How Will a Manned Mars Mission Impact the Human Psyche?

Not surprisingly, coverage of the Mars lander that successfully touched down on Mars’ surface this summer, and its apparent discovery of ice underneath its landing site, sent the media in to a Mars craze. Not to be left out, we’ve decided to take a look at another aspect of humanities journey to Mars, its impact on the human psyche.

Long before we ever set foot on Mars, there will be a veritable backlog of psychological and scientific tests conducted on the human capacity to survive such a journey. Mars isn’t next door, like our Moon is, and so journeys are not going to be taking place several times a year. A journey of more like 2 years, and that’s just to get there, is expected, and not exactly in living conditions you’d care to experience.

The level of how much we would care is often being put to the test, in recreations across the planet. Dr. Robert Zubrin, president of the Mars Society, a 7,000-member multinational group determined to reach what it calls the New World, has been leading expeditions out to the barren Arctic or Utah deserts with teams of volunteers, to shack up in tiny sardine-can like conditions.

These expeditions can last for days at a time, and even in such a short time Zubrin notices differences in temperament. "Some of these crews have worked out very well," said Zubrin. "Others were at each other's throats."

The European Space Agency and the Russian Institute of Biomedial Problems are also joining the race to see how humans will deal with such enclosed spaces for such times. However they’re going all out, with a joint 520 day mockup of an expedition to Mars. 12 Volunteers will be locked away in extreme isolation, with no contact with the outside world – except realistic calls with mission control, 44 minute delays included.

"When you go to Mars, all bets are off," said Dr. Nick Kanas, a professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who has studied astronaut psychology. "We don't know what is going to happen."

Unlike for the women and men on the International Space Station, if you’re feeling lonely or a bit homesick, there’s not going to be a scheduled shuttle mission to provide you with those homemade cookies that your wife makes so well or hand written notes from your kids. This is common practice for those on board the ISS, but will be nonexistent for anyone traveling to Mars.

There is another problem that humanity has never encountered, a problem coined by Kansas as the “Earth out of view” phenomenon. "Nobody in the history of mankind has ever experienced the Earth as a pale, insignificant blue dot in the sky," he said. "What that might do to a crew member, nobody knows."

And it is a question that sparks a lot of additional questions. What was it like for those early explorers that new that they could be leaving their lands behind forever? What was the feeling when they begun to see star constellations that were not their own?

Of course, another question is a morbid question, but a necessary question for some people to ask. "Do you follow the the sea tradition where people are buried at sea?" Walter Sipes, a NASA psychologist at Johnson Space Center in Houston, asked. "If someone dies, are they buried in space?"

Posted by Josh Hill.

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Source link:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/06/02/space.psych/index.html?eref=edition_technology

Comments

[jer35mx]

In the mexican reality shows we can see that in the middle of the shows they surprise the participants with surprise meetings and they are happily surprised, maybe it could be a good idea if they seal some memories or gifts from the family and open them at some times. Altough too much emotion is out of the agencies support.

[CSM Engineer]

Didnt humans conduct such long-term voyages accross vast oceans on ridiculously unstable vessels with little more than a glimmer of hope for a safe return. The reason such risks were taken was simple, there was little reason to stay, conditions at home were so crappy that the danger of such voyages paled in comparison to the hope of freedom and new life.

I feel that when we finally start pushing the carrying capacity of the planet; resources start dwindling and us-russian-middle eastern affairs go haywire, people will be begging their government for a way to a new place and life. The same way kings and queens funded dangerous, long journeys into the unknown as in the cases of Christopher Columbus and Hernando Cortez.

I just dont think it will happen in the next 50 years and probably not for the next 100.

[EvilCosmicMonkey from Knoxville]

It'll take a special kind of human. Used to long treks through uninhabitable wastes, ocean voyages in seemingly fragile crafts, on horse - or camel - back. Like the old West pioneers, the Mongol tribespeople, Maori / Polynesian sailors. Our space pioneers could do well to take a page from their book. A manned / crewed expedition to Mars is NOT going to be a pleasure excursion. There's a real possibility that the time lag between messages from Earth, the lack of familiar landmarks, the sterility of the surroundings & yes, the distance will be hazardous to a traveler's psyche.

We need to choose such astronauts / Euronauts, etc., very VERY carefully.

On the upside, a reality show taking a peek into the lives & activities of a Mars - bound crew just MIGHT sweep in the ratings !!