Astronauts Will Get Dumber on Their Way to Mars

I hate to be the one to break it to you...you are subject to cosmic radiation 24/7 at sealevel. You are constantly hit by the same sort of particles. Grant you, the atmosphere will buffer that a bit, but far from totally.

You can't be very smart if you are willing to get in a small capsule and spend months crammed in there with a few other people eating out of a tube. I'd rather go to a brat fry and have a few beers and socialize with everyone.

What do those guys do if someone gets some really bad gas

They won't be losing too much on their trip

a reply to: rickymouse

I'm that guy that's willing, no one WANTS to do it. My life? Simple if I can help advance our existence as a species.

*ETA Some people find trivial human interaction with no expectation for future generations fine. I won't have kids but I won't accept human fate is on Earth. We are too damn smart for that.

originally posted by: rickymouse
You can't be very smart if you are willing to get in a small capsule and spend months crammed in there with a few other people eating out of a tube.

Gagarin was the first, back in 1961
when like Icarus, undaunted, he climbed to reach the Sun
and he knew he might not make it
'cause it's never hard to die

But he lifted off the pad
and rode the fire in the sky.

a reply to: Bedlam

I hate to break it to you too! It's our magnetosphere that keeps us safe. Want proof? Go extreme north or south and view the lights. If those amazing displays of physics were to hit you, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

a reply to: Neutrality

But what advancement will come out of a trip to Mars. What application of this knowledge will be relative to anything. Is this about designing toothpaste that we can survive on for long periods of time?

Too bad we can't just train monkeys to deposit the interesting rocks into a return capsule then have him take the blue pill.
We could skip all the shielding and extra food.

originally posted by: gort51
NASA has told us that "Magnetic Superhighway" between planets and stars, actually do exist.
Just ride the Mag highway, with your Mag lev craft and a free ride with the correct polarity.
Make it so No1.!!

Unless you're a charged particle, that doesn't work. Macro objects in space move as dictated by gravity, not magnetics.

originally posted by: Neutrality
a reply to: Bedlam

I hate to break it to you too! It's our magnetosphere that keeps us safe. Want proof? Go extreme north or south and view the lights. If those amazing displays of physics were to hit you, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

The light part is electrons smacking air. Lots of people still alive in the polar regions.

originally posted by: rickymouse
a reply to: Neutrality

But what advancement will come out of a trip to Mars. What application of this knowledge will be relative to anything. Is this about designing toothpaste that we can survive on for long periods of time?

That thing you're on the net with? That came out of Apollo.

a reply to: lostbook

Thomas Paine, George Low and Wernher von Braun all claimed in the early 1970's that manned missions to Mars could get there in the 1980's.

These people were then and still are considered experts and authorities on the American space program.

Here is the Apollo 11 crew answering a question about Mars on the 20th anniversary of Apollo.

originally posted by: Bedlam

originally posted by: rickymouse
a reply to: Neutrality

But what advancement will come out of a trip to Mars. What application of this knowledge will be relative to anything. Is this about designing toothpaste that we can survive on for long periods of time?

That thing you're on the net with? That came out of Apollo.

Apollo......mouse......sounds about right.

originally posted by: Phage
Water would be great, but it too is inordinately heavy.

All the water is already in space... hidden in craters on the moon & asteroids. They just have to collect enough of it to construct a massive water shield.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: lostbook
Friction? From what?
Radiation may help kill bacteria but I'm not sure I would rely on it.

There is a small amount of particles in Space as I'm sure you know but those particles are very disperse. In my idea the particles are compressed closer together then exerted through a funnel creating a push based on the relative position of said particles. It's just a crazy idea, Phage. Not rooted in real science but it's a concept worth looking into I think.

originally posted by: rickymouse
a reply to: Neutrality

But what advancement will come out of a trip to Mars. What application of this knowledge will be relative to anything. Is this about designing toothpaste that we can survive on for long periods of time?

Too many to list. Shielding, better propulsion, deep space satellite/ communications, cryo-tech, water extraction tech, health medicine tech, and exo-suit tech, just to name a few. The tech required would allow for our next great leap which I think would exceed the advancements from the Apollo era.

a reply to: lostbook

But all those things have to do with space travel which we technically do not need to do to survive. There are some pretty big salaries paid to the people running those programs, I suppose it is important to them. I'm more concerned that I might need to get a new supplier of my side of beef in the future. The money spent in space could probably pay for a side of beef for every household in the US.

I do see a need for satellites in space to monitor certain things here on earth, but we wouldn't even need those if we quit poluting this place so bad. The Military wouldn't need them if we were a peaceful race of beings. The weathermen don't need satelites to get their forecasts wrong.

a reply to: rickymouse

But all those things have to do with space travel which we technically do not need to do to survive.

On the contrary. We do need space travel to survive.
Keeping all our eggs in this single basket ensures that we will not survive.

a reply to: Phage

Have you been watching those Star Trek reruns again?

a reply to: rickymouse
Not lately. But what does that have to do with what I said.
If we aren't wiped out by a cometary or asteroidal impact in the "near" term, the Sun will kill us in the long term.
Earth may be our nest but it is not a safe place.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: rickymouse
Not lately. But what does that have to do with what I said.
If we aren't wiped out by a cometary or asteroidal impact in the "near" term, the Sun will kill us in the long term.
Earth may be our nest but it is not a safe place.

We could not survive long on another planet if the earth was gone. They would need constant supplies from here or they would die. There is no other planet that we can inhabit in this solar system in the case of a major event unless your hiding the existence of one. It is a sophisticated pipe dream excuse.

Reaching another solar system with a habitable planet would add to the depletion of the resources of this planet. We need to take steps to take better care of this place so we can live here easier and it doesn't turn out like Mars.