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A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

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Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#61

Post by nicoburns »

davedx wrote: post #42
plugger wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the solar radiation, not high G's, that is the main problem with colonising Mars given Mars doesn't have a functional magnetosphere. At best Martian colonists will be the modern day equivalent of Morlocks if they want to have a sustainable colony on mars.

Not if you design the habitation appropriately. Something like a 1m layer of water in the roof and thick glass windows would provide pretty decent protection. Sleeping underground would be a good idea though.

Water's not that easy to come by on mars though! Sounds like a pretty miserable existence either way.

Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#62

Post by inglor_cz »

davedx wrote: post #41
permo-w wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the one of the main problems, lack of sunlight, shouldn’t be a huge issue on mars. Nutrition and a sufficiently large social, group on the other hand, may be a problem

Mars has significantly less sunlight (in terms of irradiance) than Earth

That might be more of a problem in the higher latitudes, but on Martian equator, sunlight at noon will be comparable to sunlight at noon somewhere around the Baltic Sea - still perfectly fine. Also, Martian atmosphere is thinner and blocks less light than ours. (Unfortunately it also does not prevent harmful UV rays from reaching the surface.)

One possible problem not discussed would be the giant dust storms that can cover large tracts of the planet for weeks. We don't have this kind of weather on our cradle planet.

Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#63

Post by walleeee »

iamarkadyt wrote: post #11

Future of space explorations for sure. Similar situation portrayed in Ad Astra (2019) where the main hero's father have gotten stranded on a space station on the edge of the solar system for many years and went insane. Humans are delicate machines. Gotta know how to keep the monkey happy.

Humans are machines?

Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#64

Post by loufe »

animal531 wrote: post #49
davedx wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mars has significantly less sunlight (in terms of irradiance) than Earth

True, but a day on Mars is pretty much the same length as on Earth, which is great for the human cycle. Googling says that lux 100k on Earth would be roughly 44k on Mars, so a lot dimmer, but still better than months of darkness on end. Now the real question is whether colonists can/will live on the surface? But then a secondary addition, due to modern technology we now have much better lighting that can approximate…

In every book I've read on the subject they mentioned going underground to protect against radiation. The lack of a thick magnetosphere apparently means any surface equipment / personel would be subject to unacceptably high quantities of solar radiation. I guess living in a hole on another planet isn't as glorious as giant geodesic glass domes but I sure hope somebody does sign up for it.

Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#65

Post by dennisnedry »

fleetingmoments wrote: post #58
intricatedetail wrote: post #48

If explorers had shrooms, weed and some way to play music, I think they'd be good. Unfortunately there is still a "no fun" camp at the head of decision making.

Freely available hallucinogens at the pole would make things 1000x worse.

Magic mushrooms are now being used to treat anxiety. Just something to consider when dealing with a situation that creates massive amounts of anxiety (being stuck in ice with no way out).

Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#66

Post by JoeAltmaier »

You can sustain a lot, when you know you will have respite. I've got a weekend off in April, I can make it until then!

As folks remark something like a Mars mission may be a life sentence. It will be a different ballgame. It almost seems inevitable that folks will break.

A common occurrence on the early pioneer prairies in America was mental health problems. My Dad was 3rd generation in Iowa, and he knew several older folks who'd lost the plot. They talked exclusively of their past; they didn't follow conversations; they only functioned within their small world of the farmstead. They were largely treated normally as far as could be managed. But they had a relatively congenial ecosystem to live within. Won't be that way on a Mars colony.

Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#67

Post by kayodelycaon »

danuker wrote: post #44
hellbannedguy wrote: post #39

I have thought for awhile that the best space voyagers, or guys whom are going to be isolated, are individuals who already had minor breakdowns when they were younger. That includes so many of us? Why? Because they know the crazy thoughts will pass. I'm not talking about individuals with serious mental illness like Schizophrenia, or have a genetic lineage of mental illness. I'm talking people that have survived mild…

> Why? Because they know the crazy thoughts will pass. I am not a psychologist nor anything similar, but wouldn't people who have gone through the same conditions without having the crazy thoughts in the first place be better suited for the job?

Not sure for this particular circumstance but I am bipolar. As long as my medication is stable, I’m far more resilient to the day to day struggles in life than the average person seems to be.

I’ve been forced to build coping mechanisms to survive. Every day is a struggle of some kind, so I’m ready when shit happens, because shit always happens to me.

Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#68

Post by agumonkey »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #27
colechristensen wrote: post #2

Future of expeditions to Mars?

Even the Moon. ISS visitors are selected very, very carefully to minimise these risks. But as soon as you get a slightly larger colony further from Earth, mental health is going to become a problem. Which is why Mars is a tougher project than it seems. The ferry part is relatively easy compared to the incredibly difficult challenge of building a self-sustaining stable ecosystem that can survive on a manageably small…

Well war is probably very healthy. In a way

Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#69

Post by JohnJamesRambo »

sampo wrote: post #47

In 1893, Fridtjof Nansen took a ship with a 12 men crew to North of East Siberia, purposefully sailed the ship to get stuck in sea ice, and hoped that the ice movement with ocean currents would take them to the North Pole. The ship spent 3 years stuck in ice, but didn't quite flow over the North Pole. These people didn't go mad. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nansen%27s_Fram_expedition

What kind of food did they store and eat that was to last five years? And water? The wiki is light on these details in my skimming of it.

Re: A brief history of people losing their minds in Antarctica

#70

Post by snarf21 »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #27
colechristensen wrote: post #2

Future of expeditions to Mars?

Even the Moon. ISS visitors are selected very, very carefully to minimise these risks. But as soon as you get a slightly larger colony further from Earth, mental health is going to become a problem. Which is why Mars is a tougher project than it seems. The ferry part is relatively easy compared to the incredibly difficult challenge of building a self-sustaining stable ecosystem that can survive on a manageably small…

I agree. This is what I don't get. We don't have a real permanent colony in space. We don't have a real permanent colony on the moon. Mars is so much further away with less access to resources. It is fine to goal to someday get to Mars but we should have a plan for sustainable living in orbit, then on the Moon, and that will help us know how to get to Mars.
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