Mars500 project ending

[Brother Oni]

So the 6 men locked up in a Moscow warehouse for 500 days are being released later today (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15574646).

While the experiment can be accused of not properly simulating space travel, I think the things we've learnt about the possible psychological problems of having 6 men cooped up for so long and not killing each other can't be estimated.

Another step on the road to a manned space flight to Mars. :smallbiggrin:

[grimbold]

i for one always thought the project was better as a psych thing than a space thing. I think we will find a lot more applications to this study than just that of a mars mission

[The Glyphstone]

Why is the acronym for the Institute of Biomedical Problems IMBP instead of IBMP?

[Brother Oni]

Why is the acronym for the Institute of Biomedical Problems IMBP instead of IBMP?

Maybe something lost in the translation from Russian to English?

[Tirian]

Why is the acronym for the Institute of Biomedical Problems IMBP instead of IBMP?

Because it's the European Space Agency. Acronym might be in Russian or French.

It's an interesting initial proof of concept. These articles aren't mentioning whether they've been breathing recycled air and drinking recycled water for 500 days, and assuming that they didn't that's a missed opportunity. Then we'd see some realistic health and mental effects, even though even that is well understood from nuclear subs.

[grimbold]

Because it's the European Space Agency. Acronym might be in Russian or French.

It's an interesting initial proof of concept. These articles aren't mentioning whether they've been breathing recycled air and drinking recycled water for 500 days, and assuming that they didn't that's a missed opportunity. Then we'd see some realistic health and mental effects, even though even that is well understood from nuclear subs.

for me it was always a psych thing
but i would like to see a better simulation
so apparently the participants are in medical testing right now

[Vladislav]

I don't see what's so special in a 500 days simulated flight. Humans have already spent 400+ days in an actual spaceflight. Real weightlessness and all.

[Brother Oni]

I don't see what's so special in a 500 days simulated flight. Humans have already spent 400+ days in an actual spaceflight. Real weightlessness and all.

Only one man's spent 400+ days in space in a single stint and as far as I can tell, he's had a couple different crew mates during that time as they rotated through their shifts.

There's relatively limited information on the psychological effect of the same small team of people staying together in confined quarters for that long, studies on nuclear submarine crew aside.

[grimbold]

Only one man's spent 400+ days in space in a single stint and as far as I can tell, he's had a couple different crew mates during that time as they rotated through their shifts.

There's relatively limited information on the psychological effect of the same small team of people staying together in confined quarters for that long, studies on nuclear submarine crew aside.

this
the only thing ever done that was like Mars500 was men going under in Nuclear Submarines but I am fairly sure that
A. The Sub voyages were shorter.
B. There are more men in a sub and also there is more space so if you don't like somebody you can avoid them something you can't do in a spacecraft

[Dr.Epic]

i for one always thought the project was better as a psych thing than a space thing. I think we will find a lot more applications to this study than just that of a mars mission

First step in prolonged space journeys. Gotta see if they can go that long without a cabin fever type event. Now if only we can fix the HAL 9000 space travel will be perfect.:smallwink:

[Tebryn]

Why are we using real people for this? Manned Space missions are archaic. We should be looking deeper into robotics to go and build survival habitats so we can more safely move humans to the planet when we've got the tech to do it. Like Argon Plasma rockets.

[Dr.Epic]

Why are we using real people for this? Manned Space missions are archaic. We should be looking deeper into robotics to go and build survival habitats so we can more safely move humans to the planet when we've got the tech to do it. Like Argon Plasma rockets.

The robots will just end up taking over whatever planet we send them to. And once the apes take over Earth, where are we supposed to go? I guess we could always send the zombies to fight the apes though.

[happyturtle]

So the 6 men locked up in a Moscow warehouse for 500 days are being released later today (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15574646).

While the experiment can be accused of not properly simulating space travel, I think the things we've learnt about the possible psychological problems of having 6 men cooped up for so long and not killing each other can't be estimated.

Another step on the road to a manned space flight to Mars. :smallbiggrin:

That's some hardcore LARPing there. :smallcool:

[Dr.Epic]

That's some hardcore LARPing there. :smallcool:

What? It's not LARPing without face paint, big, pointy, rubber ears, and plumbing supplies turned into weapons.:smallwink:

[H Birchgrove]

I don't want to wait 40 frigging years for a Mars expedition.

Just build NOVA rockets and the NERVA nuclear rocket engine.

PS. Royal fail at not having women on "board". If we can't have female crew members, how are we going to colonize space?

[grimbold]

Why are we using real people for this? Manned Space missions are archaic. We should be looking deeper into robotics to go and build survival habitats so we can more safely move humans to the planet when we've got the tech to do it. Like Argon Plasma rockets.

this is so true
Humans in spaceflight are basically useless nowadays

[Ashtar]

They didn't have women on board, because the last try ended with a punch-out between male members of the crew about breeding rights with the women...

That happened on the 15 day trial, and she was then excluded from the 100+ day experiment.

[Tirian]

For heaven's sake. It sounds like it was the men that are the problem, so why did they exclude the women? They'd probably have an easier time with private funding too if they pumped up the Leather Goddesses of Phobos angle of an all-woman conquest of voyage to Mars.

[Brother Oni]

For heaven's sake. It sounds like it was the men that are the problem, so why did they exclude the women? They'd probably have an easier time with private funding too if they pumped up the Leather Goddesses of Phobos angle of an all-woman conquest of voyage to Mars.

I used to work in a mostly female team and apparently when additional recruitment resulted in a more even gender spread, they were the ones who breathed the biggest sighs of relief.

I'm guessing since a mostly male team results in chest thumping displays of testosterone as Ashtar mentions, mostly female teams have their own sets of issues (which mostly fly over the heads of us clueless males).

[SDF]

this is so true
Humans in spaceflight are basically useless nowadays

About as useless as spaceflight itself.

What ever happened to a sense of adventure? Going where no man has gone before?

[Tebryn]

About as useless as spaceflight itself.

What ever happened to a sense of adventure? Going where no man has gone before?

You can adventure at a great deal less the cost with robotic technology. It takes a lot of money to feed, train and keep humans alive. It doesn't for something that doesn't need to breath or eat and which you can program to do what it needs to do in far less time. Spaceflight isn't useless, sending humans who take years and vast amounts of money and time however is when we have technology that can do it better.

And really, all the robots need to do is get there and build places where you can send humans later. Instead of asking a ton of humans to build shelter or set it up in situations where they may very likely not survive should a mishap occur. The manned spaced flight is obsolete in every sense of the word. We're not going to planets where scientists need a human body to experience. We've not found a way to cross the vast distanced of space...what is the purpose of wasting resources on a manned mission that will take an incredible amount of time? The "problems" of manned spaced flight are totally conjured by our desires to have it, not because they're actually problems we need to be facing right now.

[Brother Oni]

You can adventure at a great deal less the cost with robotic technology. It takes a lot of money to feed, train and keep humans alive. It doesn't for something that doesn't need to breath or eat and which you can program to do what it needs to do in far less time. Spaceflight isn't useless, sending humans who take years and vast amounts of money and time however is when we have technology that can do it better.

And really, all the robots need to do is get there and build places where you can send humans later. Instead of asking a ton of humans to build shelter or set it up in situations where they may very likely not survive should a mishap occur. The manned spaced flight is obsolete in every sense of the word. We're not going to planets where scientists need a human body to experience. We've not found a way to cross the vast distanced of space...what is the purpose of wasting resources on a manned mission that will take an incredible amount of time? The "problems" of manned spaced flight are totally conjured by our desires to have it, not because they're actually problems we need to be facing right now.

I agree with you that manned space exploration is better served by automation, especially where you're firing off probes to an unknown destination or a location where you have only the most rudimentary idea of what the conditions are like.

Any sort of colonisation attempt will require a small manned team to investigate whether such a trip is possible and probably to start the construction of larger more permanent habitation. Automated robotics isn't at the level where they can replace a human being in overall versatility yet and the time delay would make remote control extremely difficult.

[grimbold]

About as useless as spaceflight itself.

What ever happened to a sense of adventure? Going where no man has gone before?

well
i should probably clarify
its not useless
but robots can do a better job than humans cheaper
also they're expendable
humans: less so

[H Birchgrove]

Isaac Asimov has already explained why we need humans, not robots, to colonize space.

[AtlanteanTroll]

Isaac Asimov has already explained why we need humans, not robots, to colonize space.

Mars mission =/= Space colonization.

Even if we do end up leaving people there and they never come back ... Well, not necessarily anyway. You're jumping a giant shark-gun.

[Raddish]

Haven't most of the probes sent to Mars so far broken in some way? I am sure the British ones failed to work as intended anyway.

[H Birchgrove]

Mars mission =/= Space colonization.
It's part of the beginning of space exploration and conquest of it. Also, to use reasoning from NASA: robots aren't geologists.

Heck, if we need to have housing for astronauts, land it!


Even if we do end up leaving people there and they never come back ... Well, not necessarily anyway. You're jumping a giant shark-gun.

That was the best episode of Happy Days, dammit, and there was nothing wrong with the episodes that came after! :smalltongue:

I'm basing this solely on "Community", not having seen "Happy Days". :smalltongue:


Haven't most of the probes sent to Mars so far broken in some way? I am sure the British ones failed to work as intended anyway.
Half of them (counting both American and European), AFAIK.

I'm happy with having Alpha site on the Moon, but please, build it already! We had the technology for it in the 1970's!

[Tebryn]

Isaac Asimov has already explained why we need humans, not robots, to colonize space.

Ya? And Isaac Asimov was what? A professor of Biochemistry and Science Fiction author. Don't get me wrong, the man was brilliant however I'll look to someone from a more present age with a better understanding of the universe and machines than a man who died in 1992. He isn't the definitive voice on space colonization or for that matter space in general brilliant he may have been. Sorry, but I don't give a rats droppings to what Professor Asimov has to say on a single thing at least a century in the future when any of this will be at all applicable.

[grimbold]

I'm happy with having Alpha site on the Moon, but please, build it already! We had the technology for it in the 1970's!

but again the problem is
it would cost to much! also robots could probably do a better job at it

[turkishproverb]

Isaac Asimov has already explained why we need humans, not robots, to colonize space.

Bah, everyone knows the best ratio is One human to three robots (one of which runs the ship) and a host of bad movies. :smallsmile: