Giving future human space explorers the credit they’re due

The Space Review ^ | 10/31/05 | Anthony Kendall

[KevinDavis]

The debate surrounding the value of human versus robotic exploration has largely ignored the fact that humans are vastly more capable of exploring planetary surfaces than are robotic rovers. Indeed, Mars-analog exploration conducted by the Mars Society suggests that humans can do “rover science” thousands of times faster than rovers. Rovers are incapable of conducting even a small fraction of the science humans are capable of, including the most important Martian science objectives: detailing its geologic history and searching for fossil or living organisms. If current thinking prevails, it will be in vain pursuit of these two objectives that billions more will be spent on increasingly expensive rovers, while a single human mission could be conducted more quickly, with greater likelihood of mission success, and even at lower cost.

[KevinDavis]

Humans do belong in space...

[KevinDavis]

[earplug]

After driving across I-70 Kansas to many times. I doubt humans can handle long deep space for month-year long trips.
They would need chemical induced comas to survive.

[KevinDavis]

That is using modren technologies. There are plans to develop technologies to take months off a voyage to Mars, also you can't base space travel on going on a interstate in Kansas...

[cripplecreek]

I suspect that former submariners will be the ideal candidates for fairly long missions.

[NCC-1701]

"...They would need chemical induced comas to survive..."

Unless there is a huge leap in propulsion systems, it'll take forever to get to Mars and back. Liquid prop alone will not git r done. Michael Foale, who spent a six month tour of duty on both Mir and ISS had an interesting observation. He said that a trip to Mars would be more of a pyschological thing because there would be nothing but the inky black of space to look at out the windows. So, instead of having the variety of colors available in low Earth orbit, the black of deep space might be a very depressing thing to deal with.
A lengthy lunar stay would be better because you could still have the Earth to look at providing some color variety. Having said all that, it would still be a heck of a trip. If I was a lot younger, I'd apply today.

[phantomworker]

So, instead of having the variety of colors available in low Earth orbit, the black of deep space might be a very depressing thing to deal with.
A lengthy lunar stay would be better because you could still have the Earth to look at providing some color variety.

That's fascinating.

[phantomworker]

I doubt humans can handle long deep space for month-year long trips. They would need chemical induced comas to survive.

Chemical induced coma. LOL. That's why they make robots---to endure the stuff that humans can't.

[phantomworker]

Here's another cool one. :)

[Darksheare]

Cool.
I don't wanna think of the long term psychological effects though.

Much like the guys who climb cliffs for month long stretches of time, the astronauts might get back on the ground and attempt to continue as if operating on the crew module still.
(I.e., get up in the night and freak somewhat because there's stuff they expect to be there 'not there'.)

[mym]

Russia will model a flight to Mars:

According to an official statement, in 2005 an experiment on imitating the flight of a person to Mars will be started in Russia. Six participants of the experiment will spent 1.5 years in closed space.

Specialists of the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems have already started preparations for the experiment, Interfax information agency reports.

Under the conditions of the experiment, six people will spend 500 days in the closed space of the ground-based space station module. This experiment imitates the number of conditions for a flight to Mars. “Astronauts” will take about 3 tons of water and 5 tons of food, and other water supply and some oxygen will be extracted from the products of their life activity.

"The participants of the experiment will be trained for reacting to emergency situations which can happen during a long flight to Mars. A doctor will be a crew member to provide others with required medical treatment.”, said Marc Belakovsky, an official representative of the Institute.

In addition to Russians, foreign volunteers may also become the participants of the experiment. According to Marc Belanovsky,, a person can “withdraw from the game” only if he is unable to continue being in the experiment because of a serious illness or psychological stress.

------------------
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR MODELING FLIGHT TO MARS:

MOSCOW, February 8 (RIA Novosti) - An admission of volunteers for an experiment in modeling a piloted flight to Mars will be announced in fall 2005, Mark Belakovsky, a department head at the Institute of Medical and Biological Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said Tuesday at a conference devoted to the research results in the Russian segment of the International Space Station.

"We think that the admission will be announced in the second half of 2005," he said.

Mr. Belakovsky added that the congress on space biology and medicine to be held in Berlin in September 2005 should become a point of departure for admitting volunteers.

Congress participants will discuss the experiment and proposals for its implementation.

[SunkenCiv]

If current thinking prevails, it will be in vain pursuit of these two objectives that billions more will be spent on increasingly expensive rovers, while a single human mission could be conducted more quickly, with greater likelihood of mission success, and even at lower cost.

I've not run off at the keys about this in a while, so... the so-called ISS may wind up getting completed about the time that it hits its 15th birthday and gets scheduled for ditching into the Pacific.

IMV, if it is to be completed, it needs to have a longer mission life. One thing it could be very good for (with some modifications, such as more power, and some kind of better meteoroid proofing; and the outliers would have to be guyed) is a Mars station. A big plasma drive could be developed to give it the necessary push (and a low-g acceleration would seem to be a necessity), and would be good to develop for future outer planet missions and interstellar probes.

Getting to orbit around Mars is much less difficult (though hardly less time consuming) than landing a crew for a very short stay. Having the ISS in orbit around Mars would give crews somewhere to go during Mars missions, and provide a permanent staging spot for future crewed landings.

A hybrid approach to exploring the Martian surface would be a good idea. By hybrid I mean, rovers would be landed all over the surface, and controlled in real time from the ISS. The rovers could be simpler, faster, and accomplish more tasks. One of those tasks would be identifying the best places for scientific return when crews finally do land there.

And public support for Mars missions would be easier to build this way -- leave 'em wanting more.

[NCC-1701]

At first glance, this sounds a lot like the Bioshpere "experiment" of several years ago. This is different because it is a serious attempt to find out how a true closed system will work. Also, the human element will be looked at in a way that hasn't been done before. Up to the current crew aboard ISS, astronauts and cosmonauts have always know they'd be looked in a tube with one or two others for a difined period of time. they adjusted their minds accordingly. Now, with what could be an open-ended length of time, crew interaction and behavior patterns will have to be approached in a totally different way. No one wants to have major problems hundreds of millions of miles from Earth. Crew selection will be a whole new ballgame. Former astronaut Michael Collins said that anyone can get along with others when you know there's going to be a defined period of time you're going to be with others in a can. Not so when trips to Mars is being considered.
The only way to combat long terms of confinement will be a massive leap in propulsion systems. Getting there and back faster would make the whole enterprise more appealing to those involved in the planning and execution of the trip(s).

[RightWhale]

That's the idea. I suggested sending the Mir to the moon rather than splashing it. It's a total waste of work in the mechanical physics sense, to send something into space and then bring it back. Infrastructure in space, that's the secret.

Out on the prairie a miner's shack or trapper's cabin, no matter what condition it was in, often made the difference to a passing traveller. These days it is all public land and the forest service goes in there and torches trapper's cabins wherever they find them. Seems like that peculiar 'keep it natural' mindset has caught on in NASA, too.