3 ms·

Ask HN: Could US ban sending any American to Mars due to mental health worries?

3 points by amichail 5y ago

eesmith 5y ago
Could you clarify your question? NASA astronauts get mental health evaluations, so yes. On the other hand, if you have your own rocket, I don't think NASA could stop you. (Though perhaps there's an FAA qualification for being a pilot? But not for supercargo.) On the third hand, I don't see why the US would ban a American astronaut, launching on a Chinese mission. (While the US "could" in principle, eg, by sending a cruise missile to destroy the launch facility, I don't think that's your question.)
- amichail 5y ago
  I mean the US would not allow any American to go to Mars because the trip is too long and would be harmful to their mental health.
  - eesmith 5y ago
    No. There's been a lot of work on the topic. Including simulated Mars mission where people are isolated for the same length of time, in the same amount of space. For examples: - MARS-500 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARS-500 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARS-500 . - a NASA one which starts this fall - https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-is-recruiting-for-yearlong-simulated-mars-mission/ https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-is-recruiting-for-yearlong... . - HI-SEAS at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HI-SEAS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HI-SEAS and see also "When a Mars Simulation Goes Wrong" at https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/mars-simulation-hi-seas-nasa-hawaii/553532/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/mars-sim... Oh! And that Wikipedia page points to a list of such programs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mars_analogs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mars_analogs Plus experience from people overwintering in the polar regions, living solo on islands, etc. It's not easy, but it's clearly doable for at least some humans.
- hirundo 5y ago
  Could, for example, OSHA regulations prevent SpaceX employees from traveling on a rocket with unsafe working conditions? Is there anything that would exempt workers on the way to Mars from the same safety requirements that apply to the people who build the rockets?
  - eesmith 5y ago
    Once you look at things that broadly then there are a lot of ways to prevent a launch. If SpaceX stole its rocket components from another company, then the local police could shut them down too. We know it's acceptable for NASA astronauts to be in a far more dangerous workplace environment than the workers who built their rockets, so I don't see why a SpaceX crew would have the same safety requirements as a builder of a SpaceX rocket. For example, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-rating_certification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-rating_certification I see NASA's requirement for human-rated space travel is a mission loss risk of "no more than 1 in 270" for "up to 210 days". Given that SpaceX has roughly 10,000 employees, that would be about 30 employee deaths per year - far higher than most workplaces. My ill-informed belief is that safety requirements for a private mission to Mars would fall under FAA jurisdiction, not OSHA. At the very least, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aviation_Administration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aviation_Administratio... says "The first FAA licensed orbital human space flight took place on November 15, 2020"

3 points by amichail 5y ago

Could you clarify your question? NASA astronauts get mental health evaluations, so yes. On the other hand, if you have your own rocket, I don't think NASA could stop you. (Though perhaps there's an FAA qualification for being a pilot? But not for supercargo.) On the third hand, I don't see why the US would ban a American astronaut, launching on a Chinese mission. (While the US "could" in principle, eg, by sending a cruise missile to destroy the launch facility, I don't think that's your question.)

amichail 5y ago
I mean the US would not allow any American to go to Mars because the trip is too long and would be harmful to their mental health.
- eesmith 5y ago
  No. There's been a lot of work on the topic. Including simulated Mars mission where people are isolated for the same length of time, in the same amount of space. For examples: - MARS-500 at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARS-500 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARS-500 . - a NASA one which starts this fall - https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-is-recruiting-for-yearlong-simulated-mars-mission/ https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-is-recruiting-for-yearlong... . - HI-SEAS at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HI-SEAS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HI-SEAS and see also "When a Mars Simulation Goes Wrong" at https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/mars-simulation-hi-seas-nasa-hawaii/553532/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/mars-sim... Oh! And that Wikipedia page points to a list of such programs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mars_analogs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mars_analogs Plus experience from people overwintering in the polar regions, living solo on islands, etc. It's not easy, but it's clearly doable for at least some humans.
hirundo 5y ago
Could, for example, OSHA regulations prevent SpaceX employees from traveling on a rocket with unsafe working conditions? Is there anything that would exempt workers on the way to Mars from the same safety requirements that apply to the people who build the rockets?
- eesmith 5y ago
  Once you look at things that broadly then there are a lot of ways to prevent a launch. If SpaceX stole its rocket components from another company, then the local police could shut them down too. We know it's acceptable for NASA astronauts to be in a far more dangerous workplace environment than the workers who built their rockets, so I don't see why a SpaceX crew would have the same safety requirements as a builder of a SpaceX rocket. For example, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-rating_certification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-rating_certification I see NASA's requirement for human-rated space travel is a mission loss risk of "no more than 1 in 270" for "up to 210 days". Given that SpaceX has roughly 10,000 employees, that would be about 30 employee deaths per year - far higher than most workplaces. My ill-informed belief is that safety requirements for a private mission to Mars would fall under FAA jurisdiction, not OSHA. At the very least, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aviation_Administration https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Aviation_Administratio... says "The first FAA licensed orbital human space flight took place on November 15, 2020"