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NASA Is Already Studying What Sort of Person Is Best Suited For Mars (blastingnews.com)
MarkWhittington writes: The first crew to set forth to Mars are likely in Middle School or High School, but NASA is already delving into what criteria it should use to select the interplanetary explorers. That they should be physically fit and experts in their fields are a given. But the space agency is keen that the people who will set forth to Mars in 20 years or so should be of a particular psychological type. NASA has granted Johns Hopkins money to conduct a study into the problem.
It's probably going to be an exceedingly intelligent, physically fit, mentally well-adjusted white man
You know like 90%+ of the astronauts they've ever picked. Optional: Actually having been in space, spent time on the ISS, or experienced crushing loneliness for months/years at a time
If loneliness were a pre-req, us slashdotters would cut to the front of the line!
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1. Donald Trump: BRING HIM HOME.
2. Martin Schkreli: are we entirely sure martial air is toxic? this is for science damn you.
3. Justin Bieber: yes...but...can we sing in martian atmosphere...thats the real question.
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Question 1: Are you physically fit?
...
Question 2: Are you an expert in your field?
Question 3: Do you like potatoes?
---
That's one small potato for (a) man
The first crew to set forth to Mars are likely in Middle School or High School, ...
Well, it's not gonna be me. I've been out of middle school for decades. But so they really think 11-13 years olds are going to be well suited for Mars? They're going for from cliques, they'll bully one another, they're gonna worry about dating....I don't think NASA really thought through the idea of sending Middle School students to Mars.
The article states that applicants should be "experts in their fields' and "in peak physical condition". We can all agree that they need to be technically competent in several technical areas, but I don't believe they need to be "experts". Also, while I can agree that the crew need to be in good shape, the important thing would be to ensure that the crew are in a physical condition best suited to minimize the chances of ill-health considering their environment. I do not believe that being of "peak physical condition" is necessarily required or desired.
If only we could fall into a woman's arms without falling into her hands
Saving a few kilos on these missions is very important, I'd say someone under 50kg would be on the money. You might be able to go lower if they had no legs as legs are basically baggage on a space journey. Especially when NASA have been asked to do everything on the cheap.
then the astronaut has not been born as of yet.
Large bulbous head, with antenna like growths optional but desired.
Dont mine long hours alone.
They love things that go fast.
Could use a simulated Deer hunt for entertainment.
Can fix anything with duck tape and some wire.
Will eat just about anything.
There real good at growing stuff.
What more could you ask for?
Just need to outfit the ship to look like a pickup and the habitat to look like a Winnebago. Maybe Offer a million $ to the first one to shoot a deer on mars. :p
'Cause Mars ain't no kind of place to raise your kids.
Dark Reflection
Expendable.
The people that are best suited to go to mars are those who either explicitly have a death wish or else those who are simply too naive to realize that going there at the technology that we have right now is suicide. Heck, do you know how many people died just trying to sail halfway around the world to the Americas from Europe only a few centuries ago? And that was on a planet with a hospitable atmosphere!
The moon, at least, has more merit as a place to go to in that, at least theoretically, we can reach it from Earth in less time than it would take people who might get stranded there to starve to death.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
So, Samwise Gamgee ?
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
NASA should focus on rockets, not people. Let's first see a rocket that can make it to Mars surface, pick up a ton of rocks, and fly back to Earth. When you've shown you can do that, then you can start looking for people and doing silly tests.
...likely hasn't even been born yet, because we're not going any time soon. NASA "plan" is a load of vapor.
That's an amazing coincidence!
I'm currently studying what kind of organization is qualified to study what sort of person is best suited for Mars, and I've already disqualified NASA, since they had no real plans to *actually* go there, until they were shamed into it by a private company.
Matt Damon
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Taylor Kitsch
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/903808337/dr-manhattan_400x400.jpg
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
How about you make it so any reasonable average person could go? As in, stop f'ing around and make space *accessible*.
:T:R:A:N:S:
Have I got some suggestions for them! Shit, do they want to stop at sorts of person? I can start making nominations right now. The sooner the departure the better.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
100% Dungeons and Dragons players. The 30 days or whatever would fly by if they run a lvl 1-30 campaign. They'd probably actually be requesting an orbit around Mars while they finish the level 28 quest line when they get there. Time really does fly when you're playing tabletop D&D.
They should go for an elderly person (nothing to lose), with an Msc in astrophysics, with great tech skills.
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Botanist
Please stop linking to sites that can't even use correct spelling in their titles.
Just what I was thinking. Take a baby (babies?) that's a total orphan and have it grow up as if it were born on Mars, then send the adult to to Mars. After all, the new Martian will not be returning back to earth ever.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
Hey, dummies, this will most definitely not be "the longest, most hazardous voyage in history". Three years is a long time, but explorers have often set out on voyages that take longer. Have you maybe heard of Charles Darwin and The Beagle? That voyage took almost five years, and it still isn't a record. And it's straight up laughable to say that it's the most hazardous voyage in history. NASA will never run it if the chance of death is over 10%. By historical standards, I'd call that a voyage of moderate hazard.
And then there's this:
...[T]he first people to go to Mars will be isolated as no human beings have been before. For a long period, 20 minutes must pass for messages to go to and from Earth.
Let's grant that the crew will set the record for being really far from other people, but as the article observed, that's not sufficient for them to be "isolated". Can they then seriously suggest that a 20 minute video communication delay is some unprecedented record of human isolation? Do they not realize that humans didn't always have smartphones?
They don't need to add all this hyperbolic shit to their article. Then again, maybe they do, because it doesn't really say anything specific and non-obvious except that Johns Hopkins got money to study this, and that their test group will consist of surgeons.
Crew will have no privacy on flight. It seems millennials posting everything about them on social networks will be the perfect fit.
And, Lunatics are best suited for the Moon AKA Luna. Tim S.
The submarine force has been conducting extended testing on the sort of person who can perform under these conditions for most of the past 100+ years.
would do.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
Come on, fat, white neckbeard...
I think they started at least thirty years too late.
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MAAAAASSSSS!
You have to be crazy enough to want to do a winterover (or a Mars mission).
But you also have to be sane enough to spend over a year in a tin can with a bunch of people you may not like all that much, with nothing much to do, sure death waiting outside and no early exit. I speak from experience.
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