Mars Colony on Mauna Loa

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

HI-SEAS is constructing the latest Mars simulation on Mauna Loa. Three men, three woman, in a high tech yurt for four months:
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ar...zy/360034/

[Andrew]

Pretty interesting.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I finally have had a chance to read the entire article (it's short, but hey, it's a work day), and after considering a few of the parameters of the study, such as:

1) That test involves isolating the crew in the same way they'd be isolated on Mars.
2) There are three men and three women ... (who) will share a 1,000-square-foot habitat that is shaped like a dome. ... for four months.
3) Each mission member will get only eight minutes of shower time ... per week.
4) the repurposing of trash into tools that can be put to use in the Martian habitat.

Now I drive down Opihikao Road weekly, and have on occasion taken a wrong turn on one of the many long, cinder covered (if you're lucky) side roads. Back in there, in the jungle I have come across a number of yurts, with young families living, gardening, and scraping a living out of rocky, lava covered soil, but with admittedly more rain than the dry slopes of Mauna Loa or Mars.

My question is, what exactly are the differences and similarities between your typical young Puna pioneer, and HI-SEAS participants or future Martian colonists?

[csgray]

The biggest difference is ease with which you can change your mind. It is a much longer hitchhike back to civilization from Mars than from Puna.

Carol

[kalakoa]

Funding.

[shave_ice]

You don't have to wear big space suits just to go outside here in Hawaii. Heck, that's a big reason I hate mainland winters! You gotta dress up like a marshmallow to go outside! I'd say living on Mars would be more similar to living at one of the research stations in Antarctica. Not very fun.

[punafish]

It sounds like the ultimate adventure, but I can easily imagine losing my mind mere weeks into such an expedition, just from being with the same people every day in confined quarters. (On a ship, at least you can go on deck and stare at the ocean.) Now try to imagine all the possible things that could go wrong, both human and technological. And the reality would be so much worse than my feeble imagination could possibly grasp. Even if everything went according to plan technologically, the psychological dimension would be heavy indeed: no safety net, no way to hitch-hike back into town, no option of bailing whenever I wanted to. A trip to Mars by humans seems like a tragedy waiting to happen. But I'm not the Magellan/Columbus/da Gama adventurous type either so who knows. They'll obviously have to find better, psychologically stronger men/women than me for a Mars mission. I'll just keep my feet planted here on earth...

[Guest]

The biggest difference is their PAYCHECK !

Daniel Tosh joked in his stand up about the show survivor, where dumb americans have a chance to win a MILLION dollars in places where people ALREADY LIVE.

[pahoated]

What part of the word "simulation" don't you understand? And why have a social media confusion to correspond that to reality-staged TV?

"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"

[kalakoa]

I'm pretty sure this "simulation" is magically exempt from the code/permit/license requirements imposed on a young family in a yurt...