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Six Men Endure 105-Day Mars Flight Simulator
drunken_boxer777 writes with this excerpt from an AP report:
"Six men emerged from a metal hatch after 105 days of isolation in a mock spacecraft, still smiling after testing the stresses that space travelers may face on the journey to Mars. They had no television or Internet and their only link to the outside world was communications with the experiment's controllers — who also monitored them via TV cameras — and an internal e-mail system. Communications with the outside world had 20-minute delays to imitate a real space flight."
Not one way - round trip is approx. 3 months or approx. 2 years, depending upon how it's timed.
Eloi are stupid, throw morlocks at them!
When I was on a US Navy, FBM submarine, we typically spent 105 days submerged, with no contact from the outside world. It was not fun, but it was not that hard either.
http://www.x2ii.info/
True enough. However, the most likely trajectory will be an Earth-return trajectory, so that they'll come back here if something goes wrong along the way. Which is only 180 days long.
So they made it MORE than halfway before they exited the spacecraft, not less than halfway...
Note, by the way, that some of the crews of Mir spent six months on Mir, which is smaller than a Mars craft is likely to be.
"I do not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it"
You have to understand, though, the psyche of astronauts. There are two archetypes: Fighter pilots and scientists. These two types fit into a single archetype: Obsessive. The first astronauts were fighter pilots and test pilots. They were cocky, confident, and absolutely attention-whorish (It has to be ME up on that moon). Then, scientists trickled in. What type of scientist makes for a good astronaut? The kind that shrugs off a 10% chance of death from getting to the lab this morning. You put these guys in a simulator and they're looking for everything to go wrong. They want to get to Mars. They're probably stir-crazy in a simulator, but they have that obsessive eye on the prize. "This simulator is preparing me to go to Mars."
If there ARE any problems or clashes onboard a Mars vessel, outside of the simulator, all they have to do is have one guy dedicated to saying "Guys, we're on our way to MARS!" and poof! Problems solved.
For the typical you and me, we aren't QUITE so obsessive. Our trip to Mars would probably include some measure of space madness, but for the first groups, it's the non-psychological biology that needs to be tested rather than their mental fortitude. The people on those trips know they've got a 3% survival rate, and tends to be a very calming experience when volunteered for.
I am the richest astronaut ever to win the superbowl.
"Believe it not, that makes it harder rather then easier. When I was making SSBN patrols for the USN, 'fast cruises' (simulating underway while tied up to the pier) were much harder knowing those things were so close. Actual patrols were easier because you knew they weren't close and thus weren't nearly so much a distraction."
I'll second that. While not having done duty on a sub or similar, as preparation for a deployment with Swedish forces for UN ops in africa, we went through hothouse training. Basically, we had 2 weeks in a huge house with temperature and humidity ramped up to the levels we would encounter there. Knowing that just outside the walls were people drinking cool drinks, eating ice cream etc made it infinitely harder to endure than the real mission actually, on a psychological level.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Cadets Yes, they managed to fool everyone in there into thinking that they were actually in space (until they led them out to their first space walk to an audience). The space ship had a gravity generator in it which is why there was no change in gravity strength. They didn't go insane.
Maybe they have a working antimatter drive?
Another significant advantage is speed. The Reference Mission spacecraft would take astronauts to Mars in about 180 days. "Our advanced designs, like the gas core and the ablative engine concepts, could take astronauts to Mars in half that time, and perhaps even in as little as 45 days," said Kirby Meyer, an engineer with Positronics Research on the study.
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/home/antimatter_spaceship.html
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
Note, by the way, that some of the crews of Mir spent six months on Mir, which is smaller than a Mars craft is likely to be.
Yeah, but those were Russians.
Not all of them-- Shannon Lucid spent six months on Mir.
http://www.geoffreylandis.com
There have already been submerged submarine patrols lasting over a hundred days.
You'd think that military psychologists would have plenty of studies of people in these situations. Perhaps they are not sharing them.
Veteran of the SSBN sub force here, and I'm kind of surprised that this is considered that big a deal. We've been doing trips in isolation this long since the 60s.
Then again, I suppose the group dynamics for 6 people are slightly different than for 110 people.