One-way spaceship trip.

[Glordag]

The Psychology of Leaving Earth Behind Forever

I was just reading the above article about a NASA project to send a spaceship to Mars on a one-way trip. This would, of course, mean that anyone volunteering to be part of this trip would never return to Earth. As the article points out, this has some interesting psychological implications.

I think it's clear that introverts would fare much better on such a trip than extroverts. Thoughts?

 

[EyeSeeCold]

Of course. I think some extroverts would do okay too though (ENTP?)

I wouldn't mind as long as there was something to keep me busy.

 

[MaxP]

Let's go

 

[Deleted member 1424]

Fox glordag?

really?

 

[Glordag]

really glordag?

fox?

Don't judge me, it was on the Google News homepage, lol. If an article looks interesting, I won't bias myself against it just because it comes from the most atrocious "news" source out there :P. Besides, the source is probably AP or something. I'm too lazy to check.

 

[Melllvar]

It wasn't an original Fox story, I saw it other places too. Pretty sure it was based on a proposal by Paul Davies (the physicists who writes pop science books).

I'd go. I'm pretty much sick of this planet/species anyway (present company excluded of course). Why not die on Mars discovering new things in the adventure of a lifetime? Cooler yet, why settle for Mars? Accelerate yourself fast enough and you could travel to the other side of the universe before you died (yay relativity). You just couldn't come back to tell people about it.

 

[Glordag]

It wasn't an original Fox story, I saw it other places too. Pretty sure it was based on a proposal by Paul Davies (the physicists who writes pop science books).

I'd go. I'm pretty much sick of this planet/species anyway (present company excluded of course). Why not die on Mars discovering new things in the adventure of a lifetime? Cooler yet, why settle for Mars? Accelerate yourself fast enough and you could travel to the other side of the universe before you died (yay relativity). You just couldn't come back to tell people about it.

Just record your thoughts, put them in sturdy containers, and use the gravity of passing celestial bodies to send them back our direction. Very little wasted momentum!

 

[MaxP]

If we are to colonize other planets I really don't think it's going to be people like you and I who are going. The only way I can see this actually working is if we can bioengineer our own species to be able to survive the conditions on other planets. Human beings would die on Mars (duh?), and colonization doesn't seem very effective if it relies on supplies being sent from the Earth (also duh?). Oh and conditions on Mars don't appear to be all that favorable to support life/building of civilization. What to eat? (breed humans with ability to absorb solar energy?)

But seriously we can't just send some humans to big red rock and see what happens... The more complex the organism, the more complex the ecosystem required to support it. The ponit is there has to be some way of sustaining life once it is there, so that it doesn't rely on people here on Earth sending them supplies (isn't that the point of colonizing?)

A more fruitful mission (although essentially the same) would be to colonizeEuropa. Europa, from what we can tell, presents friendlier conditions for life than Mars.
Ocean of liquid > big red rock

Obviously we need to explore Europa and learn more about it's conditions for this plan to work because it would rely greatly on us having an understanding of the conditions under the ice. We need to KNOW what's under the surface before we can bioengineer life suitable for Europa. (bioengineering makes the most sense to me since once we have that mastered we can create life forms that rely on the resources that are available on a specific planet)

Not only that but in order for lasting civilization, an entire eco-system of organisms of varying complexity would be needed. There's a reason human's aren't the only species on earth. Plant life is essential as it provides a renuable source of energy. If we were to make one super-species that could survive without support from any surrounding eco-system, it would likely be wiped out much easier than a budding eco-system.



I'll volunteer my seed for the first Mer-people :smiley_emoticons_mr




Okay I have a mid-term in an hour that I've studied roughly 45 minutes for and I need to go to the bathroom/eat leaving me about half an hour left of study time so I think I've hit the point where it's time to stop procrastinating.

But on a side note, wouldn't it be easier to predict the future conditions on the Earth and start planning for how we could modify life to exist under those conditions? I mean they're still bound to be kinda similar even if all shit breaks loose

 

[snafupants]

Sex - the one or two person variety - would be weird with close containment like that...especially the former haha imagine fluids in space gross. Also, food provisions would be problematic, better to have everyone in a near coma to reduce these nuisances. I would probably volunteer despite, or maybe because of, the possibility of never returning to this gyrating ball of water and mud. I am not sure, however, if I would pass the physical or psych screening. I may have to blackmail the test administrators...Oh, yeah see my quote thing below.

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

If they can make the ship a helluva lot faster than current tech capability and can send me to places too far away for a telescope to see with any detail, not only would I sign up, I'd surreptitiously murder anyone who might compete for such a cherished spot.
(dead serious)

 

[Cavallier]

^Agreed. Except I have one question: Can I bring my cat? If yes then there are few things I wouldn't do to get a seat.

 

[Melllvar]

Just record your thoughts, put them in sturdy containers, and use the gravity of passing celestial bodies to send them back our direction. Very little wasted momentum!

Hm, well, I think the change in reference frames would cause you all to be long dead by the time my recorded thoughts arrived. My understanding really stops at special relativity of linear motion, so it's hard to say exactly what would happen in rotational motion or a gravitational field...

My guess though would be that the only way this would work would be if the package traveled along the equipotential lines of the field, which would require the package to travel along a perfect circle connecting the launch point (me) and the destination (you guys) along its circumference, which is first of all impractical, and probably technically impossible too. Perhaps it could be arranged so that the change in reference frames would be negligible, in which case it would merely be impractical, and you would still age normally along with the package so you would still be long dead before it arrived from such a great distance.

Again though, I'm not sure any of that last paragraph is correct. I can't stress this enough.

 

[dark]

OMG, I haven't finished reading, but I would volunteer in a heart beat, I dream about space travel.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

thread needs moar Sun Ra:

YouTube - Sun Ra - Rocket Number Nine Take Off For The Planet Venus

 

[dark]

I could pass any test, physical, psych, fuck can't pass the visual, that is the only thing keeping me out of the USAF.

If this happens I would kill people to get sent to Mars.

Bioengineering seems even less likely than terraforming. If we can change planets to be more adaptable for humans then we win, if we just modify humans and make seperate species for each planet, then humans loose.

Wow I can feel it now, on Mars, before age took me away I would walk out of the life support and open myself to the emptiness, allowing the vast take me into the beyond. That is the way to die. On a different planet.

Also life could be supported easy without supplies from earth, if enough vegetation was sent along, and livestock in embryo stages and such, then if enough materials were sent to make a starting shelter for the inhabitants, life would work really easy. Of course I am leaving out details, but that is details.

My only concern is this, should there be a sort of glass like bubble for the first colony or a metal facility like a vault.

*I haven't read the article yet, got to excited after reading the first post.

 

[Glordag]

Hm, well, I think the change in reference frames would cause you all to be long dead by the time my recorded thoughts arrived. My understanding really stops at special relativity of linear motion, so it's hard to say exactly what would happen in rotational motion or a gravitational field...

My guess though would be that the only way this would work would be if the package traveled along the equipotential lines of the field, which would require the package to travel along a perfect circle connecting the launch point (me) and the destination (you guys) along its circumference, which is first of all impractical, and probably technically impossible too. Perhaps it could be arranged so that the change in reference frames would be negligible, in which case it would merely be impractical, and you would still age normally along with the package so you would still be long dead before it arrived from such a great distance.

Again though, I'm not sure any of that last paragraph is correct. I can't stress this enough.

Right, I didn't necessarily mean that we would get to hear your thoughts. I just meant that someone on Earth would. But then, I guess that depends on...a lot of things .

 

[loveofreason]

^Agreed. Except I have one question: Can I bring my cat? If yes then there are few things I wouldn't do to get a seat.

Oh no, Cavallier! Lister took his cat and look what happened!

 

[Tyria]

I would go if certain conditions were met.


*edit - I would prefer deep space travel. Something much farther out than Mars.

 

[loveofreason]

*nods*

There's something about an indefinite journey - the prospect of travelling forever - that's far more captivating than shuffling a few paces in one's own solar system. The big picture is far far out there. Mars is virtually home.

Though watching the Earth from the moon could keep me transfixed a while.

 

[Melllvar]

Right, I didn't necessarily mean that we would get to hear your thoughts. I just meant that someone on Earth would. But then, I guess that depends on...a lot of things .

Oh no, I'm not sending my thoughts back for just anyone. I went to die on Mars or the edge of the universe to get away from these people. Not sending anything back is my way of saying, "Screw you guys, I'm going home!"

Er, to simplify, or maybe over-complicate, what I was saying:

Spoiler

1 - When people fly away from each other on spaceships, they each will (paradoxically) age more slowly relative to the other one. (time dilation)
2 - It's not a contradiction because the time between and sequence of events is different for observers in different states of motion. (relative simultaneity)
3 - The actual, fairly well known, age difference in these things comes about when one person accelerates. (switching reference frames)
4 - In order to avoid making the package accelerate, I hypothesize that we could simulate its having traveled in a straight line at constant velocity and returned to Earth without having needed to accelerate away from the spaceship.
5 - There are other time issues that arise from general relativity and gravitational fields. To avoid these we make it move along the equipotential lines (using rockets or thrusters or something), so the field doesn't affect it.
6 - That would mean the planet, black hole, whatever would have to be at the center, and the start and end points would have to be equidistant from the center. (i.e. a circle)
7 - But since I don't understand relativistic rotational motion, I'm not sure that a circle would work. In fact I'm fairly sure I'm wrong here, since the package traveling on the circle would be moving at constant velocity tangential to the circle, but not relative to Earth sitting somewhere else on the circle. (fictitious forces)

This has been special relativity and the twin paradox 101. Thank you for listening, or ignoring my post, as the case may be.