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Mars Mission: How Hard? NASA Astronauts Weigh In
astroengine writes: In an interesting interview with Discovery News, retired NASA astronauts Clay Anderson (Expedition 15/16) and Steve Swanson (Expedition 39/40) discussed their views on how the US space agency should select the first Mars-bound astronauts — a mission that is slated to commence in the late 2020's. While Swanson thinks that the current NASA astronaut selection process should suffice for a long-duration foray to the Red Planet, Anderson isn't so sure, saying, "(Mars) doesn't require a jet fighter pilot. It doesn't require a Ph.D. astronaut — although those people would be just fine, but I think that it's going to take people that are very good generalists, that can do many things." As depicted in the upcoming Matt Damon movie, "The Martian," Mark Watney (Damon) is thrown into an unexpected, life-threatening situation, requiring him to use his general skill set to survive on the barren landscape until he's rescued. As the first manned missions to Mars will likely throw unforeseen challenges at the explorers, it will probably be a good idea to have a crew that are adept at thinking on the fly and skilled in many different areas rather than being a specialist in one.
As depicted in the upcoming Matt Damon movie, "The Martian," Mark Watney (Damon) is thrown into an unexpected, life-threatening situation, requiring him to use his general skill set to survive on the barren landscape until he's rescued.
Yeah, but Star Trek suggests that a team of highly skilled specialists working together is the way to go.
Then again, maybe we shouldn't be basing mission planning on a bunch of cheezy fucking sci-fi movies. Just a thought.
"Pretty fucking hard."
No, it should be phrased as, "How dumb?" Before anything, get the propulsion shit right. Let's get out of the 19th Century.
Ive looked but I can't seem to find a VOD release date.
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or space 'small people'....in other works, the smallest adults.
An older friend was a phd director level at NASA before retiring once told me that they (NASA) had once done a study and found that people who grew up on farms were the best with solving problems because they grew up constantly fixing stuff. But this was back in the 70's.
If things go well, they're probably dead. If things go not so well, they are dead. There is no special set of skills that will make a real difference.
Send Angus McGyver with a swiss army knife, duct tape, and paper clip with the crew and they'd be all set.
But seriously, it takes creative problem solving and knowledge of everything.
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So no Republicans then.
Or all Republicans.. two birds, one stone..if you will.
Yeah. They should have added one or more of the following:
- How thick?
- How heavy?
- How long?
- How large?
- How much?
...gis sdrawkcab (usually not responding to ACs; don't bother posting as AC)
On Mars, NASA astronauts only weigh in at 0.38 times what they do on Earth.
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The old missions look just too staged in Star Trek style effects. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kFAZoVGxqY4
You want somebody who can somehow survive the incredible boredom of traveling to Mars without going crazy. Seriously, he'll be locked inside a tiny cabin where he can barely move for two months just to get there. Then he'll arrive with muscles mostly atrophied and stuck inside either a space suit or a tiny living quarters.
He doesn't need to solve shit, for most everything it would make more sense just to radio home and ask them what to do. He won't have to make split decisions, because he'll be going through his actions incredibly slowly, confirming with home base.
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So in software terms, they'd value generalist skills of a Build/Release engineer over an OS kernel developer. I guess it depends what you want to accomplish.
They tended to be country boys who had grown up fixing things, especially truck engines, so when they broke down in the desert they had a chance get moving again.
So it's decided - We're sending MacGyver to Mars...:)
So they'd want a "Jack of all trades, master of none" because that has worked so well on other occasions?
Did you just mention a spolier? Mark Watney (Damon) is thrown into an unexpected, life-threatening situation, requiring him to use his general skill set to survive on the barren landscape >>until he's rescued
From what I've read (correct me if I'm wrong), NASA is going to be relying on the Orion spacecraft in order to get to Mars. It takes somewhere around 9 months in order to make it there, give or take depending on how much fuel you want to burn in the process. The Orion capsule is, to be honest, pretty frickin' small. I'm also not even considering the trip back yet. I don't know what kind of other spacecraft they are discussing building, or what kind of other modules would be going along with the craft, so I'm assuming not much more than the Orion module, and maybe some sort of orbiter compartment maybe?
If you want 5 people to last an entire human gestational period in a mechanical womb more isolated from the rest of humanity than anyone ever has been mere inches away from certain doom without killing each other in the process, you're going to need fantastic interpersonal skills more than anything else.