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NASA is looking for people who want to spend a year simulating a mission on Mars
- napier 5y agoNASA missed an opportunity not conducting the study over the last 15 months. They could have recruited hundreds of millions of study participants with no additional costs or fundamental behavior alterations required.
- yreg 5y agoI wouldn't be so sure that the next 12 months will be too much different.
- FatalLogic 5y agoOne difference is that many potential participants in this experiment will have been living a somewhat restricted life for the past 15 months and will be less willing than usual to continue that experience
- hereforphone 5y agoNot being able to go to your favorite cafe / restaurant as frequently != being confined in a windowless structure
- dylan604 5y agoWhy does it need to be windowless? You could have windows looking out at arid landscapes of Mars. You'd see sunsets, sunrises, highnoon, etc. You could even see the local "weather".
- hereforphone 5y agoThis is what was described about this simulation
- dylan604 5y agoI get that, I'm just saying why does it need to not have windows?
- hereforphone 5y agoI can only guess because I haven't read much into it. I think that they're trying to simulate the feeling of isolation one might experience on Mars. From an article it also seems like they will severely limit your contact with friends / family as well, presumably for the same purpose.
- Valgrim 5y agoI could see them simulate a severely constrained internet access, with limited bandwidth and minutes-long ping.
- dylan604 5y agoYeah, I think total cut off is weird. Maybe allow for it most of the time, but do "tests" where the signal is lost due to high winds damaging an antenna. Then the people have to don space suits to put it back together, etc. Otherwise, a compress collection of text only messages wouldn't be that big of a deal to send back and forth would it? Maybe a couple of images each day? Hell, we receive images from Mars daily now. Sometimes, these "tests" are unnecessarily obtuse. I understand, test the most extreme, but sometimes that unlikely extreme is enough to cause people to not care.
- rbanffy 5y agoA lot of gamers would be perfectly happy with this setting.
- paulpauper 5y agoYeah they could have done it in Italy too
- mikkergp 5y agoI wonder if this is a continuation of the same research the habitat podcast was based on: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/the-habitat https://gimletmedia.com/shows/the-habitat The podcast was an interesting big brother style reality show depicting 6 people living inside a potential Mars habitat for a year as research for NASA. Descriptions sound very similar. May want to listen to the podcast before you volunteer :-)
- wayne 5y agoI remember the Biosphere 2 project from the early 90s which was everywhere in the news but didn't work out. "Biosphere 2 was only used twice for its original intended purposes as a closed-system experiment: once from 1991 to 1993, and the second time from March to September 1994. Both attempts, though heavily publicized, ran into problems including low amounts of food and oxygen, die-offs of many animals and plants included in the experiment (though this was anticipated since the project used a strategy of deliberately 'species-packing' anticipating losses as the biomes developed), group dynamic tensions among the resident crew, outside politics and a power struggle over management and direction of the project." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere_2
- mikkergp 5y agoHave you watched spaceship earth, the biosphere 2 documentary? I remember learning about it in science class in middle school so it had an aire of legitimacy to it, but that story is nuts, including the fact that it was basically started by a cult with a billionaire best friend and Steve Bannon(yes, that one) being Director of the project for a while.
- Retric 5y agoI actually think Biosphere 2 was quite successful. As an engineering project it failed, but in terms of research it provided a lot of useful data. The core issue with the design was actually concrete absorbing Oxygen from the interior air. That’s exactly the kind of issue you want to consider if we ever want to actually make sustainable habitats. Unfortunately, they never tried to make a biosphere 3, but I suspect that would have been far less ambitious yet more successful.
- pseingatl 5y agoHow much law to take with? marslegalcode.org
- amelius 5y agoPerhaps ask Jeff Bezos? :)
- dylan604 5y agoJeff is currently too occupied sueing NASA for not giving him money to use a space craft he hasn't built yet. Then again, maybe NASA should select him as he can't be doing too much suing if he's sequestered for a year.
- qz_ 5y agoWe’re posting links from The Blaze now? Really?
- anoonmoose 5y agoWhile I don't want to see HN devolving into political arguments about what sources are and aren't good, I do feel like it's worth noting that 1- this site is full of ads, with terrible information density 2- it's just summarizing an official press release [1], on a site that does not have ads (the site itself is sort of an ad I suppose) I can't see any reason why you would want to post this Blaze link instead of the NASA link, especially given the high flamewar potential [1] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-is-recruiting-for-yearlong-simulated-mars-mission https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-is-recruiting-for-yearlong...
- tosstoyevsky 5y agoReee!
- svnpenn 5y agoFirst thing I thought. All you have to do is look at the garbage on the homepage: https://www.theblaze.com https://www.theblaze.com
- rasz 5y agoIv heard John C. Reilly is available https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdha2OfhGzk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zdha2OfhGzk
- okareaman 5y agoThey should recruit from submariners. I spent two months underwater and didn't mind it.
- graderjs 5y agoSome of the questions (re military, specops and confined spaces) seems to suggest they're willing to do just that.
- dayyan 5y agoAlready did in last year.
- ArcticCelt 5y ago>NASA is calling for applicants interested in spending a year in a 1,700 square foot habitat For some people like me that is called an upgrade from last year.
- ourmandave 5y agoI spent the last year during the pandemic living alone and growing potatoes. Where do I apply?
- exo-pla-net 5y agoBetter source: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-is-recruiting-for-yearlong-simulated-mars-mission https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-is-recruiting-for-yearlong... To qualify, you must be: * A U.S. citizen or permanent resident. * A non-smoker, age 30 to 55 years old, and proficient in English. * A viable candidate as an actual astronaut. For this, you usually need a master's degree in a STEM field, or you need to be a pilot or doctor or military officer.
- rbanffy 5y ago> A U.S. citizen or permanent resident. I guess I’ll have to wait for the ESA version…
- _moof 5y agoYou must also pass the medical screening, which prohibits a laundry list of common medications: - blood pressure medications - blood thinners - seizure medications - daily allergy medications - diabetic insulin daily - sleeping aids - ADHD/ADD medications - antidepressants - anxiety medications (Insert grumbling about "flight surgeon horseshit" here.)
- mbrumlow 5y agoGattaca Here we come!
- closeparen 5y agoI don't think my seasonal allergies are going to be a problem in space.
- throwaway803453 5y agoYou'll be growing crops year round, indoors. So you could be miserable. Curious if they select for plant strains that give off less pollen.
- hinkley 5y ago
- fnord77 5y ago"Biosphere 2 Part Deux, The Perchlorate Threat"
- fuoqi 5y agoLooks similar to the joint Russian/EU experiment MARS-500: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARS-500 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARS-500
- alessandroetc 5y agoSeeking to extend the isolation of COVID life? Well, you're in luck. Apply now!
- driverdan 5y agoI don't see anything about compensation. How much do they pay? Considering the requirements they should very pay well for something like this.
- Rebelgecko 5y agoI'm guessing that compensation is no better than it would be for astronauts (GS-13 or so, around $100k)
- slim 5y agoUV b erry Dr' h fwdir. Ft optDr
- shahbaby 5y agoOn a side note, I wonder how interested we'll be in Mars once the novelty wears off. Will it still be a place where we send our best and brightest? Or a place where we send those who have few other options? My bet is on the latter.
- wait_a_minute 5y agoIf that didn’t happen to the Moon, why would it happen on even more difficult missions?
- ffitch 5y agoRight on, it's kind of surprising how quickly our interest in the Moon waned off after the first series of Apollo missions
- sandworm101 5y agoA pilot, a doctor, and a military officer are all living together in an RV for a year. Who does the cleaning?
- sockfish 5y agoCan I volunteer Elon Musk?
- mychannel 5y agoBecause they have produced Oxygen on Mars Source: https://sirelonmusk.com/nasa-produced-oxygen-on-mars-for-the-first-time-in-history-how-it-was/ https://sirelonmusk.com/nasa-produced-oxygen-on-mars-for-the...
- launchiterate 5y agoThe new season of Big Brother sponsored by SpaceX.
- rezacks 5y agothis reminds me Biosphere project