Part 5 Can anyone be a Marsnaut?

Can you picture yourself in a place where you can look at the Earth as a very small star in the sky, just like Mars looks from Earth? What your thoughts would be, knowing that your family and all what you know are millions of kilometers away?

A journey to Mars is very different from a journey to the ISS or from a journey to the Moon, the big difference is that Astronauts will no longer be able to look at the Earth, it will get smaller until reaches de size of a small point in the universe; also, communications with Earth will take longer, sometimes nineteen minutes delay each way. This may cause a sense of loneliness to the crew.

To overcome this situation I considered that the crew must have a very well defined routine for physical exercises and a very specific diet to keep their body healthy, and also should have virtual sessions, previously recorded, with their families and friends; this means that they must have time to watch in virtual reality messages sent by their family, sports events and religious ceremonies. This way they will feel “connected”. For the first time these virtual reality recordings will include some smells, for instance the smell of a cake just prepared, or the smell of a lawn after it has been mowed. Although the Astronaut will not be able to interact, but at least he or she will be able to look around and see his home and family, and feel for a moment that he is there. The Astronaut will be able to record Virtual reality sessions and send them back to Earth. This is a very important issue to consider to keep the psychological balance of each member and of the group.

The crew will complete every day a medical questionnaire, that will be accompanied with the readings from the exercise machines; analysis of blood, urine and solid waste will be required as indicated by the flight surgeons, with this information nutritionists could adjust the diet for each crew member as needed to keep the physical balance.

During the journey, besides mission data, software updates for the vehicles and the virtual simulators, they will receive movies, TV programs digital books, even they will be able to play games with people on Earth, of course with the delay in the communication.

The group must be carefully selected and be observed during the training, they will have to live together for almost three years, and no one else will be around.

There is a whole chapter about this in the book. The critical aspect is to make sure the Astronauts always feel the presence of their family and the Earth, that they are not alone in Space.

Next time I will present a summary of the activities to make the Mission possible