In astronomy we are talking about distances that are measured in terms of light years. What is the thing that restricts us from trying and going there...?
No, it’s not the threat of aliens or asteroids, the biggest threat and the biggest risk factor in long-term space travel is humans themselves.
NASA has plans to go back to the Moon in 2018 and build up a colony there. Yet are humans prepared for such a lonely stay on the Moon...? The answer is a big NO!
Anxiety, loneliness, tensions with crewmates, a daily battle to maintain fitness and avoiding accidents is the causes that make up for a disturbed behavior in space.
Researchers have also stated that psychological stress could be the biggest problem of all.
We cannot depend on trips to Moon to determine human behavior in adverse situations because such trips last for just a couple of days. If we think about landing humans on other planets such as Mars, then we have to consider the fact that the journey from Earth to Mars will take six months and that too if the planets are very close to each other at that time. Then humans will stay there for a couple or more months and then the return journey will even longer like two and a half or three years because the planets would have changed there relative positions.
Moreover when astronauts are in ISS and spend more time there then they can also remain in direct contact with their family and friends and there are also some supply missions which bring food and even gifts for the astronauts. But now if we talk about Mars, the astronauts will have to wait for 45 minutes to pass on their conversation to the family members and wait another 45 minutes to get the reply.
A 110 day experiment was conducted in a mock space station in Moscow in 1999 and it showed how things can badly go wrong. One module housed four Russians and the second module housed test subjects from Austria, Canada and Japan. According to the reports two Russian men engaged in a fight that left blood on the walls, before they were restrained by other men.
The mission commander caught hold of the only female in the crew named Judith Lapierre, a Canadian and out of the sight of the experiment camera and twice gave her a French kiss that she had fought hard to resist.
Another Japanese participant was in such a state that he had to quit the experiment all together.
At this moment astronauts require intensive mental training if we think the humans will ever be able to live or land on Mars.
Via: physorg
