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Friday, November 4, 2011

Science Future Marsonauts

Posted by Charles Mudede on Fri, Nov 4, 2011 at 7:58 AM

Seventeen months of isolation is over for the six "marsonauts" who have been locked away in a complex in Moscow. The hatch of their simulated spacecraft opened at 14:00 Moscow time, when they were welcomed by the Mars 500 ground crew, doctors and their families.

Their mission was to simulate a journey to Mars. That included a spacesuit-clad EVA (extra-vehicular activity), which amounted to a walk in a sand-strewn room that stood in for the Red Planet.

In the way I can never think about astronauts without thinking about JG Ballard's short story "The Dead Astronaut," I can never think about marsonauts without thinking about this passage in Salman Rushdie's short story "At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers":

At that time many television channels were devoted to the sad case of the astronaut stranded on Mars without hope of rescue, and with diminishing supplies of food and breathable air. Official spokesmen told us of the persuasive arguments for the abrupt cancellation of the space exploration budget. We found these arguments powerful; influential voices complained of the sentimentality of the images of the dying spaceman. Nevertheless, the cameras inside his marooned craft continued to send us poignant pictures of his slow descent into despair, his low-gravity, weight-reduced death.

Which one of these marsonauts will become "the dying spaceman" on our flatscreens?

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
The Martian Underground

Comments (6) RSS

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It's vital Earth colonizes Mars before the Cybermen do or worse the Daleks!!!

Posted by Last of the Time Lords on November 4, 2011 at 8:23 AM

Didn't we decide a long time ago that some lives would be lost in the eploration of space? I think they know the risks and rewards. Frankly, I think it would be worse to watch someone slowly go completely mad.

Posted by Vince on November 4, 2011 at 9:25 AM

Well, given the reaction to last year's Chilean mining disaster, I imagine that the rating's for footage of a dying astronaut would be astronimical, until he/she died or was saved, and then interest in the astronaut and family would drop to nil quickly.

Posted by thatsnotright on November 4, 2011 at 10:02 AM

That sci-fi quote is similar to what happened right here in the US back in 1881. Google the Greely Artic Expedition. Congress decided not to try to rescue Greely and his fellow explorers (despite this being an Army expidition) due to lack of funds. With constant effort by his wife to change their minds, years later they did fund rescue expiditions. 19 of the 25 men died, and those that lived may have turned to cannibalism.

Posted by Matt the Engineer on November 4, 2011 at 10:18 AM

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Mudede often speaks of the remarkable endurance of humans. We are the animal that endures, that survives inside collapsed mines and then runs a marathon. We are also curious. Combine curiosity and a drive to push ourselves to the limits and we will repeatedly toss ourselves off of cliffs until we find the means to soar.

Space exploration and colonization will continue. Lives will be lost. Incredible discoveries and technological advances will be made.

However, America may not be the one to reap the rewards.

Posted by Zuulabelle