.
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.
A Russian, a German, and a Frenchman in an enclosed space for 3 months. Sure. I'd watch that. You'll know they've run out of ideas after someone invades Poland, though.
"The crew...will spend the next 105 days living in a minimally furnished facility erected in a hanger..."
Does that remind anyone else of their first semester in college?
Have you looked at unemployment numbers lately? Having a guaranteed steady job for over 3 months, making $8.33 per hour even while you're sleeping... Not so bad.
The amazing thing is that 5,600 people applied to be part of the experiment.
I know it's not much to work with, but people won't apply if they don't know about it. They could have gotten an easy 1K more just by posting here.
A $20,000 reward for anyone who can handle over 100 days of cramped conditions with other humans, no sex or booze, and lack if information from the rest of the world?
And they only give released prisoners a mere $200.
Given what passes for news lately, the "lack of information" is actually part of the compensation package.
"Working in such conditions requires that a person be able to check himself, evaluate his condition in relation to the crew and in relation to mission control and be able to correct himself," said Boris V. Marukov, the experiment's director and a former crew member on the International Space Station."
Translating Ice Cube lyrics from Russian is terribly complicated.
Yeah, but you're missing something here.
After I'm done, I can add 'NASA Mars Expedition Lab-Rat/Test-Monkey' to my resume!
Now that's cool!
Plus, I get $20,000 USD to move out of Mom's basement for three months...maybe she will get some of my laundry done while I'm gone!
On the other hand, she will expect me to get a job when I get back. :-(
Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
They should be able to have communications -- just with ever-increasing latency simulating speed-of-light propagation delays on an actual voyage. At some point, bandwidth may fall off, and there will be the occasional bit of "space weather" to liven things up. It's not like a trip to Mars means instant cutoff from the world, but realtime communications would become problematic fairly quickly, and impractical not long after. Their communications should start looking more and more like e-mail every day.
In an actual Mars mission, their communications will degrade in a fairly predictable manner (aside from space weather). Why not factor that into the experiment?
Mal-2
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
With a summary like that, who needs to RTFA?
To run this story without a photo of the "female Canadian scientist". An outrage, indeed.
Google is my next stop...
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.