Simulated 520 Mission to Mars

[Chambers]

Scientists begin 520-day Mars mission simulation. (http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i_Qr5jcsuFj9rPiNuDwHVFQLDf9wD9G431VO0)

Yay, space exploration.

...

And my devious side immediately begins to wonder..."I wonder if at some point they'll cut communication for an extended period of time, just to watch what happens?"

[742]

hell no; i expect theyre going to try this at least once more and getting volunteers for the second run will be more difficult (and this maneuver less effective) if they pull that on the first group! besides there could be serious health problems and we want to catch those before we get fancy!

[golentan]

No, but I bet (they had dern well better) they will make communication asynchronous. No phone calls.

[The Extinguisher]

This is so cool. I hope it works out. Space is awesome, and preparing to explore space is even more awesome.

[Teddy]

hell no; i expect theyre going to try this at least once more and getting volunteers for the second run will be more difficult (and this maneuver less effective) if they pull that on the first group! besides there could be serious health problems and we want to catch those before we get fancy!

Cutting communication isn't really the same as cutting all connections. They would presumably still monitor the participants if they tried that, but it might be important to learn how isolated people start to act when all their communications suddenly are lost for a lenght of time.

[Brother Oni]

No, but I bet (they had dern well better) they will make communication asynchronous. No phone calls.

According to the newspaper article I read, they will still be able to access the internet, just with a variable delay, depending on how close they're supposed to be to Mars.

The number I read was 20 minutes, but not the context of where that 20 minute delay will be on their 'journey'.



I think the most important aspect of this experiment is to see how people will behave when confined together for an extended period of time. If people start to go nuts inside of 6 months, then there's going to be significant redesign of the living conditions and/or leisure facilities to help counter this.

I think it was the film Sunshine that had similiar conditions (crew of astronauts on an extended space mission) and they had a psychiatrist included as part of their team to monitor the crew's mental stability.

[Adumbration]

You know, that would be the perfect place for setting up DnD.

[Brother Oni]

You know, that would be the perfect place for setting up DnD.

Possibly. Imagine what would happen if there was significant intra-party conflict, resulting in a falling out between the PCs.

In an enclosed environment like that, it's going to be difficult to stay professional and not carry a grudge, especially when in the later stages of the trip, when the novelty of space travel has worn off and they realise they still have a couple hundred days to go.

[Teddy]

Possibly. Imagine what would happen if there was significant intra-party conflict, resulting in a falling out between the PCs.

In an enclosed environment like that, it's going to be difficult to stay professional and not carry a grudge, especially when in the later stages of the trip, when the novelty of space travel has worn off and they realise they still have a couple hundred days to go.

And how do you roll dice in space?

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Steel dice + magnetic table, perhaps. As long as the dice don't stop "edge-up".

[Ichneumon]

And how do you roll dice in space?

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Steel dice + magnetic table, perhaps. As long as the dice don't stop "edge-up".

You could alternatively ask the computer to randomly generate dice results for you?

[KuReshtin]

You could alternatively ask the computer to randomly generate dice results for you?

This brings to mind the problems of 'the Heart of Gold' in the hitch hiker's Guide when Arthur asks it to produce a cup of tea.
What if the computer shuts down because it can't decide on a random number for the dice roll, and they end up changing course and head for venus instead of Mars...

[Brother Oni]

And how do you roll dice in space?

They could play a diceless system like Amber. :smalltongue:

[Helanna]

Only on this forum does a conversation about a mission to Mars result in an argument about how best to play DnD in space.

. . . I love these forums.

[pendell]

In addition to the aforementioned computer-generated results or magnetic dice on steel table, there are some other possibilities:

-- draw cards from a deck. For a six-sided die, use 1-6 of any suit. For a percentage die, combine two decks and number the cards 1-100. Draw as needed.

-- randomly write numbers on a large piece of paper, then do the close-your-eyes-and-let-the-pencil-fall-on-a-number trick.

-- Take a book. Write numbers on each page. Then randomly flip open to a page.

Now, doing an I-ching cast would be significantly more challenging.

Respectfully,

Brian P.