General, Research, Technology

Travel to Mars will be akin to confronting the Antarctic winter

People will go to Mars in a not so distantthe future. This we know. But what we do not yet know for sure is how the journey to the Red Planet will affect us - mentally and physically. NASA travels to the white continent to learn how people could deal with isolation in extreme conditions. In September, the space agency announced it would team up with the National Science Foundation, which runs the US Antarctic program, to study the impact of life in remote and harsh polar regions.

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“There are productivity enhancersdrugs; however, they are also a temporary salvation, ”says Kumar in response to one of the questions about survival strategies. Now an Englishman works in India, studying cerebral malaria.

"Good exercise, good sleep andgood teamwork helps to maintain optimal health in the long run for long missions, expeditions and complex diplomatic missions, ”he adds.

Kumar notes that among a team of 13 membersthere was only one woman. This bias in social dynamics caused certain problems. “I don’t know who made this decision and what his initial hypothesis could be,” he says, “but the relationship that began and began to lead to a partial split of the team. Fortunately, everyone survived the winter. ”

The first group of men who hibernated inAntarctica sailed on the "Belgica" in 1898-99, when their ship was stuck in ice. Several people have reportedly gone crazy. Only a handful of brave explorers spent the winter in Antarctica - on purpose or not - in the first half of the 20th century. Since the mid-1950s, people began to constantly visit the continent in search of international peace and research.

A lot of research has been devoted tohow crazy is the idea of ​​isolating small groups of people for a long time. One meta-analysis of a 40-year study of “wintering psychology” by Lawrence Palinkas of the Family and Preventive Medicine unit at the University of California at San Diego showed that “human experience in the Antarctic suggests that behavior and performance in the ICE environment are seasonal or cyclical , situational, social and salutogenic character. ”

Salutogenesis refers to the theory that stresscan be beneficial and enhances health. Some people, as Palinkas concluded, literally thrive in extreme conditions, "especially those who need little social interaction."

New NASA study led by CandiceAlfano, a professor of psychology and an assistant professor at the University of Houston, will begin in late summer southern hemisphere in February 2017. It will be attended by 110 people from the South Polar Station and a large coastal base, McMurdo Station.

Studying volunteers at both stations, scientistshope to understand the greatest sources of stress. Volunteers will periodically undergo a computer questionnaire, provide samples of saliva and wear a monitor that tracks sleep and wake cycles.

The idea is to ultimatelyprovide an effective method for monitoring signs and symptoms that may be due to behavioral factors. This will allow you to intervene on time, says Lauren Leveton, a member of the NASA Behavioral Performance Team.

Can people jump over the solarspending a year on this? Kumar proceeds from his own experience and says the following: “Some people are mentally capable of reaching Mars; some are not; and there is an opinion that some should be sent there regardless of their status. ”