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The crew of the Hi-SEAS mission on Mauna Loa, which simulates what it might be like to live on Mars, will answer your questions on a Reddit AMA (ask me anything) tomorrow, Sat, Aug 26th. The exact time is still to be determined. It should be at a reasonable hour for us here in Hawaii as they're just one mountain over. If you ever wondered about life on Mars, or life on Mauna Loa, tomorrow will be your chance to find out.
Details:
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/..._analogue/
(It's) what the existentialists called "awful freedom" the reinvention of irrationality by marginalized people, just in order to spite science. -Elif Batuman
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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Happening now, 9:20 AM:
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/..._crew_ask/
(It's) what the existentialists called "awful freedom" the reinvention of irrationality by marginalized people, just in order to spite science. -Elif Batuman
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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Thanks, HOTPE. I wasn't available during the live Q&A but I think all are available via the link you sent, i.e.,
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/..._analogue/
There are definitely questions I'd like to have asked but am glad to see so many others asked some really good questions!
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China is, according to this press release, building the "first" simulated Mars base. We've had one on Mauna Loa for years at HI-SEAS. The Chinese plan to incorporate a tourist attraction into their base, so visitors can observe what a human presence on Mars might look like in the future.
A Mars Base and visitor attraction on Big Island sounds like a good idea to me, but I'm sure science and construction of a few buildings and a parking area might desecrate something or not offer 100% of the jobs to a single group of residents.
https://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/C...-0013.html
The Donner Party really wasn't that great of a party, was it?
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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As much as I like the idea of promoting solar system exploration to the public, I'm not convinced this is the way to do it. The good thing about HI-SEAS is that the participants are in a remote area with no contact or interaction with tourists. That's the way it'll be on Mars.
Having a resort nearby for tourists to "visit Mars" will also likely affect the experiment. Having said that, I don't know what the plans are to remove the participants from any interaction with others, and am hoping they thought of that.
At the very best, it takes four minutes for a message to get from Mars to Earth and often it takes up to 24 minutes, depending on our relative orbits. Gawping tourists aren't going to help.
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It would be difficult to combine an experiment with a tourist attraction. As you pointed out, the isolation on Mars would be a big factor in participants day to day existance, so there couldn't be any two way interaction between the Martian test subjects and any visitors. Not sure if a giant one way mirror would even be appropriate, similar to the full length glass walls at the macadamia nut factory behind which a worker makes candy. Who would want to be under observation eight hours a day, or more?
But perhaps the living quarters for the experiment's participants could be constructed at a reasonable distance from a visitor center, where tourists could see but not interact with the living quarters, as well as walk through mock ups of the real shelter, along with educational displays and videos of what we expect to encounter when living on Mars.
The Donner Party really wasn't that great of a party, was it?
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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Another HI-SEAS "Mars" mission on Mauna Loa began February 15th, 2018. The four participants have been inside their domed habitat since Thursday, not unlike like the rest of us since the torrential rain and thunderstorm system arrived over Puna. Hopefully however, we'll be able to get out and about sooner than they do:
At 5 p.m. Hawaii local time on Thursday (Feb. 15), the four participants of the HI-SEAS Mission VI crew, who herald from Korea, Australia, Slovakia and Scotland, respectively, began their eight-month stay inside a dome habitat atop Mauna Loa on the island of Hawaii...
"For humans to successfully undertake a long-duration spaceflight to Mars, it will require a global collaboration, and so it seems appropriate that our Mission VI begins with this spirit of internationalism," said Kim Binsted, HI-SEAS Principal Investigator, in the statement by the University of Hawaii, where HI-SEAS is based.
https://www.space.com/39732-hiseas-vi-ma...egins.html
Recycle Puna. Humans, although probably not you personally, have already left 400,000 pounds of trash on the moon. - YouTube's Half As Interesting
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Communications will certainly be tested with someone from Scotland in the group...
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