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The author puts a Mars mission into a realistic perspective but also, I think there are people who are wired differently than they are. I'm not a test pilot bu

The author puts a Mars mission into a realistic perspective but also, I think there are people who are wired differently than they are. I'm not a test pilot but I'm a licensed pilot and I'd sign up for a Mars mission in a heartbeat, even if there was a 70% chance of success. We send people under the ocean for years at a time to live on nuclear submarines in arguable more dangerous and isolated circumstances and they don't blink at the opportunity. To be the first person on another planet? What an incredible, fantastic opportunity. I feel like we will need to return to a place (As a society) where we accept risks that push the boundaries of the human race. Something we had a lot of in the 1960s but not a lot of today.

bigbacaloa 2y ago
[dead]
croes 2y ago
It wasn't about pushing boundaries, it was about beating the USSR.
Jabbles 2y ago
> years at a time I don't think any single crew deployment reaches a year. > more dangerous and isolated circumstances I think Mars is massively more dangerous and isolated. A submarine can plausibly return to port or surface to breathable air. There is no such option on Mars. Nuclear submarines are much larger than spacecraft and have much more room for comfort options. They have a much larger crew, and the knowledge that this happens all the time from many nations must be of some comfort.
- m4rtink 2y ago
  IIRC British antarctic service does uninterrupted 2 yer contracts. Not Mars or a submarine but still 2 years.
  - Cthulhu_ 2y ago
    At least being outside doesn't kill you in those ones. There's also earthbound experiments like Nasa's CHAPEA programs (https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/martians-wanted-nasa-opens-call-for-simulated-yearlong-mars-mission/ https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/martians-wanted-nasa-opens...) but they only go up to about a year.
    - m4rtink 2y ago
      Bases in the interior can get -80 Celsius and lower during the polar winter. The British base is IIRC on the coast, so it might be less, but still very deadly if you end up outside of the base without proper equipment and supplies for any duration.
whiplash451 2y ago
> I'd sign up for a Mars mission in a heartbeat, even if there was a 70% chance of success. I am pretty sure that your confident self would think a few times before signing the NASA paperwork with this number.
micromacrofoot 2y ago
> arguable more dangerous and isolated circumstances I guess technically anything is arguable, but this seems absurd. Sure there's pressure and cold, but a submarine can hold 100+ people and surface in 10 minutes. Mars is 10 months away with maybe 10 people. There's no surface. You can't scrub oxygen from the water, hell there's almost no water at all. You won't be crushed by pressure but you'll be bombarded by radiation.
- asadotzler 2y ago
  Mars has a ton of water, right at the surface even. I guess you're just bluffing without much real knowledge.
  - micromacrofoot 2y ago
    Yeah sure you're technically correct, but consider the context here... we're comparing a Mars vehicle to a vessel that's literally submerged in an ocean. Getting drinkable water on Mars isn't nearly as straightforward as it is on a submarine. Drop a submarine on Mars and you could be hundreds of miles from easily usable ice. You have to be careful about perchlorates and it's either soil- or ice-locked.
rqtwteye 2y ago
“ We send people under the ocean for years at a time to live on nuclear submarines in arguable more dangerous and isolated circumstance” Mars is by orders of magnitude worse than living on a submarine.
- asadotzler 2y ago
  How so? A submarine on Mars would work just as well as a submarine on Earth. Both lack breathable atmosphere and can support crews for months on end with zero exposure to the outside. In what way is sitting on the surface of mars different from sitting on the floor of the ocean?
  - rqtwteye 2y ago
    You can go to the surface when something goes wrong with the submarine. You can make oxygen from water. In general, you have plenty of water. You can be rescued. On Mars, when even the slightest thing goes wrong, you are done.
    - somenameforme 2y ago
      You can sometimes surface. Thousands have been killed in submarine accidents. You're under massive pressure and flying near blind in a domain where a impact could easily mean everybody dies. On Mars water will not be an issue. Settlements will likely be near areas with abundant water ice, but even in the extreme scenario it turns out the Martian soil is oddly 'moist.' It turns out that the Martian soil ranges from 2%-5% water by weight! This is something "The Martian" got accidentally wrong, since that discovery was made after the book was written.

bigbacaloa 2y ago

[dead]

croes 2y ago

It wasn't about pushing boundaries, it was about beating the USSR.

Jabbles 2y ago

> years at a time I don't think any single crew deployment reaches a year. > more dangerous and isolated circumstances I think Mars is massively more dangerous and isolated. A submarine can plausibly return to port or surface to breathable air. There is no such option on Mars. Nuclear submarines are much larger than spacecraft and have much more room for comfort options. They have a much larger crew, and the knowledge that this happens all the time from many nations must be of some comfort.

m4rtink 2y ago
IIRC British antarctic service does uninterrupted 2 yer contracts. Not Mars or a submarine but still 2 years.
- Cthulhu_ 2y ago
  At least being outside doesn't kill you in those ones. There's also earthbound experiments like Nasa's CHAPEA programs (https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/martians-wanted-nasa-opens-call-for-simulated-yearlong-mars-mission/ https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/martians-wanted-nasa-opens...) but they only go up to about a year.
  - m4rtink 2y ago
    Bases in the interior can get -80 Celsius and lower during the polar winter. The British base is IIRC on the coast, so it might be less, but still very deadly if you end up outside of the base without proper equipment and supplies for any duration.

whiplash451 2y ago

> I'd sign up for a Mars mission in a heartbeat, even if there was a 70% chance of success. I am pretty sure that your confident self would think a few times before signing the NASA paperwork with this number.

micromacrofoot 2y ago

> arguable more dangerous and isolated circumstances I guess technically anything is arguable, but this seems absurd. Sure there's pressure and cold, but a submarine can hold 100+ people and surface in 10 minutes. Mars is 10 months away with maybe 10 people. There's no surface. You can't scrub oxygen from the water, hell there's almost no water at all. You won't be crushed by pressure but you'll be bombarded by radiation.

asadotzler 2y ago
Mars has a ton of water, right at the surface even. I guess you're just bluffing without much real knowledge.
- micromacrofoot 2y ago
  Yeah sure you're technically correct, but consider the context here... we're comparing a Mars vehicle to a vessel that's literally submerged in an ocean. Getting drinkable water on Mars isn't nearly as straightforward as it is on a submarine. Drop a submarine on Mars and you could be hundreds of miles from easily usable ice. You have to be careful about perchlorates and it's either soil- or ice-locked.

rqtwteye 2y ago

“ We send people under the ocean for years at a time to live on nuclear submarines in arguable more dangerous and isolated circumstance” Mars is by orders of magnitude worse than living on a submarine.

asadotzler 2y ago
How so? A submarine on Mars would work just as well as a submarine on Earth. Both lack breathable atmosphere and can support crews for months on end with zero exposure to the outside. In what way is sitting on the surface of mars different from sitting on the floor of the ocean?
- rqtwteye 2y ago
  You can go to the surface when something goes wrong with the submarine. You can make oxygen from water. In general, you have plenty of water. You can be rescued. On Mars, when even the slightest thing goes wrong, you are done.
  - somenameforme 2y ago
    You can sometimes surface. Thousands have been killed in submarine accidents. You're under massive pressure and flying near blind in a domain where a impact could easily mean everybody dies. On Mars water will not be an issue. Settlements will likely be near areas with abundant water ice, but even in the extreme scenario it turns out the Martian soil is oddly 'moist.' It turns out that the Martian soil ranges from 2%-5% water by weight! This is something "The Martian" got accidentally wrong, since that discovery was made after the book was written.