ISS Partners Considering Simulated Mars Mission Aboard ISS

• #60 by Robotbeat on 07 Nov, 2011 05:05
• You don't need to live in the centrifuge to get its beneficial effects. Exercising in hypergravity works.
• #61 by Patchouli on 07 Nov, 2011 05:16
• Quote from: Robotbeat on 07 Nov, 2011 05:05

  You don't need to live in the centrifuge to get its beneficial effects. Exercising in hypergravity works.
  

  
  It just makes things easier for the crew.
  
  
  Though rotation rate is an issue a lot of people got sick if they spent more then a few minutes in a short arm hyper gravity centrifuge.
  
  For larger centrifuges like those on Nautilus-X I wonder if they could invent games that can be played inside the centrifuge to remove the drudgery of the mission and make the exercise routine fun.
  
  The psychological issues are just as important as the physiological issues.
• #62 by CitabriaFlyer on 07 Nov, 2011 10:37
• I too am very much a fan of the ISS - surface analogue - ISS type mission.  That would be a great way to use ISS and you could start in just a couple of years.  The extra costs would be negligible.  It would also give you a good way to evaluate mission architectures:  conjunction vs opposition missions with short stay times.  You would learn a lot about crew health but also science operations, training plans, etc.
  
  Most significantly, it would make the American taxpayer feel like we are making genuine progress and make the politicians feel that the manned space program is make a tangible return.
  
• #63 by spectre9 on 07 Nov, 2011 11:14
• I'm now coming around to this idea.
  
  If astros want to volunteer for the long stay they're quite welcome.
  
  I'm sure there's heaps of them that would jump at the opportunity to live up on ISS for more than the usual 6 month period.
  
  We don't need a centrifuge to go to Mars anyway.
  
  Perhaps testing the extreme limits of zero G living is worthwhile (500+ days).
• #64 by joek on 08 Nov, 2011 00:55
• Quote from: CitabriaFlyer on 07 Nov, 2011 03:25

  Earlier Jim dismissed the centrifuge on ISS.  He is absolutely right.  It would have been totally inadequate for these types of questions.  Better way to do that is to put two Bigelows on a tether and spin them.  Could be done in LEO but since we have SLS why not do it at EML, or enroute to Phobos, or an Athena type mission.  Could be done with all of the above and needs to be because we have no clue how much gravity you need .1G, .16G, .38G, or 1 G.  This would take multiple missions with multiple astronauts.
  

  
  Thanks for your post, and very much appreciate your perspective as a practitioner.
  
  In fairness, Jim objected to one form of centrifuge, or more precisely one form of AG experimentation on ISS; not sure he objects to all (and I'll leave it to him to clarify), but the gnomes of ESA and NASA appear to believe a short-arm centrifuge could be placed on the ISS without disruption.
  
  If short-arm centrifuges are a promising solution (which they appear to be), what is the objection to proceeding down that path?  It certainly appears to be a cheaper--and something that might be done on the ISS or similar sooner rather than later--alternative rather than constructing a large rotating torus or tethered arrangement.
  
  Granted, that doesn't necessarily answer the question of what happens for extended periods between 0-1g (e.g., an extended lunar or Mars surface stay), but certainly if we can find a 0-g solution, that would hold promise for 1/6-1/3g environments?
  
  

  Quote from: Patchouli on 07 Nov, 2011 05:16

  It just makes things easier for the crew.
  
  Though rotation rate is an issue a lot of people got sick if they spent more then a few minutes in a short arm hyper gravity centrifuge.
  

  
  It doesn't necessarily make things easier for the crew if they have to transition (and re-adapt) between environments.  Decreasing adaptation time and deleterious effects is the subject of much concern, altho admittedly we don't have much experience or effective facilities to make a determination.
  
  Rotation rate and adaptation is an issue in some circumstances and for some people.  However, a significant chunk of short-arm centrifuge research is determining how people adapt, how to improve that adaptation (both to and from), and how to decrease adaptation time.  While the results are limited, they have been promising.