* Biologist/Gardener/Cook
I believe you are going to need a geneticist in short order to have a happy crew and eventually a successful colony.We have never seen a complex organism born off the earth. Everything we know is adapted to atmospheric pressure and earth gravity. What is going to happen when those are removed.IMHO mice will be the first study. They will be able to get 20 generations in a short amount of time. Then how about some food. Chicken, pigs, or fish, which will make it.
IMHO while these are important long term questions, I don't see them for the FIRST missions. The first missions will be about scouting and base building.The long term questions will be tackled when the initial base is up and running.
For the very first flight, which is a technology demonstrator and shakedown mission, you are not going to need geologists, geneticists, etc.
1. MD2-6. Flight Engineers/Ground Equipment Support Engineers7,8: Geologist/Drilling Technicians (Martian water seekers: props to RAH)9,10: Sundry NASA scientist/flight engineer/astronauts11,12: Other nation sci/astros paying participants. Various technical specialties.Note there are no astronaut/pilots per se because the landing is too quick for pilots. Everything automated with engineers as fixers.NASA pays a couple billion for participation.Other nations pay for seats.One of 9-12 is either another MD or trained as a medic.
Quote from: jpo234 on 07/06/2016 01:15 pmIMHO while these are important long term questions, I don't see them for the FIRST missions. The first missions will be about scouting and base building.The long term questions will be tackled when the initial base is up and running.This is gettin OT for this first crew thread I am afraid. But I actually believe and have stated before that the experiment with mice in martian gravity will be done even before the first flight to Mars. There will be a long term evaluation flight of MCT with crew in LEO before people are sent to Mars in it. Plenty of crew time and plenty of space to run a centrifuge with mice in Mars gravity over several generations. It is that important if you want to build a colony.For further disussion we should find another thread though.
First; do we want the first mission to be purely scientific, limited to environmental and geological (or areological, as the case may be) or a mix of scientific and base or colony building?
Second; is the first crew intended to come back to Earth or stay on Mars? A different mix of skill sets would be required for each of these two missions.
Third; Are we talking about a short term stay of about 30 days or a long term stay between launch opportunities? Again, a different mix of skill sets needed for each.
Fourth; Are we talking a localized mission, not exceeding a 100 Km radius around the landing site or are we talking a mission that includes scouting for colony locations that could require a 1000 Km plus radius? This last one affects both skill mix and crew size for safety concerns. (Equipment and consumables are also a concern, but not relevant to this discussion).
Currently, a mix of 9 to 12 crew people with at least 2 to 4 generalists, 7 to 10 mixed specialists including at least 2 general MDs and at least 2 semi-EMT types, mixed into the crew, seems to be the best mission mix. Sickness, injury or worse SHOULD be expected on the first few missions, and as such a larger crew seems to stand the best chances of both completing whatever primary mission is established, as well as doing so with the least likely hood of crew losses.
Long term stay. I think the ISRU plant will take a long time to make the fuel for the return trip.
Quote from: philw1776 on 07/06/2016 12:43 pm1. MD2-6. Flight Engineers/Ground Equipment Support Engineers7,8: Geologist/Drilling Technicians (Martian water seekers: props to RAH)9,10: Sundry NASA scientist/flight engineer/astronauts11,12: Other nation sci/astros paying participants. Various technical specialties.Note there are no astronaut/pilots per se because the landing is too quick for pilots. Everything automated with engineers as fixers.NASA pays a couple billion for participation.Other nations pay for seats.One of 9-12 is either another MD or trained as a medic. The mix that you've given is pretty good, but the whole interface and landing sequence takes a bit over 7 minutes, and as such, we may have a "Neil Armstrong" situation towards the end of the descent that would require manual control of the final phase of descent. As such, at least two of the Flight / Ground Equipment Engineers should be pilots as well. While it is highly unlikely that those skills would be needed, having a manual back up to the flight computers would be a really good idea. While NASA seems to be fixated on the small, 4 to 6 person crew concept, the larger 9 to 12 person concept seems a better psychological mix, as well as a good contingency mix. As there is a high likelihood of at least one or more of the crew becoming ill, injured or possibly worse, having the additional crew with at least 2 medical generalist doctors in the mix, would go a long ways to minimize the chances of a disastrous mission failure.
What crew would SpaceX send on the first manned mission?
Scientific research will likely be limited to applied research in support of that goal or that carried out on behalf of organisations willing to pay for it.