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Mars NASA Space Earth Science Technology

Scientists Enter Hawaii Dome In Eight-Month Mars Space Mission Study (reuters.com) 94

Posted by BeauHD from the study-learn-and-repeat dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Six scientists have entered a dome perched atop a remote volcano in Hawaii where they will spend the next eight months in isolation to simulate life for astronauts traveling to Mars, the University of Hawaii said. The study is designed to help NASA better understand human behavior and performance during long space missions as the U.S. space agency explores plans for a manned mission to the Red Planet. The crew will perform geological field work and basic daily tasks in the 1,200-square-foot (365 m) dome, located in an abandoned quarry 8,000 feet (2.5 km) above sea level on the Mauna Loa volcano on Hawaii's Big Island. There is little vegetation and the scientists will have no contact with the outside world, said the university, which operates the dome. Communications with a mission control team will be time-delayed to match the 20-minute travel time of radio waves passing between Earth and Mars. "Daily routines include food preparation from only shelf-stable ingredients, exercise, research and fieldwork aligned with NASA's planetary exploration expectations," the university said. The project is intended to create guidelines for future missions to Mars, some 35 million miles (56 million km) away, a long-term goal of the U.S. human space program. The NASA-funded study, known as the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (Hi-SEAS), is the fifth of its kind.
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Scientists Enter Hawaii Dome In Eight-Month Mars Space Mission Study More

Scientists Enter Hawaii Dome In Eight-Month Mars Space Mission Study

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  • Wow. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Saturday January 21, 2017 @06:39AM (#53710067)

    I'm truly impressed by how far some Americans are willing to go to escape a Trump presidency. ;)

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 )

      I'm truly impressed by how far some Americans are willing to go to escape a Trump presidency. ;)

      I am also impressed at far some Americans are willing to go to do pointless redundant research instead of just looking at how sailors deal with life on a submarine.

      • Re:Wow. (Score:4, Interesting)

        by CrimsonAvenger ( 580665 ) on Saturday January 21, 2017 @07:51AM (#53710189)

        I am also impressed at far some Americans are willing to go to do pointless redundant research instead of just looking at how sailors deal with life on a submarine.

        We only spent a couple months at a time making holes in the ocean. Plus we had a lot more possible social interactions (100+ in a boat, as opposed to six in the dome).

        So, worth the trouble of doing. Not like it's going to cost trillions (or even billions, or even large numbers of millions) to do....

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by Anonymous Coward

          This was also done during the early Antarctic explorations too (though without the time delayed communications). Even single people stayed over the winter totally cut off during some of those experiments (even communications were down for some.

        • Put a half dozen people in an old submarine, and drop it on the bottom of a lake without any fuel.

          • Re: (Score:1, Flamebait)

            by PopeRatzo ( 965947 )

            Put a half dozen people in an old submarine, and drop it on the bottom of a lake without any fuel.

            This is a rather extreme way of dealing with the new Trump cabinet, but since we're brainstorming I'll put it on the list.

        • We only spent a couple months at a time making holes in the ocean.

          SSBNs stay submerged for 6 months at a time. I don't think the difference between 6 and 8 is enough to matter.

          Plus we had a lot more possible social interactions (100+ in a boat, as opposed to six in the dome).

          Many subs have had smaller crews, and nearly all of your interactions are with a few people at your work station.

          But there is another huge psychological consideration that makes a sub much more like a space flight: You can't quit. No matter what, you are in for the duration. The people in this dome can quit and walk out anytime they want. They likely won't, but the ability to do so makes an eno

          • SSBNs stay submerged for 6 months at a time. I don't think the difference between 6 and 8 is enough to matter.

            Umm, no. I served on USS Kamehameha. SSBN 642. Two months and change out, switch crews, repeat forever.

            Many subs have had smaller crews, and nearly all of your interactions are with a few people at your work station.

            While virtually all subs had smaller crews than modern SSBN's, they seldom had crews fewer than 30 or so. Notable exceptions being an assortment of "minisubs" used at various points

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by swb ( 14022 )

              I wonder if they should work with pharma and come up with some new and improved hypnotics for a Mars journey. It might makes sense to have long-haul astronauts "zoned out" for several hours per day. They could keep a patch or some kind of autoinjector connected with a drug to counter-act it in case of emergency.

      • Re:Wow. (Score:5, Informative)

        by ElizabethGreene ( 1185405 ) on Saturday January 21, 2017 @09:50AM (#53710373)

        This is different from a submarine in some important ways. On a Submarine, you have many dozens of people to interact with. You are physically confined, but you have some social variety. Your mission is dangerous, but you have the comfort of knowing that it's been done before. Tours are, IIRC, 6 months long.

        A Mars expedition is different. You're going to train with these people continuously for at least 5 years. During that time you'll constantly be on your best going-to-church-with-grandma behavior and never speak up about grievances because your actions are being monitored ad nauseum by a legion of shrinks. Then you finally get the mission go and you spend (optimistically) 3 months in a space the size of a minivan. Remember your last trip in a minivan? Imagine being trapped in it for 3 months with 5 other people while NASA is scheduling your day down to 15 minute increments.

        If a thousand things you can't control happen to go right then you land on Mars. EVA suits on, and you finally escape that (obscenity laden) capsule. You see a horizon for the first time in what feels like forever. Then you work your ass off for a month and have to climb back in that (expletive) minivan for a risk-laden trip back home that takes even longer than the trip to get there. ... and during the entire trip you don't have a single shower.

        It's not "exactly" like life on a submarine, is it?

      • Re:Wow. (Score:4, Interesting)

        by hey! ( 33014 ) on Saturday January 21, 2017 @10:25AM (#53710489) Homepage Journal

        I'm also impressed how Americans can just instantly know how to do a research project better than the principal investigator without looking at the PI's reasons for doing the project his way.

      • Right, because submarines can be manned by 6 crewmen and are constantly exposed to the sun and the atmosphere. Oh, and good luck finding a non-nuclear submarine that can stay submerged for 8 months.

    • Re:Wow. (Score:4, Interesting)

      by PolygamousRanchKid ( 1290638 ) on Saturday January 21, 2017 @09:01AM (#53710285)

      I'm truly impressed by how far some Americans are willing to go to escape a Trump presidency. ;)

      Unfortunately, they will emerge from their Hawaiian Dome to find that US President Mark Zuckerberg has purchased all the land surrounding the dome, and turned it into a sort of Dr. Moreau island, where they will need to play through a "The Most Dangerous Game" / "Escape from New Your" scenario.

      Under Zuckerberg, American folks will be looking back to the Trump Presidency as, "The good old days" . . .

      US President Zuckerberg? Remember in 12 years that you heard it first, here on scenic Slashdot, "Nudes for Nerds" . . .

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by jonyen ( 2633919 )
      8 months isn't long enough to escape a presidency, unfortunately...

  • Distance to Mars is not constant (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    20 minute delay? Not even close to accurate. Due to the different elliptical orbits of the Earth and Mars, the distance can vary between 55 million km and 400 million km, with a corresponding light-speed delay of 3 and 22 minutes respectively. Even at its average distance of 225 million km, the delay would be 12.5 minutes. It would sure be nice if the people who write these articles and posts actually took more than about 3 seconds to think about what they're writing. Sigh.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward

      So they're simulating the worst case scenario of 22 light minutes and rounding down to 20. That's not unreasonable.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        Well, the worst case is opposit the sun - no direct communications. It has to be relayed by a satellite in a solar oribit, taking a much longer path.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by PPH ( 736903 )

        Worst case would be if they had iPhones with Verizon service.

  • THE HAWAII DOME (Score:4, Funny)

    by bistromath007 ( 1253428 ) on Saturday January 21, 2017 @08:04AM (#53710215)
    Two scientists enter, five scientists leave.

  • If you want to know what will happen, at the 6 month mark you have to tell them that the trajectory for mars orbit insertion is too dangerous, and they will need to take the free-return trip which is 18 months back, and the rationing of supplies and provisions has to start immediately. After they eat the second person, you tell the reaming crew that the Mars gravity assist was not completely successful and, while we're doing what we can to create a rendezvous rescue mission, there'a a 75% chance that they w

    • There is still some value in the study of how different personality types deal with long term isolation in a smallish group with other, differing, personalities.

      Your comment is interesting because it addresses the importance of evaluating who exactly will perform best in moments of high stress and difficulty. Due to the absence of deadly consequence for a mistake, determining who will perform best in a simulated pinch may not precisely translate to genuine grace under fire.

      The original astronauts were all

  • The gravity on Mars s 38% less than Earth.

    Of course, you still have to take into account weightlessness on the trip to Mars but I think the iInternational Space Station has that covered. Considering that once you leave Earth magnetic field you are going to get allot of radiation from the sun so you need protection there. When you get to Mars the only safe place is underground or in radiation proof pressurized housing since the atmospheric pressure on Mars is about 0.6% of Earth 's at sea level.

    A better

  • There are plenty of dry valleys in Antartica that have far more in common with Mars than Hawaii.

    If the reasoning behind the choice of "Hawaii" is cost then.. yeah. That's an even better parallel then.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by tomhath ( 637240 )
      Six people are locked in a closet. A few dozen other researchers are spending 8 months hanging out on the beach in Hawaii.
  • Provided that these tests will succeed, I hope NASA will do the next step to the moon first, instead of Mars itself. This would also help in case anything goes wrong. I think, if we cannot make it again to the moon, we won't make it any farther!
  • You'll have no gravity. True isolation, and more of a climate that simulates space travel.

  • There are a few major differences with the real thing, which vastly change the psychological impact.

    This seems to simulate life ON Mars, rather than travelling TO Mars. Big difference: on the journey there is far less to do than upon arrival on the red planet. Boredom is what gives rise to tensions, having (hopefully interesting) things to do is what keeps you happy.

    The experiment lasts for 8 months, doesn't a (mostly boring) return trip take longer than that?

    There is ALWAYS the option of bailing out halfwa

    • Was going to post something similar...plus, the planet is trying to kill you. They don't have to worry about their suits or habitats failing.

      We're never going to be able to test the actual psychological toll of these factors, and they're pretty significant ones, and who knows how they'd affect behaviour over time -- even in the 'right' people. Funnily, the submarine comments above are probably more relevant than people give them credit for. It would add a bit more weight and realism to what they're doing. O

    • There is ALWAYS the option of bailing out halfway. Yes, sure, it's forbidden and so, but the option is there.

      Simple no-cost solution - spread a rumor that the dome is a secret base for a Clinton-associated child pornography ring. But be sure to mention it's highly booby-trapped, so the nutters will wait outside instead of trying to enter.

  • Although it is annoying that they stopped at one series.

  • 8 months, huh? (Score:3)

    by NoZart ( 961808 ) on Saturday January 21, 2017 @02:45PM (#53711649)

    Somebody tries to dodge the "unwanted pregnancy" thing, i guess ;-)

  • I hope they checked to make sure Pauly Shore and Stephen Baldwin hadn't stowed away before sealing the dome.
  • Seriously, we should have Bigelow set up with several BA-330, along with a small nuke reactor to provide power.
  • They should send in Pauly Shore just for fun. You know, just to see what would happen. (look up the movie Biodome if you're confused).

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