Breakdown Forces New Look At Mars Mission Sexuality 528
FloatsomNJetsom writes "Popular Mechanics has up an interesting story, discussing what the long-term implications of the Lisa Nowak incident could mean for Mars Mission crew decisions: With a 30-month roundtrip, that isn't the sort of thing you'd want to happen in space. Scientists have been warning about the problems of sex on long-term spaceflight, and experts are divided as to whether you want a crew of older married couples, or asexual unitard-wearing eunuchs. The point the article makes specifically is that NASA's current archetype of highly-driven, task-oriented people might be precisely the wrong type for a Mars expedition. In addition scientists may use genomics or even functional MRI in screening astronauts, in addition to facial-recognition computers to monitor mental health during the mission." Maybe observers could just deploy the brain scanner to keep track of them?
Re:Submariners (Score:2, Informative)
On a more serious note, submariners do not spend the entirety of the time submerged away from civilisation. They probably spend at the absolute most a month outside of human contact at sea. Remember while a nuclear submarine can run damn near indefinitely (until the uranium/plutonium runs out) the food supply cannot last indefinitely. You'll have stop off's at friendly ports to resupply, get r&r etc.
Robert Heinlein? (Score:5, Informative)
Isn't this how "Stranger in a Strange Land" started out? A trip to mars with infidelity and murder?
Re:Submariners (Score:4, Informative)
They probably spend at the absolute most a month outside of human contact at sea.
Not in the U. S. Navy's submarine service. The operating cycle of an Ohio-class ballistic missile sub appears to be 112 days, of which 74 are at sea and 38 days are in-port refit (see http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/rep ort/1999/newssbn.htm [globalsecurity.org]). On that 2 1/2 month deterrent patrol, a Trident boomer won't surface, let alone put into port.
So at least in the boomer service, submarine crews spend a looong time away from anyone but each other.
Your sources are unreliable (Score:5, Informative)
If Churchill ever said that, he was joking.
Re:Maybe... (Score:1, Informative)
That's the first thing that occurred to me. I think it's kind of ignoring the obvious when you find out one of your astronauts is on the road to being a psycho killer, so naturally the first think you start talking about is sex in space. What about the psycho killer part? Is if possible that if you solved _that_ problem, sex would be less of an issue?
People with issues can have all kinds of triggers. You can't possibly get rid of all of them in advance, especially the bad food, cramped quarters, all electronic, nothing firm under your feet triggers that any space mission will have to deal with. Since you can't get rid of the triggers (though you will try to minimized the obvious ones), you need to put most of your money on getting people who have their shit together.
You can blame this on sex if you want, but it's like blaming the War in Iraq on weapons of mass destruction. In both cases, there's a stated reason for what happened, but something more fundamental is driving the event. If Lisa didn't already have problems, this wouldn't have been an issue.
Re:Submariners (Score:5, Informative)
During the 1977 International Biomedical Expedition to Antarctica, a 12-man adventure lasting 72 days, bickering became such a problem that psychologists accompanying the expedition had to intervene. Antarctic literature is full of stories about teammates who stopped talking to one another or even fought - one concerns a cook with a meat cleaver facing off against an engineer brandishing a fire axe.
So psychologists will have to find new ways to select crews that will not crack in close confinement. Evidence suggests that the best crew may be female: we may be celebrating the first woman on Mars in a few decades.
They tend to be smaller than men, saving on fuel, food, water and oxygen. Most important of all, they tend to be more tolerant of their companions. Annexstad has noted the positive effects of women on long Antarctic missions. In crews with women, he notes, there seems to be less competition, and the crews seem to get along a little better. So women in space crews serve a socialising purpose, as well as their mission function.
But anyways, back to Slashdot's regularly scheduled mysogyny about women needing a man with a "stern hand" to keep them in line, and general sexual fantasies, upon hearing the word "woman".
Re:Monitoring them will not work (Score:3, Informative)
Re:*Chuckle* (Score:2, Informative)
Not wanting sex != not getting it
- RG>