Volunteers Simulate Mission To Mars 237
Hugh Pickens writes "Six volunteers have climbed into a small metal capsule in Moscow as part of a three-month experiment meant to simulate a voyage to Mars. The crew — a German engineer, a French airline pilot, and four Russians — will spend the next 105 days living in a minimally furnished facility erected in a hangar on the outskirts of the Russian capital. The German said, 'I think we are going to learn a lot about each other.' A cosmonaut-in-training who will lead the mission was quoted: 'On the inside, we will have a lack of incoming information, so it's the science of sensory deprivation.' A similar experiment in Moscow virtually collapsed when a multinational team of men and women were allowed to drink alcohol on the eve of the millennium, and simmering tensions between Russian and non-Russian volunteers exploded in a fight for the affections of a female Canadian scientist. Only men are involved this time, and no alcohol. Scientists will keep a constant vigil on the team via cameras erected in each of the facility's three modules. Those who survive more than 100 days will earn a $20,000 reward. The current project is a warm-up for a much more ambitious experiment, scheduled for December, which will see another group of volunteers spending over 500 days in the same conditions. With current technology it is estimated that a return trip to Mars will take at least 18 months." The amazing thing is that 5,600 people applied to be part of the experiment.
Adequate Reward? Please... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Adequate Reward? Please... (Score:5, Informative)
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What poor math!
20,000/100 Days = $200 dollars, day.
Yeah, for a 7 day work week
$200/24 hours = $8.33/hour
A 24 hour work day. Yeah!
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Sleep is not work whether you are lying in a king size bed or in a hypermarketed king size coffin.
Better than a lot of people are doing... (Score:5, Insightful)
Have you looked at unemployment numbers lately? Having a guaranteed steady job for over 3 months, making $8.33 per hour even while you're sleeping... Not so bad.
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Not much room for advancement though, then you're looking for a job same as everyone else, except you either have a 105 day hole/ reason to question your sanity on your resume.
Wrong perspective or different existance... (Score:5, Funny)
Yeah, but you're missing something here.
After I'm done, I can add 'NASA Mars Expedition Lab-Rat/Test-Monkey' to my resume!
Now that's cool!
Plus, I get $20,000 USD to move out of Mom's basement for three months...maybe she will get some of my laundry done while I'm gone!
On the other hand, she will expect me to get a job when I get back. :-(
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Plus, I get $20,000 USD to move out of Mom's basement for three months...maybe she will get some of my laundry done while I'm gone!
I expect it's more likely her first priority will be to change the locks...
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If she's smart!
*Disclaimer, I've been out of the house on my own since I was 17. I'm 51 now, and Mom lives 1,400 miles away.
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And be pretty much guaranteed never to get an office with a window once they find out what that actually entailed.
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Because I like US Dollars! The more, the merrier, in fact.
Do you miss your sense of humour, or are glad it is gone?
Damn, I hate to see how traumatized you are when you find out I haven't really been in my Mom's basement since 1976! Uhm..oops!
Hell, I'm a broken down 51 year old fat man with a heart condition and Teflon(tm) kneecaps. I would not realistically be involved with this anyway(you the only one that took me seriously), so what difference does it make if my no
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Re:Adequate Reward? Please... (Score:4, Insightful)
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I'm a scientist in NL and 73000 US$ is about 1.25 times as much as I earn now.
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Whatever they get paid it's not enough, there packing them like sardines in a metal can throwing in a pile of explosives and a nuclear reactor and then shoving it so far underwater plate tectonics will take care of you before then can find the wreckage when soemthing goes wrong.
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Q: How deep can the most advanced American submarines go?
A: All the way to the bottom*.
* Subsequent surfacing may be problematic.
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Which is about $6,000/month. Nod bad in Russia where the average monthly salary, according to Wikipedia, is $640.
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So... $20,000/100 Days = $200 dollars, day. $200/24 hours = $8.33/hour. Some people really need to do the math before going "OMG THATS A GREAT REWARD" >> Kudos to those running the experiment. Cheap labor is great.
Pft, as a broke college student, I'd do it. It would sure beat flipping burgers for a summer job.
Re:Adequate Reward? Please... (Score:4, Informative)
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"The purpose of the experiment is to analyse whether human beings are capable of co-existing in a small environment without showing signs of significant mental and physical deterioration"
Is it april fools yet, or is this the dumbest study ever?
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So... $20,000/100 Days = $200 dollars, day. $200/24 hours = $8.33/hour. Some people really need to do the math before going "OMG THATS A GREAT REWARD" >> Kudos to those running the experiment. Cheap labor is great.
They also get room and board that whole time. Any volunteers that can completely disconnect from their housing payments would basically be pocketing over $6,000 a month they couldn't have done otherwise.
Cheap labor is great, to those who can do math.
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You do realize that most 9-5 jobs are only 8 hours a day?
Bump it up to 25 bucks an hour and you'll be mroe on the mark.
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So, like a coathanger, or what? Or, did you mean an airplane hangar [wikipedia.org]?
For someone going as "KDAWSON sucks" I expected more biting criticism than pointing out a typo.
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"will spend the next 105 days living in a minimally furnished facility erected in a hanger on the outskirts of the Russian capital"
I'm wondering if this is the British spelling or did the Telegraph make a mistake?
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In Soviet Russia, experiment volunteers YOU! (Score:5, Funny)
Such comfort is a far cry from experiments staged in Russia during the Soviet era. During one project in the 1970s, a group of volunteers was strapped to gurneys, tilted at an angle so their heads were 45 degrees below their feet, for six months, as part of a study on the impact of weightlessness on the human body. The volunteers were fed through tubes placed near their mouths.
Well, that's one experiment I sure as hell wouldn't volunteer for.
I wonder if the Soviet "volunteers" were voluntold. Or if they were only told that they were volunteering for a space exploration experiment, not the details. Heh.
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Soviets aren't the only ones doing those experiments and finding volunteers:
http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEM1YPVLWFE_research_0.html [esa.int]
You basically get paid for lying around doing nothing while others take care of your needs. For many less fortunate people that's probably a massive improvement from their day to day lives. No need to worry about food, shelter, bills, crappy job and so on.
Who says Reality TV is dead? (Score:5, Funny)
"The crew...will spend the next 105 days living in a minimally furnished facility erected in a hanger..."
Does that remind anyone else of their first semester in college?
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I want to see the video of the first failure, where it broke up because they got drunk on champagne and fought over the canadian chick.
Re:Who says Reality TV is dead? (Score:4, Funny)
I don't understand it. That was non-alcoholic champagne.
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and kids get drunk on non-alcoholic beer...
i guess is a classical example of placebo, potentially combines with the equally classic excuse to be jerks...
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Default, the two sweetest words in the English language.
Re:Who says Reality TV is dead? (Score:4, Informative)
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Judith%20Lapierre&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi [google.com]
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Yeah, my college had to make-do teaching in a closet full of suits as well.
(BTW, let me introduce you to copy-and-paste [wikipedia.org], a real time- and typo- saver)
They forgot about gravity... (Score:2)
Re:They forgot about gravity... (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm quite certain they didn't forget about it so much as they were wanting to examine the social aspects for cheaper than actually putting them in space.
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If the engine isn't firing they are in an orbit.
Lousy marketing (Score:5, Interesting)
The amazing thing is that 5,600 people applied to be part of the experiment.
I know it's not much to work with, but people won't apply if they don't know about it. They could have gotten an easy 1K more just by posting here.
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They could have gotten an easy 1K more just by posting here.
Mars simulation isolation experiment log book day one: FIRST POST!
Re:Lousy marketing (Score:5, Funny)
Mars simulation isolation experiment log book day Two: Tensions running high between Russian volunteers and /. volunteers over constant "In soviet russia" jokes
Mars simulation isolation experiment log book day three: ???
Mars simulation isolation experiment log book day four: PROFIT!
Mars simulation isolation experiment log book day five: Fighting broke out when /. volunteers found out ships computers were not running Linux, experiment ended, all /. volunteers are dead.
Not too bad (Score:2)
Finish this joke (Score:2)
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A German engineer, a French airline pilot, and four Russians walk into a bar. The bartender says: ...
...Didn't you see your friends hit the bar first? Blind leading the blind...
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glad I am not Poland.
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What is this, some kind of joke?
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A German engineer, a French airline pilot, and four Russians walk into a bar. The bartender says: ...
"... Couldn't you idiots read the sign? It's plain as day! 'Danger, low hanging bar!' Cripes, even the dumb blonde got down low enough to avoid blows to her head."
Before he wrecks himself? (Score:5, Funny)
"Working in such conditions requires that a person be able to check himself, evaluate his condition in relation to the crew and in relation to mission control and be able to correct himself," said Boris V. Marukov, the experiment's director and a former crew member on the International Space Station."
Translating Ice Cube lyrics from Russian is terribly complicated.
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Wish I had modpoints.
Now Das Efx is stuck in my head.
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+1 Awesome.
God I wish I had mod points...I read that part of the article and I knew somewhere, subconsiously, I had heard that broken English somewhere before. Thank you for the translation from Rooskie.
Problem solved! (Score:2, Interesting)
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Seriously, though, if they have enough spare computing power for the crew to work on hobby programming projects they'll barely notice the duration.
Limited information? (Score:5, Insightful)
They should be able to have communications -- just with ever-increasing latency simulating speed-of-light propagation delays on an actual voyage. At some point, bandwidth may fall off, and there will be the occasional bit of "space weather" to liven things up. It's not like a trip to Mars means instant cutoff from the world, but realtime communications would become problematic fairly quickly, and impractical not long after. Their communications should start looking more and more like e-mail every day.
In an actual Mars mission, their communications will degrade in a fairly predictable manner (aside from space weather). Why not factor that into the experiment?
Mal-2
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Their communications should start looking more and more like e-mail every day...Why not factor that into the experiment?
Make 'em use Hotmail?...On dialup?
And this is why. (Score:5, Insightful)
With a summary like that, who needs to RTFA?
How dare you Slashdot (Score:5, Funny)
Google is my next stop...
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Wha.....? (Score:2)
Simulating a mission to Mars..... Is that like 'Space Camp' for adults?
I guess if I didn't mind two brief periods of action separated by 6 months of sleep, I'd have volunteered too.....
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Simulating a mission to Mars..... Is that like 'Space Camp' for adults?
Emphasis on the 'Camp'. Learning to deal with women in the crew would be invaluable for future missions (hint: make sure there's enough to go around).
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"Emphasis on the 'Camp'. Learning to deal with women in the crew would be invaluable for future missions (hint: make sure there's enough to go around)."
-----For minute I thought you mean't to spare men from the inevitable whining, high-pitched screaming, and bitching. It'll be like getting stuck in an expensive hen house. But your reasoning works quite well too.....
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It'll be like getting stuck in an expensive hen house.
That's a good point too. How would you stop their periods syncing up?
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Or get rid of the men and just have all women. It were the men who were fighting, after all.
Different cultures + disinhibiting drugs? Bad idea (Score:2)
What idiot thought mixing people from different cultures (historically hostile ones, too) and then adding alcohol, for months at a time, was a good idea?
You'll notice the opinion of the female Canadian was not included (typical Slashdot sexism). I bet she wouldn't have touched any of them with a bargepole.
You were responsible for the Moscow experiment? (Score:2)
Your English is very good.
While I might tolerate Vern the American Galoot for many months with him drunkenly abusing me the whole time (in the name of friendship, of course), I sure as hell won't tolerate Vernski the Russian Galoot doing the same thing... friendship or no.
What happened to the Canadian scientist (Score:5, Informative)
Sexual harassment, rather than a soap opera.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6955149/page/3/ [msn.com]
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Relevant and tragicomic bits from TFA (linked above, not the OP): ...
"...together with her male associates from Japan and Austria appealed to their sponsoring agencies to discipline the offenders (Russian team members who had forcibly french-kissed her twice). But they were told that such behavior was the norm for Russians and that they should either tolerate it or leave the project. They were also told that Russian cultural patterns prohibited Lapierre from making a public complaint.
When Lapierre's team fi
Survivor - Mars (Score:2)
And every month, someone is voted off the capsule, just like they would in a real mission to mars.
Probably a few intruders too, maybe Dr Spock, Marvin Martian, ET.
Not sure I'm looking for 'Survivor - Mars - Up Late' though.
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oops. I'll hand in my card on the way out :(
Chemical comas (Score:2)
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Or, the ship's computer could bring them out of their comas when they reach their destination, assuming it hasn't unilaterally decided that they are a threat to the mission and terminated their life support.
Only men ? (Score:2)
Only men are involved this time, and no alcohol.
I wonder, why only men and not a 100% women experiment ?
(Hmmm, there's already a webcam, let's add alcohol to the mix...)
Seriously, is there a reason ?
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What you say (Score:2)
... and probably no blackjack either.
Is this a russian attempt at the Big Brother/Survivor franchise?
A total mystery surrounds this experiment (Score:2)
And its project's code name: Teo & Tea
No Mars mission that long is practical (Score:2)
Women Only (Score:3, Insightful)
Here's a radical idea, why not do three experiments: men only, mixed and women only. Find out which group handles the isolation best. My guess is that it would be the women only group followed by the men only group.
I think the women only group would handle it best because women are generally less aggressive and better communicators. Handling that sort of isolation will require people that can talk to each other for extended periods of time.
sensory deprivation (Score:2)
If the challenge is so much coping with sensory deprivation, why don't they simulate delayed communication with an "earth", give them a laptop with things to be occupied with simulated maintenance tasks, do some onboard training, sample analysis, ..?
And why not research cultures who have to deal with sensory deprivation, as in Canada, Alaska, researches on the North Pole?
Programmers (Score:4, Informative)
I was thinking that this experiment would be a breeze, if you just filled the capsule with a small team of coders .. and gave them 100 days straight of peace and quiet to actually work on the completely unrealistic specifications and deadlines that they may have on their plate at the moment.
It would be most productive.
But I am sure some management types would interfere in devious ways, and install a telephone in the capsule, so the coders would constantly field calls like these :
- Hey guys, its me from accounts again. I know you are all 'busy' (suppressed chuckle), but could could just drop whatever you are doing, and have a look at my computer for a minute, I think I might have a virus .. just like I had last week. If its not too much effort, do you mind fixing it for me so I can get some 'real' work done. Thanks - oh, and make sure its fixed by lunchtime, because I have a dinner engagement tonight and have to leave at 5 on the dot.
- Hey guys, its me from sales again. We promised a customer several weeks ago that we would provide them with this 'feature' that doesn't exist, and its now overdue. I know this is the first time we have bothered to tell you guys about this, but hey, its really important, so please get on it to immediately. It has to be ready by first thing tomorrow morning .. OK.
- Hey guys, its me from customer support again. I know I have been doing this job for about 5 years now, but I still have no clue how the system operates. I have a customer on the phone you wants to know how they can change their account balance - but I cant find a field on the screen that lets them do that. They are getting irate !! Can you take the call for me please .. I am really busy with other stuff. Putting them through now, thanks.
- Hey guys, its the company director. I have some VIPs here at the moment for a meeting, and I need the boardroom setup so the projector is connected to the internets. And have a look at my laptop whilst you are at it - it still pops up all those windows with that porn stuff. I thought you fixed that for good last week ? I need it fixed properly this time ! And by the way - why weren't you in the office at 8am this morning ? We had so many phone calls to answer, and you guys were nowhere to be seen. My patience is really wearing thin, we have to act as a team here !
- Hey guys, its the company director's teenage son. Im playing CS at home and Im getting my ass handed to me by these n00bs. I reckon its because my gRaPhIcs card doesn't have enough memory. Can you guys pop down the computer shop and organise a decent upgrade part for me, ta. Dad said he would reimburse you next week, no probs. I need it ASAP, thanks guys.
100 days of this crap, and I would be surprised if a team of coders, even in the relative peace, quiet and isolation of a soviet space capsule, would make a significant dent in the growing pile of work on their plates. Werll, at least during 'office hours' that is.
No Alcohol For 3 Months?? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:100 days, $20k !? (Score:5, Funny)
A $20,000 reward for anyone who can handle over 100 days of cramped conditions with other humans, no sex or booze, and lack if information from the rest of the world?
And they only give released prisoners a mere $200.
Given what passes for news lately, the "lack of information" is actually part of the compensation package.
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lack of information from the rest of the world?
Not lacking, just half an hour behind.
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I think Russia's sexism is showing.
In the battle between Russia's alcoholism and Russia's sexism, Canada loses.
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I'm serious, I'm sure that there are geeky hooker chicks out there who would love to experiment with zero-G callisthenics and who would also be perfectly good candidates for astronauts. As long as the team bonded OK in the beginning, it should work quite we
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Male point of view, much? Maybe they could send men who are less interested in sex instead? Or maybe, when faced with men fighting over the woman in the original experiment, they could have just taken a more sensible option and just select all women.
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All women would be interesting...
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I know you're being funny, but apparently there's actually a significant number: Link [independent.co.uk].
Apparently Alfred Kinsey's pioneering research into sexual behaviour turned up about 1.5% of the male population as having no significant desire to have sex whilst otherwise healthy (they even enjoy masturbation - it just isn't focused on anyone). According to the article, it's become acceptable to admit to straight or gay orientation but not having an or
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but given the crew makeup
I know they'll be in there for 3 months, but giving them makeup might not be enough to make any of them THAT attractive.
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Your research is a bit lacking; perhaps I should have fed it to you after all. The VMPC provides the emotional input to decision-making and reason. Do you honestly think emotions have any place in ethical reasoning? It's been demonstrated that people such as I described are able to make more ethical decisions than neurotypical people. It's not "empathy" period that is lacking, but more specifically interpersonal bonding. It doesn't mean such people don't feel emotions, but it does mean emotions don't,