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Mars Ecosphere Challenge
Cash award of $2,000 every day beyond 1 year that a person lives in a closed, self sustaining mini eco-system that could be built on Mars | |
The rules:
1- A human must live in a closed environment housed
within
a warehouse whose temperature, light and radiation are
the same as
that found on Mars, basically a refrigerated greenhouse
with darkened glass or artificial sunlight.
2- The environment, materials, agricultural and
other
food
growing supplies must be of a weight and volume that
could
be reasonably flown to mars with current technology.
3- The only raw materials that may be brought in are
those
that would be found on Mars. Water would be available
for
instance. Also sodium, potassium, chloride and
magnesium,
as well as all the iron oxide you can use if you can think
of
something to do with it.
4- This would be a completely closed ecosystem with the
subject eating only what was grown in the hermetically
sealed module or modules.
Once the subject gets past a year, the award starts at
$2,000 a day. Of course the pod dweller could have full
access to all the electronic communication that a Mars
dweller would have. 500 channels of cable, the internet
etc. They would tend their pod's life support and food
systems during the day and read, study or watch tv and
surf
the web at night. That might sound un-pleasant but I'd
be
locked in a high tech RV for a couple of years if I came
out
with a
million bucks waiting for me. Especially if it were
advancing the cause of science.
Silent Running
http://www.imdb.com...67756/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Prophetic ? [8th of 7, Mar 07 2014]
Mars radiation
http://www.mars-one...tlers-be-exposed-to
A pretty neat website [doctorremulac3, Mar 08 2014]
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Internet might be tricky with a ping time measured
in minutes. |
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But I like this. Should be a TV contest. |
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I think we could skip the realistic internet lag time and still validate that the important stuff works. |
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Hey, maybe that's the way to fund this, with a tv show or movie. Didn't David Blain freeze himself in a block of ice for a month or something for a tv special? |
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Get the Big Brother franchise to take it up. |
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" locked in a high tech RV for 3 years if I came out with a million bucks waiting for me " |
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That works out to about $38 an hour. You would need to work out a lot, and you might still be stark raving when you came out. |
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Or in your case, when you went in...;-) |
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I guess not much worse than a prison sentence and prison food. |
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//completely closed ecosystem // |
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... oxygen ? Presumably produced by electrolysis of water, but if it's
'closed', what do you do with the hydrogen ? Or can you vent that ? |
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Energy ? Solar, nuclear, fuel cells, biomass - what ? |
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Sounds a lot like a try-out for Silent Running ... <link> |
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"Calling all misanthropic vegans ..." |
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Nuclear power, solar. You keep some hydrogen for your fuel cells and vent the rest. |
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I'm guessing diversity in the diet might be lacking. I would propose some kind of greenhouse produced protein rich slime that could be converted to human chow. |
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//That works out to about $38 an hour// Perfect job for a graduate student. Beats working at Taco Bell. |
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// keep some hydrogen for your fuel cells and vent the rest // |
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But you can't do that on Mars, because you'd be contaminating a
pristine ecosystem with all those nasty protons, and Greenpeace (or
maybe Reddish-brownpeace) will be down on you like a ton of bricks. |
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//Beats working at Taco Bell. // |
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Well, if you're dealing with // greenhouse produced protein rich slime
// <obligatory Soylent Green reference/> it's near enough the same
thing ... |
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//Greenpeace (or maybe Reddish-brownpeace) will be down on you like a ton of bricks.// |
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One of the nice things about Mars, the nearest Greenpeace office is about 40 million miles away. |
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//whose temperature and light are the same as
that found on Mars// |
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Radiation? Pressure? Gravity? |
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You could argue that pressure doesn't matter if
you're dealing with an enclosed environment, but
I would counter that it's most likely that a martian
habitat would actually operate at below
atmospheric pressure, probably close to the limits
humans could adapt to. |
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And gravity severely affects how much energy a
human burns, and thus how much food, for
instance, would be needed. It might or might not
also affect how well various food plants are going
to grow. |
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Also, are you allowed to simulate multiple missions
prior to human arrival? |
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I'd be inclined to make an early step in a real mission
an inflatable ground sealed dome, and inject proper
the proper biota to turn it into soil prior to human
arrival. A nice farm and some disposable biomass, all
ready to go. |
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//Radiation?// I seem to recall that the average insolation on the surface of Mars is roughly the same as that on the surface of the Earth - the greater distance and the paucity of atmosphere and cloud cover cancel each other out. |
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//missions prior to human arrival// //all ready to
go// |
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Yes, a Mars colony would be manned my robots years
if not decades before humans arrived. The simulator
could be completely outfitted with everything
necessary the only stipulation being that the oxygen
must be cracked from water and the food must be
grown within a closed system. |
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As a 200 pound man I'd weigh 76 pounds on Mars so
yes, my calorie expenditure would be less, but that's
fine. In that aspect Earth would be a harsher
environment. |
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Radiation exposure isn't a problem. See link. |
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//As a 200 pound man I'd weigh 76 pounds on Mars // |
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... but of course your mass would still be 89kg. |
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//I seem to recall that the average insolation on
the
surface of Mars is roughly the same as that on the
surface of the Earth// |
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I meant ionizing, not visible light. Mars doesn't
have
a significant magnetic field, which combined with
the thinner atmosphere, makes living on the
surface
not recommended for long term survival. |
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[Doc] Your link is talking about a buried habitat.
Again, fine for living, possibly a little depressing,
but not so good for growing crops. |
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//I meant ionizing, not visible light.// |
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I meant radiation, not visible light :) Although the most useful radiation for powering photosynthesis and photovoltaics is likely to be more-or-less visible. |
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Yes, ionising radiation is going to be difficult to deal with. I guess the options are thick shielding that only transmits useful light, or mirrors that selectively reflect it, providing indirect illumination. |
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//[Doc] Your link is talking about a buried habitat.
Again, fine for living, possibly a little depressing, but
not so good for growing crops.// |
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Well, I haven't actually proposed anything
other than a contest wherein people solve problems
inherent with living on Mars. That being said, the
radiation issue isn't an
insurmountable problem. Associated problems of
gloomy architectural interiors and crop growing can
also be solved. It might not be easy, but it is after all
colonizing a planet. |
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Hmm. I thought this would get more buns. Maybe I'll
change the name. Closed sounds to negative. I'll drop
it and just call it ecosphere challenge. See if I can
rustle up some buns with that. |
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Ok, fixed up the clumsy title and introduction. Let's
see if this catches the eye a little better. Plus I raised
the prize money. |
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I'm not really seeing what problem this is supposed
to solve other than paying far above market rate for
habitat volunteers... Is the prize for a team that
invents a way to survive in those conditions? |
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//problems of gloomy architectural interiors//
//an enclosed environment//
//probably close to the limits humans could adapt to//
//difficult to deal with// |
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Scots. They are unaccustomed to sunlight,
and their gloomy disposition, arising from a
cobination of drab granite architecture, dour
joyless Calvinism, and interminable porridge
accompanied by bagpipes, make them ideally
suited. The scotch equivalent of an anti-
depressant is not having to eat haggis that
day. |
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And there are far too many of them (i.e.
more than none). This is after all the country
that produced Robert Burns, Tony Blair and
Gordon Brown … |
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Yay! we solve homelessness at the same time.
win win |
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//Is the prize for a team that invents a way to survive in those conditions?// |
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… with the added benefit that if they don't
survive, you not only don't have to pay them
but their bodies can be recycled into the
ecosystem ready for the next gang of happy
campers … |
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