China to send crewed missions to Moon AND Mars!

[pood]

The GAO in the past has said in the long run NASA has stimulated more tax revenue than the NASA budget.

The problem is can humans live off planet in any significant numbers. I doubt it.

What do you do about sex?

Abstinence my dear fellow. Abstinence.

Why would they need abstinence? I see no problem with sex in outer space or on Mars or the moon.

 

[Tigers!]

The GAO in the past has said in the long run NASA has stimulated more tax revenue than the NASA budget.

The problem is can humans live off planet in any significant numbers. I doubt it.

What do you do about sex?

Abstinence my dear fellow. Abstinence.

Why would they need abstinence? I see no problem with sex in outer space or on Mars or the moon.

I was responding to Steve B.
Sex (and its consequences) raises all sorts of issues - medical, social, emotional, logistical etc. that need to be thought of ahead of time. It would be very difficult to craft a solution to a baby whilst on a trip to Mars for example.

 

[pood]

The GAO in the past has said in the long run NASA has stimulated more tax revenue than the NASA budget.

The problem is can humans live off planet in any significant numbers. I doubt it.

What do you do about sex?

Abstinence my dear fellow. Abstinence.

Why would they need abstinence? I see no problem with sex in outer space or on Mars or the moon.

I was responding to Steve B.
Sex (and its consequences) raises all sorts of issues - medical, social, emotional, logistical etc. that need to be thought of ahead of time. It would be very difficult to craft a solution to a baby whilst on a trip to Mars for example.

If they are going to have missions to Mars and in particular set up bases there people are going to have sex.

 

[steve_bank]

The GAO in the past has said in the long run NASA has stimulated more tax revenue than the NASA budget.

The problem is can humans live off planet in any significant numbers. I doubt it.

What do you do about sex?

Abstinence my dear fellow. Abstinence.

Why would they need abstinence? I see no problem with sex in outer space or on Mars or the moon.

You have not socialized much.

Starting at puberty the sex drive is always there until we die, with ensuing conflicts.

If you gave 10 guys and 9 girls and one guy is left out of sex what harpoons socially?

What happens if a guy becomes abusive and aggressive?

And then there is religion. Is somebody excluded for being an Evangelical who wants to spread the gospels around the solar system?

Who wants to spend two years in a confined space being preached to?

Do you exclude a conservative Muslim who opposes fornication?

If we go to the Moon and Mars we inevitably bring all o0ur social issues.

 

[pood]

The GAO in the past has said in the long run NASA has stimulated more tax revenue than the NASA budget.

The problem is can humans live off planet in any significant numbers. I doubt it.

What do you do about sex?

Abstinence my dear fellow. Abstinence.

Why would they need abstinence? I see no problem with sex in outer space or on Mars or the moon.

You have not socialized much.

Starting at puberty the sex drive is always there until we die, with ensuing conflicts.

If you gave 10 guys and 9 girls and one guy is left out of sex what harpoons socially?

What happens if a guy becomes abusive and aggressive?

And then there is religion. Is somebody excluded for being an Evangelical who wants to spread the gospels around the solar system?

Who wants to spend two years in a confined space being preached to?

Do you exclude a conservative Muslim who opposes fornication?

If we go to the Moon and Mars we inevitably bring all o0ur social issues.

I think you replied to the wrong poster.

 

[bilby]

The resources that it would require to safely put a handful of residents on the moon could probably fund vaccination for all humans. A Mars colony would probably cost more than supplying safe drinking water to the whole 3rd world.

I think you overestimate the cost of manned spaceflight.

The entire Apollo program cost less than American women spent in 1969 alone on lipstick (not on cosmetics in general, just lipstick), but we don't hear people whining that women should eschew makeup while people in South Sudan lack access to safe drinking water.

Doing stuff like painting ourselves unnatural colours, eating until it kills us, or strolling around the Sea of Tranquility, may be a powerful demonstration of our irrational sense of priorities, but it's that very irrationality that is the essence of being human.

 

[thebeave]

The GAO in the past has said in the long run NASA has stimulated more tax revenue than the NASA budget.

The problem is can humans live off planet in any significant numbers. I doubt it.

What do you do about sex?

Abstinence my dear fellow. Abstinence.

Why would they need abstinence? I see no problem with sex in outer space or on Mars or the moon.

You have not socialized much.

Starting at puberty the sex drive is always there until we die, with ensuing conflicts.

If you gave 10 guys and 9 girls and one guy is left out of sex what harpoons socially?

What happens if a guy becomes abusive and aggressive?

And then there is religion. Is somebody excluded for being an Evangelical who wants to spread the gospels around the solar system?

Who wants to spend two years in a confined space being preached to?

Do you exclude a conservative Muslim who opposes fornication?

If we go to the Moon and Mars we inevitably bring all o0ur social issues.

You're getting a little out of hand dude. I remember as a kid in the early '70's we had an astronaut come to our elementary school. I wish I could remember who it was, but I believe he had already been in space, or was in training to go soon. Anyway, there was a Q & A session at the end, and someone asked what the biggest problem was being confined in a small space capsule with others. He said, the B.O. We all laughed our ass off. Is B.O. still a thing up in space in 2024?! I remember one girl raised her hand, and her question was, "Are you married?!"

 

[pood]

The GAO in the past has said in the long run NASA has stimulated more tax revenue than the NASA budget.

The problem is can humans live off planet in any significant numbers. I doubt it.

What do you do about sex?

Abstinence my dear fellow. Abstinence.

Why would they need abstinence? I see no problem with sex in outer space or on Mars or the moon.

You have not socialized much.

Starting at puberty the sex drive is always there until we die, with ensuing conflicts.

If you gave 10 guys and 9 girls and one guy is left out of sex what harpoons socially?

What happens if a guy becomes abusive and aggressive?

And then there is religion. Is somebody excluded for being an Evangelical who wants to spread the gospels around the solar system?

Who wants to spend two years in a confined space being preached to?

Do you exclude a conservative Muslim who opposes fornication?

If we go to the Moon and Mars we inevitably bring all o0ur social issues.

You're getting a little out of hand dude. I remember as a kid in the early '70's we had an astronaut come to our elementary school. I wish I could remember who it was, but I believe he had already been in space, or was in training to go soon. Anyway, there was a Q & A session at the end, and someone asked what the biggest problem was being confined in a small space capsule with others. He said, the B.O. We all laughed our ass off. Is B.O. still a thing up in space in 2024?! I remember one girl raised her hand, and her question was, "Are you married?!"

These guys were in space for a few days. If people are going to Mars and set up bases there, they will be away from earth for months and years. BO will not be their only problem.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The GAO in the past has said in the long run NASA has stimulated more tax revenue than the NASA budget.

The problem is can humans live off planet in any significant numbers. I doubt it.

What do you do about sex?

Abstinence my dear fellow. Abstinence.

Why would they need abstinence? I see no problem with sex in outer space or on Mars or the moon.

I was responding to Steve B.
Sex (and its consequences) raises all sorts of issues - medical, social, emotional, logistical etc. that need to be thought of ahead of time. It would be very difficult to craft a solution to a baby whilst on a trip to Mars for example.

Menstruation would be problematic in microgravity. Realistically, that means either suppressing menstruation with hormones (which also provides hormonal birth control) or it means menstrual extraction. And menstrual extraction will terminate a pregnancy.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Menstruation would be problematic in microgravity. Realistically, that means either suppressing menstruation with hormones (which also provides hormonal birth control) or it means menstrual extraction. And menstrual extraction will terminate a pregnancy.

Well, one day when women become astronauts they’ll have to figure out how to deal with that on Earth orbit first.

 

[thebeave]

Menstruation would be problematic in microgravity. Realistically, that means either suppressing menstruation with hormones (which also provides hormonal birth control) or it means menstrual extraction. And menstrual extraction will terminate a pregnancy.

Well, one day when women become astronauts they’ll have to figure out how to deal with that on Earth orbit first.

I think Loren hasn't updated his calendar since 1983. I wonder if he knows Reagan is no longer in office?

 

[Elixir]

The GAO in the past has said in the long run NASA has stimulated more tax revenue than the NASA budget.

The problem is can humans live off planet in any significant numbers. I doubt it.

What do you do about sex?

Abstinence my dear fellow. Abstinence.

Why would they need abstinence? I see no problem with sex in outer space or on Mars or the moon.

I was responding to Steve B.
Sex (and its consequences) raises all sorts of issues - medical, social, emotional, logistical etc. that need to be thought of ahead of time. It would be very difficult to craft a solution to a baby whilst on a trip to Mars for example.

If they are going to have missions to Mars and in particular set up bases there people are going to have sex.

I’d say as soon as they can get out of their suits.

 

[bilby]

The GAO in the past has said in the long run NASA has stimulated more tax revenue than the NASA budget.

The problem is can humans live off planet in any significant numbers. I doubt it.

What do you do about sex?

Abstinence my dear fellow. Abstinence.

Why would they need abstinence? I see no problem with sex in outer space or on Mars or the moon.

You have not socialized much.

Starting at puberty the sex drive is always there until we die, with ensuing conflicts.

If you gave 10 guys and 9 girls and one guy is left out of sex what harpoons socially?

What happens if a guy becomes abusive and aggressive?

And then there is religion. Is somebody excluded for being an Evangelical who wants to spread the gospels around the solar system?

Who wants to spend two years in a confined space being preached to?

Do you exclude a conservative Muslim who opposes fornication?

If we go to the Moon and Mars we inevitably bring all o0ur social issues.

You're getting a little out of hand dude. I remember as a kid in the early '70's we had an astronaut come to our elementary school. I wish I could remember who it was, but I believe he had already been in space, or was in training to go soon. Anyway, there was a Q & A session at the end, and someone asked what the biggest problem was being confined in a small space capsule with others. He said, the B.O. We all laughed our ass off. Is B.O. still a thing up in space in 2024?! I remember one girl raised her hand, and her question was, "Are you married?!"

These guys were in space for a few days. If people are going to Mars and set up bases there, they will be away from earth for months and years. BO will not be their only problem.

Several people have spent over a year at a stretch in space, aboard Mir and the ISS. They don't seem to have had many non-BO related complaints. Certainly the number of killing sprees has been far lower than golden-age sci-fi would have us anticipate.

Of course, those sci-fi tales weren't really about space; They were about human reactions to isolation and stress, and they mostly pre-dated both manned spaceflight, and modern communications.

It would have required astonishing foresight to predict astronauts both watching and starring in YouTube videos, in an era when a movie required physical film.

 

[bilby]

Menstruation would be problematic in microgravity. Realistically, that means either suppressing menstruation with hormones (which also provides hormonal birth control) or it means menstrual extraction. And menstrual extraction will terminate a pregnancy.

Well, one day when women become astronauts they’ll have to figure out how to deal with that on Earth orbit first.

If they want to have a permanent colony on Mars, they're going to need someone to do the cooking and the cleaning, and to iron the astronauts' uniforms.

Could you imagine the shame, if one of our bold space heroes had a video call with the President, and didn't have a freshly pressed uniform??

I have been reading a lot of 1950's and '60s sci-fi recently, and such things were clearly considered very important to the mens' morale.

If the mission commander can't take his wife, who will keep his cigarette case filled? (Obviously NASA could get around that issue by selecting a pipe smoker, but that seems rather harsh to the chaps who only smoke cigarettes. Such discrimination would be grossly unfair).

 

[steve_bank]

The GAO in the past has said in the long run NASA has stimulated more tax revenue than the NASA budget.

The problem is can humans live off planet in any significant numbers. I doubt it.

What do you do about sex?

Abstinence my dear fellow. Abstinence.

Why would they need abstinence? I see no problem with sex in outer space or on Mars or the moon.

You have not socialized much.

Starting at puberty the sex drive is always there until we die, with ensuing conflicts.

If you gave 10 guys and 9 girls and one guy is left out of sex what harpoons socially?

What happens if a guy becomes abusive and aggressive?

And then there is religion. Is somebody excluded for being an Evangelical who wants to spread the gospels around the solar system?

Who wants to spend two years in a confined space being preached to?

Do you exclude a conservative Muslim who opposes fornication?

If we go to the Moon and Mars we inevitably bring all o0ur social issues.

You're getting a little out of hand dude. I remember as a kid in the early '70's we had an astronaut come to our elementary school. I wish I could remember who it was, but I believe he had already been in space, or was in training to go soon. Anyway, there was a Q & A session at the end, and someone asked what the biggest problem was being confined in a small space capsule with others. He said, the B.O. We all laughed our ass off. Is B.O. still a thing up in space in 2024?! I remember one girl raised her hand, and her question was, "Are you married?!"

I am being realistic. The technical term is human factors.

Human factors (also referred to as human factors psychology and human factors engineering) is an applied field of study that examines human abilities, limitations, behaviors, and processes in order to inform human-centered designs (those which include the human perspective throughout the design process).

As a kid in grade school launches were a big deal, TVs were brought into the classrooms.

I had a pencil sharpener shaped like a Mercury capsule.

When the first Moon landing occurred the word stopped for a while.

AS an engineer I kept a model of Yeager's X1 on my desk for inspiration. He named it Glamorous Glynis after his wife.

The space program was inspirational in my generation.

But that is not what I am taking about.

Human factors is as much a design issue as is propulsion and life support.. Put a small group of people in a small environmental space for a year or longer and what happens?

Put a colony of a few hundred people on Mars for a few years and what happens stoically and psychologically?

Even in small groups power factions can and do evolve. Human social politics.

Do you allow drugs and alcohol? Religion? Gays and straights?

What happens if someone loses control and gets violent? I would think the pressure of lvng in a mrtas cony wold be enormous. There is no escape, no place to get away and take a vacation.

On Mars there will be the same problems we have here.

 

[pood]

On Mars there will be the same problems we have here.

The same problems, only worse, for reasons you state.

People will have sex on Mars or the moon, but I don’t think they will want to make babies. Birth control pills are 99 percent effective in taken every day.

Sex could pose serious emotional problems in a small group, though, with cheating, jealousy, etc. Maybe they could use sex robots. Twilight Zone anticipated this way back in 1959, with an episode about a guy marooned on a penal colony on a distant planet who is given a lifelike sex robot to ease his loneliness.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Perhaps the South Pole station could serve as a good example of what a moon or mars base would be like?

 

[thebeave]

On Mars there will be the same problems we have here.

The same problems, only worse, for reasons you state.

People will have sex on Mars or the moon, but I don’t think they will want to make babies. Birth control pills are 99 percent effective in taken every day.

Sex could pose serious emotional problems in a small group, though, with cheating, jealousy, etc. Maybe they could use sex robots. Twilight Zone anticipated this way back in 1959, with an episode about a guy marooned on a penal colony on a distant planet who is given a lifelike sex robot to ease his loneliness.

One of their best episodes, IMHO. The ending was pretty sad.

 

[thebeave]

The GAO in the past has said in the long run NASA has stimulated more tax revenue than the NASA budget.

The problem is can humans live off planet in any significant numbers. I doubt it.

What do you do about sex?

Abstinence my dear fellow. Abstinence.

Why would they need abstinence? I see no problem with sex in outer space or on Mars or the moon.

You have not socialized much.

Starting at puberty the sex drive is always there until we die, with ensuing conflicts.

If you gave 10 guys and 9 girls and one guy is left out of sex what harpoons socially?

What happens if a guy becomes abusive and aggressive?

And then there is religion. Is somebody excluded for being an Evangelical who wants to spread the gospels around the solar system?

Who wants to spend two years in a confined space being preached to?

Do you exclude a conservative Muslim who opposes fornication?

If we go to the Moon and Mars we inevitably bring all o0ur social issues.

You're getting a little out of hand dude. I remember as a kid in the early '70's we had an astronaut come to our elementary school. I wish I could remember who it was, but I believe he had already been in space, or was in training to go soon. Anyway, there was a Q & A session at the end, and someone asked what the biggest problem was being confined in a small space capsule with others. He said, the B.O. We all laughed our ass off. Is B.O. still a thing up in space in 2024?! I remember one girl raised her hand, and her question was, "Are you married?!"

I am being realistic. The technical term is human factors.

Human factors (also referred to as human factors psychology and human factors engineering) is an applied field of study that examines human abilities, limitations, behaviors, and processes in order to inform human-centered designs (those which include the human perspective throughout the design process).

As a kid in grade school launches were a big deal, TVs were brought into the classrooms.

I had a pencil sharpener shaped like a Mercury capsule.

When the first Moon landing occurred the word stopped for a while.

AS an engineer I kept a model of Yeager's X1 on my desk for inspiration. He named it Glamorous Glynis after his wife.

The space program was inspirational in my generation.

But that is not what I am taking about.

Human factors is as much a design issue as is propulsion and life support.. Put a small group of people in a small environmental space for a year or longer and what happens?

Put a colony of a few hundred people on Mars for a few years and what happens stoically and psychologically?

Even in small groups power factions can and do evolve. Human social politics.

Do you allow drugs and alcohol? Religion? Gays and straights?

What happens if someone loses control and gets violent? I would think the pressure of lvng in a mrtas cony wold be enormous. There is no escape, no place to get away and take a vacation.

On Mars there will be the same problems we have here.

I'm quite well aware of human factors. I was mostly poking fun at the idea of worrying about getting preached to by some religous astronaut out in space. Honestly, it never crossed my mind before. But come to think of it, though, we did a have at least a couple off astronauts who were a little "out there". The reading of Genesis on Christmas Day 1968 by Lovell in the Apollo 8. Also, Edgar Mitchell doing his ESP nonsense on his Apollo mission. So, yeah, they would probably driven a rational skeptic type crazy on an extended mission.

 

[bilby]

Perhaps the South Pole station could serve as a good example of what a moon or mars base would be like?

I was thinking the same thing. We have had remote and isolated outposts for years; We already know what problems arise, and the continued existence of those outposts show that we have found solutions to those problems.

Mars is just more of the same.

On Mars there will be the same problems we have here.

And the same solutions that we have here, will work there.