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Space United States Science

Hibernating to Mars 344

Posted by michael from the you-are-getting-sleeeeepy dept.
neutron_p writes "Manned missions beyond the Moon are no longer wild dreams. NASA plans a manned mission to Mars before 2020. With automatic systems in control, astronauts would face the challenge of living in a confined space with not much to do for an extremely long period. 'Might as well sleep it off!' Studies initiated by ESA have gone one step further. Wouldn't it be nice if astronauts could hibernate! ESA biologists are conducting investigations into the physiological mechanisms that mammals use to hibernate."
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Hibernating to Mars More

Hibernating to Mars

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  • Sci Fi? (Score:2, Funny)

    by ian rogers ( 760349 )
    Haven't they been doing that in movies for years now?

    • Re:Sci Fi? (Score:3, Informative)

      by BinaryOpty ( 736955 )
      Of course they have, where else do you think they got the idea from? But, the sci-fi hibernation often times is cryogenic. That means all of your body's cells slow down and muscle atrophy isn't a problem. If you don't have that and attempt a sort of chemically induced hibernation where your body's metabolism slows waaaaay down, then you run the risk of atrophy as well as any other type of inaction-caused disease.

      • Hibernation and Medicine (Score:5, Interesting)

        by BoldAC ( 735721 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:34PM (#10675834)
        Induction of hibernation has a much more practical purpose here on earth -- organ transplant.

        If we could force an ex-planted organ into hibernation, then we wouldn't have to rush around trying to get organs into people within 6-12 hrs (it is different for each organ type).

        Hiberation may also inhibit the reperfusion injury that often complicates transplant as well.

        That's just the obvious use of medical hiberation. We already know that somebody can not be declared dead until they are "cold and dead." This is because the many cases of people appearing to be brain dead --especially children-- who have a complete recovery after warming. (So if you are going to drown, please do so in a very cold lake.)

        Imagine the day when people who are dying at home get placed into hiberation until they can be brought to the hospital and worked up. Instead of blindly trying treatments in the field, one could slow down the dying process until a cause of injury is found.

        It has always amazed me that so many animals hiberate, but we can figure out how to translate that into humans.
        • sorry...

          Corrections...

          - Can not be declared dead until they are "warm and dead."

          - It has always amazed me that so many animals hiberate, but we can not figure out how to translate that into humans.

          Trying to watch Ole Miss vs Auburn, UNC vs Miami, and type on slashdot all at one time.

        • Re:Hibernation and Medicine (Score:4, Insightful)

          by ramk13 ( 570633 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @09:08PM (#10676287)
          > It has always amazed me that so many animals hiberate, but we can figure out how to translate that into humans.

          I think there's been some work on studying hibernation, but even if we get a really good understanding of how it works, that doesn't mean that we can translate it to humans easily. A crude comparison would be to say that since we now how birds fly we should be able to make humans fly... There are genetically coded mechanisms in place that allow for hibernation and it's not trivial to recreate those mechanisms without the genes in place.

          Also hibernation implies that there is still metabolic activity, but it's slower than normal. For an organ to be hibernation, you would still need to provide it oxygen and nutrients, just at a much lower rate than you normally would.

          Not to say that it can't be done, but we are far from hibernation for humans and even farther from true metabolic suspension (which no animals do).

      • Freezing living cells tends to kill them, as far I've heard, so cryonic hibernation is still a pipe dream.

    • Re:Sci Fi? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Aquatopia17 ( 710847 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:05PM (#10675647)
      Believe it or not, Science Fiction isn't the same as Science Fact. Ever see those clips of astronauts constantly exercising? They need to do that keep up their muscles out of atophy. If muscles will atophy for an otherwise active astronaut, don't you think they'll get even worse for a hibernating astronaut? The issue of hibernating isn't as easy as it seems. Biologists today don't even fully understand animal hibernation on earth.

      • Re:Sci Fi? (Score:5, Informative)

        by Daniel Dvorkin ( 106857 ) * on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:11PM (#10675703) Homepage Journal
        Ever see those clips of astronauts constantly exercising? They need to do that keep up their muscles out of atophy. If muscles will atophy for an otherwise active astronaut, don't you think they'll get even worse for a hibernating astronaut?

        Slowing down the metabolism slows everything down, including the process of muscle atrophy. You're right, of course, that there's a lot we don't understand about the process -- but if hibernation were the same as bed-rest, then animals that do hibernate would be too weak to move when they woke up. (And yes, being on strict bed-rest for a given period of time produces about the same degree of muscle atrophy and bone density loss as being in microgravity for the same period of time.) Odds are that hibernating astronauts would be in a lot better shape whent they got to Mars than they would be if they were awake the whole time.

  • Send newly-minted PhDs. (Score:5, Funny)

    by pedantic bore ( 740196 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:03PM (#10675623)
    After I finished my dissertation, I was more than ready for a several-month nap. (Too bad it didn't work out exactly that way...)

  • Dupe (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:03PM (#10675624)
    ESA To Study Human Hibernation [slashdot.org]
    Posted by timothy on 10:20 AM -- Wednesday August 04 2004
    from the that-report-will-be-a-snooze dept.
    colonist writes "The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to study human hibernation for long-duration space voyages (a la 'Alien', '2001'). Although 'practical hibernation mechanisms are at least a decade away', ESA researchers will make initial inquiries into DADLE (D-Ala,D-Leu-enkephalin), an opium-like drug that triggers hibernation in ground squirrels and human cells. Other subjects of interest include dobutamine, a drug that maintains muscle, and the Madagascan fat-tailed dwarf lemur, the only primate known to hibernate."

  • Just give them TV a Fridge and Chips (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:03PM (#10675626)

    works for most of USA

  • Simple (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:03PM (#10675634)
    Just gather up a bunch of geeks and toss them in the capsule. Once they get away from Earth, send a message letting them know that you accidentially packed decaf. Once the panic wears off, they'll sleep the rest of the trip.

  • Don't hold your breath... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Dinosaur Neil ( 86204 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:03PM (#10675638)

    This strikes me as having two BIG problems right from the start:

    • Reliability - ISS crewpeople spend the bulk of their time doing housekeeping/maintenance chores. How are they gonna get a brand-new, untried vehicle to run for a six-month trip each way, without multiple someones keeping an eye on things?
    • Reality - This study is still in the "maybe we can get this to work" stage. But I've been hearing about serious studies like this since the 70's and so far no useful results. Will they have something tested and reliable in 15 years?

    This would be great, if it works, but I bet we end up doing it the hard way...

    • Re:Don't hold your breath... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by datastalker ( 775227 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:08PM (#10675680) Homepage
      Reliability - people can sleep in shifts, and not hibernate for the entire time.
      Reality - 2020 is more than 15 years from now. What has no useful results now may in 15 years. (It was considered bad form to operate on the heart thirty years ago, and now it's routine.)
      The hard way - everything is done the hard way. Every pioneering effort is. It will continue to be that way, and we either suck it up and do it, or we don't. I think the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.

      • Re:Don't hold your breath... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Dinosaur Neil ( 86204 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:50PM (#10675916)

        By "the hard way" I meant going to Mars with existing tech. 15 years is a long time in "computer years", but something like long-term hibernation is going to take at least a decade to to work out the bugs because every test is going to have to run at least a few months in order to have meaning. Even if they were to come up with something that works tomorrow, it would be pushing to make it practical by 2020. Sleeping in shifts might help (a la 2001), but that would further complicate things.

        Lots of things need to be done before we go to Mars; we need far more durable, reliable and usable pressure suits, a life-support system that can run for three (minimum) years without spare parts from Earth, some sort of rover that can go more than a couple klicks, actual studies of the effects of long term exposure to low-gravity, etc. etc. Suspended animation will be useful, someday, but...

        Yes, computers, robotics, medicine, and other technologies have come a long way in a short time, but there's no gaurantee that the growth will continue; aircraft technology went from none 100 years ago to jets in the 50's, but it took another 50 years (and the X-prize) to kick things up a notch... Progress can be linear, but it doesn't have to be.

        A bit cynical, I know, but I've been disappointed by NASA for 30 years now; I watched Armstrong set foot on the moon when I was eight and was told that we'd be on Mars by the mid-80's. By the time I got out of high school, we were trapped in LEO by the shuttle. Things like this worry me because they can keep us waiting for a "perfect" solution for a loooong time...

        • A bit cynical, I know, but I've been disappointed by NASA for 30 years now; I watched Armstrong set foot on the moon when I was eight and was told that we'd be on Mars by the mid-80's. By the time I got out of high school, we were trapped in LEO by the shuttle. Things like this worry me because they can keep us waiting for a "perfect" solution for a loooong time...

          NASA is something of a fluke. It's the result of a "pissing match" between the USSR and the USA. It would not exist in any meaningful form exce

      • Re:Don't hold your breath... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Jack9 ( 11421 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @09:01PM (#10676251)
        As a person who has had multiple open heart surgeries, let me contradict the previous post. Open heart surgery has been practiced and studied by multiple organizations in america, since the wooden prosthetics of the 1700's. It was never bad form to operate on the heart as there had never been any "elective" surgeries that ppl could choose to have AFAIK. When you get told you have to have open heart surgery, let me tell you, YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF IT. All surgeries relating to the heart are considered necessary as certain tissues have the consistency of wet toilet paper (aortic valve for example).

    • Easy! (Score:5, Funny)

      by cmcguffin ( 156798 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:40PM (#10675871)
      How are they gonna get a brand-new, untried vehicle to run for a six-month trip each way, without multiple someones keeping an eye on things?

      All they have to do is have some kind of automated assistant to keep an eye on things!

      They could call it the Hybernation Assistance Lifeline.

      It could do things like keep the radio antenna lined up with Earth, and manage the opening and closing of the pod bay doors.
    • I agree with all of your points but there are two more important hurdles that I believe will prevent a manned mission to Mars during my lifetime. (I am 20 years old.)

      Gravity: We need gravity to keep our muscle mass and bones strong. Considering these astronauts will experience no gravity for six months each way I do not see how this will be possible. Life on the space station for this period of time can not be used as evidence that it is possible to for extended hibernation space travel. Astronauts on

      • Re:Reality check... (Score:3, Informative)

        by Goonie ( 8651 ) *

        Gravity: We need gravity to keep our muscle mass and bones strong. Considering these astronauts will experience no gravity for six months each way I do not see how this will be possible. Life on the space station for this period of time can not be used as evidence that it is possible to for extended hibernation space travel. Astronauts on the space station spend hours each day exercising in order to delay the breakdown of muscle and bone. I don't think a manned mission to Mars will be possible until we can

  • Crazy scientist is creating psychotic robot that has the ability to wake or kill hibernating humans.

  • Give'm a job! (Score:5, Funny)

    by ScuzzyTerminator ( 683387 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:06PM (#10675660)
    Make them earn their passage by doing some programming along the way. Set up the food dispensers so that if you don't work, you don't eat. That will keep them occupied!

  • Does hibernation slow or stop aging? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Mal-2 ( 675116 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:07PM (#10675667) Homepage Journal
    It would suck to be stuck in a spaceship for three years, sure. But it would also suck to fall asleep and wake up three years later -- and three years older, with absolutely nothing to show for it. Sure, external sources of damage would be nearly eliminated, so you wouldn't be three years shorter of telomeres. Also, being in one place for the duration means hard radiation shielding is much more practical than trying to hard shield the entire ship.

    Mal-2
  • Hmm sounds like 2001: A Space Odyssey a few years late.

  • Changing astronaut requirements (Score:5, Funny)

    by thellamaman ( 631602 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:07PM (#10675670) Homepage
    Expect NASA to announce, in the next few months, that physical requirements for astronauts have now changed. All prospective recruits must now have at least 400 lbs. of body fat.

  • A prime example of spin-off technology (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Daniel Dvorkin ( 106857 ) * on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:07PM (#10675676) Homepage Journal
    Stories like this illustrate why people who say things like "why are we spending all this money on space when we have so many problems to solve here on Earth" need to rethink their arguments. Not only would true hibernation open up voyages to destinations much farther away than Mars, but being able to put humans into hibernation would have enormous medical implications -- imagine hibernating through surgery, or in the case of something incurable, being put into hibernation (thus, persumably, greatly slowing the process of the disease) until a cure is found. Also, the advances necessary to acheive this would lead to a much better understanding of human biology generally, with attendant medical advances we can't necessarily imagine at this point.

    The usual counterargument to this is, "But if we spent the money studying ___ for its own sake, we would make the same discoveries, without the overhead of space flight!" This misses the point, IMO; we could do the research, but without an obvious need such as space flight creates, we generally wouldn't. Space exploration has provided the justification for some of the most important research the world has ever seen -- the reason "space-age technology" has fallen out of favor as an advertising slogan is because the stuff is now so woven into the fabric of our daily lives that we no longer think about its origins -- and clearly continues to do so.
    • You make it sound like technology never grows without space flight. It may have been true years ago when space programs were part of the cold war, but it's not true anymore.

      For the last 20 years or so, technologies developed outside of the government space programs have benefited them, rather than the other way around.

      Lets put it this way, name 5 things the space program has pushed forward with development on in the last 10 years. Things useful to everyone.
      • first off, a lot of techology takes longet then10 years to reach market. Smoke detectors are a good example.
        second, there is going to be less, becasue NASA keeps getting there budget slashed
        third, Many thing that get to market are inside other products you don't relize.
        forth, the answer to your question:
        artificial Heart

        Automotive Insulation

        Balance Evaluation Systems

        Bioreactor

        Diagnostic Instrument

        Gas Detector

        Infrared Camera

        Infrared Thermometer

        Jewelry Design

        Land Mine Removal Device

        Lifesaving Light

        Prosthesis Material

        Rescue Tool

        Vehicle Tracking System

        Video Stabilization Software

        more here:
        http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/
        http://www.st i.nasa.gov/tto/spinselect.html
        http://www.thespac eplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html

    • Or hibernate drop outs (Score:2, Interesting)

      by GrAfFiT ( 802657 )
      Or hibernate prisonners so they take less place, surveillance and don't appeal... reminds me of some movie from Spi*lerg and/or book from P. K. D*ck. Frightening ?
    • This misses the point, IMO; we could do the research, but without an obvious need such as space flight creates, we generally wouldn't.

      You could use that argument to support mostly any otherwise pointless exercise. Like, instead of space exploration, we could try to re-build the Tower of Babel. I'm sure a lot of useful technology could potentially result from this. Or we could just dig huge holes and refill them really fast. Or design and build new fighter airplanes [theregister.co.uk]. All perfectly reasonable ways to subsid

    • Re:A prime example of spin-off technology (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Hortensia Patel ( 101296 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @09:45PM (#10676462)

      we could do the research, but without an obvious need such as space flight creates, we generally wouldn't.

      Uh huh. Because it's almost impossible to raise funds for medical research. There's just no demand for living longer and surviving incurable diseases, you see. And governments won't touch it with a bargepole; political suicide.

      I don't buy this whole line of reasoning, to be honest. For one thing, it's misleading. The USA's Pentagon system shovels money into military tech in the hopes that something genuinely useful will fall out as a side-effect. And it often does, if only because a lot of military-funded research ends up being anything but military. But you can pump that money directly into civilian-oriented research instead. Japan's MITI used to do this (interestingly, their funding breakdown by tech segment was almost identical to the Pentagon's) and was rather more efficient in terms of ROI.

      More importantly, though, I think it sets the arena of debate all wrong. It's not about the spin-offs, nice though they are. The Apollo project was IMO the single most heroic and awe-inspiring achievement in human history. It wasn't an R&D lab for non-stick frying pans. Defending it in those terms feels demeaning.

      As for this particular problem, I suggest that instead of training humans to hibernate, NASA should consider training groundhogs to fly spaceships.

    • you got it backwards (Score:3, Interesting)

      by geg81 ( 816215 )
      we could do the research, but without an obvious need such as space flight creates, we generally wouldn't

      Hibernation has been of interest to physiologists, medical doctors, and biologists for a long time because it has lots of practical applications. Claiming that its "origin" is related to manned space travel is false advertising.

  • Two words: (Score:3, Funny)

    by elid ( 672471 ) <eli.ipod@g m a il.com> on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:07PM (#10675677)
    Slashdot archives That should keep them busy for awhile

  • Light speed (Score:3, Interesting)

    by 3770 ( 560838 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:08PM (#10675678) Homepage
    I'd have to recommend near light speed instead. First of all, the trip will be faster. And as an added bonus, time will pass faster.

    The trip will feel as if it was from now... to... now. Or even faster, from now to now. Or maybe even from nowtonow if they are really close to light speed.

    The one advantage with the hibernation thing is that they might feel really rested when they get there.
    • No, I've made up my mind. Near light speed is better. Just because, can you imagine how bad you would have to go when you got there? And there is probably only room for one bathroom on the ship.
    • Even at light speed, it's still 100,000 years to traverse the Milky Way. I think it's something like a quarter of a billion years to Andromeda.

  • Just be real sure... (Score:5, Funny)

    by bcrowell ( 177657 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:08PM (#10675684) Homepage
    ...not to hit the snooze button when you get there.

  • Body deterioration due to lack of movement (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:10PM (#10675695)
    One of the problems in space is your body begins to weaken since there is no gravity. That, with the fact that a year of not moving even on earth would make you too weak.. One wonders.

    -Eric

  • HAL 9000. (Score:2, Funny)

    by neodude88 ( 799799 )
    Just look at 2001: A Space Odyssey; if you hibernate to a distant place with a super AI computer watching over your critical life support functions and the spaceship, you'll die a nasty, red-LED blinking death. Just don't codename the computer HAL 9000...

  • Mars crew returns to earth (Score:4, Funny)

    by halftrack ( 454203 ) <jonkje@gmailCOBOL.com minus language> on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:12PM (#10675707) Homepage
    CNN-reporter: I'm standing here with Mr. Carter, first human on Mars. So, tell me, Mr. Carter, how was it like?

    Mr. Carter: *Gasp* I don't know. O.K. I guess, but I had this wonderful dream about a great pink mushroom and a sea of chockolate. Ahh ... if only I could return. Maybe tonight.

  • Good idea. Let's tweak some humans (Score:3, Funny)

    by Trikenstein ( 571493 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:17PM (#10675740)
    What could possibly go wrong with that?

  • If I want to be an astronaut (Score:4, Funny)

    by RealProgrammer ( 723725 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:17PM (#10675742) Homepage Journal
    ... do I have to live on salmon and wild berries? I like salmon well enough, but berries make my nether region itch.

  • NASA is dumb (Score:5, Funny)

    by Charcharodon ( 611187 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:18PM (#10675753)
    Why do they get so worked up over social group issues and confinement for astonauts on long space journeys. If the standard "NASA astronaut" (bunch of over achiever egomaniacs anyway) can't hack it then they need to change the standard.

    I say you surf the net and find the biggest net geeks they can find that never log off. After a spot check at their house to see they do in fact only leave their room to shit, get pizza, soda, and beer then sign them up to be astronauts. These guys wouldn't even notice they have left earth, much less have difficulty handling the isolation. That is of course till Halflife 3 came out and wouldn't run on their computers.

    Then we would have to have an emergency mission. Of course we could get ATI or NVIDIA to pay for the privlage of being "the official sponser of the graphics card upgrade rescue mission".

    • Yeah, but they'd go nuts and start killing each other once they got far enough away from Earth for the ping times to slow down.
    • You may not realize it, but there's a world of difference between sitting in your house as opposed to really being isolated. If you were to be ill or injured, you could seek a doctor. If something broke down, you could call a handyman. If the pizza and soda guy had delivery problems, you could get food elsewhere.

      In space, you can do none of those things. Even if you don't need them, the knowledge that you can't get them is a heavy burden. If the food supply broke down, you would starve and it'd be longer t
  • I'd much rather they spent their time and money on building faster rockets, and avoid the long-travel-time problem altogether.

  • Induce depression. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by achilstone ( 671328 )
    Wouldn't a long trip without the prospect of seeing friends and family for 4 years (assume 2 years each way) with lack of light and natural exercise plus the fact of being stuck with the same people cause depressive like symtoms in the astronauts.
    E.g. Oversleeping, loss of appetite, general tiredness etc.
    Would these symtoms actually be useful for a long Mars like trip or would it backfire with the astronauts freaking out?
    Perhaps studies carried out of prisoners kept in near isolation with a borderline diet
    • We'll hibernate their entire social network too.

      Maybe cheesy lost-in-space-esque adventuring families will actually occur somehow naturally someday as the solution to this problem.

  • What about exercise! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by adolfojp ( 730818 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:22PM (#10675772)
    I thought that astronauts needed daily exercise to avoid bone and muscle loss.

    Wouldn't sleeping during the trip be detrimental to their health?

    Oh, and I don't thing that using small electric jolts to stimulate the muscles would work. There was a class action lawsuit against a company that sold such a device as exercise equipment because it didn't work. Repetitive arm movements to type and to use the mouse require more muscular strength than those devices produce but you don't see computer geeks (like me) with super strong forearms and wrists.

    Cheers,

    Adolfo

    • Re:What about exercise! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by Xiph ( 723935 )
      Well, i assume that since all body processes are slowed down when hibernating, so is the processes responsible for muscle loss.

      also as i read this, the same technology would be usefull for organ-transplants (keeping the donor-organs alive for longer) and as mentioned by someone else, keep people in near-stasis untill their ailment can be treated.

      /Xiph
  • I'm a high school teacher and the FASTEST way to initiate a deep, quasi permanent sleep in another person is to turn on a projector of some sort while also telling them to follow along in a text book. I have one student in a class that is now 45 years old and I still can't wake him up!
  • If you can't sleep it off, why not play video games, read books, or something else? It seems like a simple solution.

  • What I would do instead of hibernating (Score:3, Funny)

    by Bob Cat - NYMPHS ( 313647 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:30PM (#10675818) Homepage
    I would just spend all day reading Slashdot.

    Oh, wait...

  • Send HACKERS! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by BrookHarty ( 9119 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @07:51PM (#10675924) Journal
    I've always wondered why they dont send people who are use to sitting in a chair for months at a time. ;)

    I know after I get HL2 I wont be on Slashdot for at least a week!

  • Learn the lessons of Doom 3 (Score:3, Funny)

    by nxtr ( 813179 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @08:10PM (#10675989)
    Make sure to send the astronauts with plenty of firepower. Chainguns, rocket launchers, armor and a chainsaw would be plenty enough to keep those aliens at bay. Don't let the spam [martianbuddy.com] get to the astronauts too. They'd be pretty pissed off at that.
  • astronauts would face the challenge of living in a confined space with not much to do for an extremely long period.

    Sounds like my teenage years. I managed to make it!

  • Hibernation here on Earth. (Score:5, Funny)

    by SnprBoB86 ( 576143 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @08:25PM (#10676060) Homepage
    So they are trying to make a human hibernate for 3 years? I wonder if 4 years is possible.

    If Bush wins, I want to sleep right through it.

  • Muscle Loss (Score:2, Insightful)

    by peanutious ( 730210 )
    Sleeping it off sounds like a great idea, if only muscle loss could be stopped during the rest period. Astronauts already have a hard enough time keeping in shape for their ride home when they're awake.

  • Manned mission by 2020? (Score:4, Informative)

    by ravenspear ( 756059 ) on Saturday October 30, 2004 @08:56PM (#10676222)
    I'm curious to know the source the submitter had in mind when he stated that NASA is planning a manned mission to Mars before 2020. I have not seen anything like that come out of NASA.

    The President's roadmap they recently adopted only had manned missions to the moon resuming by 2020.

  • Better than hibernation (Score:3, Insightful)

    by ChiralSoftware ( 743411 ) <info@chiralsoftware.net> on Sunday October 31, 2004 @12:43AM (#10677181) Homepage
    Wouldn't it be better to work on some way of getting to Mars faster rather than figuring out ways to go slower? Just showing up on Mars once, making some great quote ("One small step...") and heading home with some rocks seems pointless. It was pointless the last time we pull such a stunt. If we want to get some value out of this, we need to find a way to get to and from the Red Planet quickly. Finding a way to do it without getting bored isn't an advance in the right direction.

    I'm a lot more interested in great new nuclear propulsion technologies than figuring out some way to pass the time.

    Once we have a quick round-trip propulsion system, routine flights might be possible, opening up all kinds of possibilities [ua-corp.com].

    Also, if we have a powerful propulsion system, it does start opening up even more far-flung expeditions, like unmanned long-term trips outside the solar system even.

    Of course, IANARS.

  • Computer Games (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Databass ( 254179 ) on Sunday October 31, 2004 @02:00AM (#10677375)
    If the problem is not to have the astronauts go insane with boredom en route to Mars, may I suggest that computer games could go a long way towards this goal?

    I've gone for days at a time, waking up, getting on my computer until I have to go to sleep, then sleeping and doing it again. I could porbably do it for months at a time if I had to. I could, in THEORY, even take short breaks to "do astronaut stuff" like checking systems and what not.

    If NASA wants to fund some kind of "lock me in a room and play games" challenge, I'll participate. ; -)

  • Give them... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Afrosheen ( 42464 ) on Sunday October 31, 2004 @05:08AM (#10677892)
    ...some fake jobs to do. A computer panel full of buttons that have to be pushed in sequence daily or the whole ship explodes. Add to that some actual physical exertion (like removing axle rods from somewhere that are rusty) at random intervals as well. Keep it quiet so only the scientists and some engineers know what's up.

    Yeah, give the astronauts lots of fake jobs which will then lead to fake drama as someone forgets to pull rod 14 on schedule and the core threatens meltdown. Tie it in to emergency evac announcements and lots of flashing lights. I could see this being profitable from a television standpoint as well. That in turn will help fund the mission or a future mission like it.

    Think about it this way: if you're always threatened by disaster but always avert it just in the nick of time, you never know if it's true or not. The astronauts will never wise up. :)

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