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4 people are living in an isolated habitat for 30 days. Why? Science!

2016 Feb 1, 3:27

nasa:

This 30 day mission will help our researchers learn how isolation and close quarters affect individual and group behavior. This study at our Johnson Space Center prepares us for long duration space missions, like a trip to an asteroid or even to Mars.

image

The Human Research Exploration Analog (HERA) that the crew members will be living in is one compact, science-making house. But unlike in a normal house, these inhabitants won’t go outside for 30 days. Their communication with the rest of planet Earth will also be very limited, and they won’t have any access to internet. So no checking social media kids!

The only people they will talk with regularly are mission control and each other.

image

The crew member selection process is based on a number of criteria, including the same criteria for astronaut selection.

What will they be doing?

Because this mission simulates a 715-day journey to a Near-Earth asteroid, the four crew members will complete activities similar to what would happen during an outbound transit, on location at the asteroid, and the return transit phases of a mission (just in a bit of an accelerated timeframe). This simulation means that even when communicating with mission control, there will be a delay on all communications ranging from 1 to 10 minutes each way. The crew will also perform virtual spacewalk missions once they reach their destination, where they will inspect the asteroid and collect samples from it. 

A few other details:

  • The crew follows a timeline that is similar to one used for the ISS crew.
  • They work 16 hours a day, Monday through Friday. This includes time for daily planning, conferences, meals and exercises.  
  • They will be growing and taking care of plants and brine shrimp, which they will analyze and document.

But beware! While we do all we can to avoid crises during missions, crews need to be able to respond in the event of an emergency. The HERA crew will conduct a couple of emergency scenario simulations, including one that will require them to maneuver through a debris field during the Earth-bound phase of the mission. 

image

Throughout the mission, researchers will gather information about cohabitation, teamwork, team cohesion, mood, performance and overall well-being. The crew members will be tracked by numerous devices that each capture different types of data.

image

Past HERA crew members wore a sensor that recorded heart rate, distance, motion and sound intensity. When crew members were working together, the sensor would also record their proximity as well, helping investigators learn about team cohesion.

Researchers also learned about how crew members react to stress by recording and analyzing verbal interactions and by analyzing “markers” in blood and saliva samples.

image

In total, this mission will include 19 individual investigations across key human research elements. From psychological to physiological experiments, the crew members will help prepare us for future missions.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

PermalinkComments

4 people are living in an isolated habitat for 30 days. Why? Science!

2016 Feb 1, 3:27

nasa:

This 30 day mission will help our researchers learn how isolation and close quarters affect individual and group behavior. This study at our Johnson Space Center prepares us for long duration space missions, like a trip to an asteroid or even to Mars.

image

The Human Research Exploration Analog (HERA) that the crew members will be living in is one compact, science-making house. But unlike in a normal house, these inhabitants won’t go outside for 30 days. Their communication with the rest of planet Earth will also be very limited, and they won’t have any access to internet. So no checking social media kids!

The only people they will talk with regularly are mission control and each other.

image

The crew member selection process is based on a number of criteria, including the same criteria for astronaut selection.

What will they be doing?

Because this mission simulates a 715-day journey to a Near-Earth asteroid, the four crew members will complete activities similar to what would happen during an outbound transit, on location at the asteroid, and the return transit phases of a mission (just in a bit of an accelerated timeframe). This simulation means that even when communicating with mission control, there will be a delay on all communications ranging from 1 to 10 minutes each way. The crew will also perform virtual spacewalk missions once they reach their destination, where they will inspect the asteroid and collect samples from it. 

A few other details:

  • The crew follows a timeline that is similar to one used for the ISS crew.
  • They work 16 hours a day, Monday through Friday. This includes time for daily planning, conferences, meals and exercises.  
  • They will be growing and taking care of plants and brine shrimp, which they will analyze and document.

But beware! While we do all we can to avoid crises during missions, crews need to be able to respond in the event of an emergency. The HERA crew will conduct a couple of emergency scenario simulations, including one that will require them to maneuver through a debris field during the Earth-bound phase of the mission. 

image

Throughout the mission, researchers will gather information about cohabitation, teamwork, team cohesion, mood, performance and overall well-being. The crew members will be tracked by numerous devices that each capture different types of data.

image

Past HERA crew members wore a sensor that recorded heart rate, distance, motion and sound intensity. When crew members were working together, the sensor would also record their proximity as well, helping investigators learn about team cohesion.

Researchers also learned about how crew members react to stress by recording and analyzing verbal interactions and by analyzing “markers” in blood and saliva samples.

image

In total, this mission will include 19 individual investigations across key human research elements. From psychological to physiological experiments, the crew members will help prepare us for future missions.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

PermalinkComments

Retweet of edwardsanchez

2016 Jan 26, 4:51
First time I see transparent LED being used. Feels science fictiony.
PermalinkComments

Tweet from David_Risney

2015 Nov 9, 9:28
Missing planet Vulcan predicted by Newtonian physics+Mercury's orbit. Decades of mistaken Vulcan sightings before GR http://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2015/11/science-doesnt-work-the-way-you-think-it-does/414744/ …
PermalinkComments

Retweet of DrScienceCat

2015 Jun 24, 1:29
The Smithsonian uploaded this today pic.twitter.com/S6lWvgm0Pw
PermalinkComments

laughingsquid: Testing People’s Reaction Times With a Ruler in...

2013 Jul 5, 3:05


laughingsquid:

Testing People’s Reaction Times With a Ruler in Super Slow Motion

PermalinkCommentsbrain science video speed time humor

A Slower Speed of Light Official Trailer — MIT Game Lab (by...

2012 Nov 13, 7:41


A Slower Speed of Light Official Trailer — MIT Game Lab (by Steven Schirra)

“A Slower Speed of Light is a first-person game in which players navigate a 3D space while picking up orbs that reduce the speed of light in increments. A custom-built, open-source relativistic graphics engine allows the speed of light in the game to approach the player’s own maximum walking speed. Visual effects of special relativity gradually become apparent to the player, increasing the challenge of gameplay. These effects, rendered in realtime to vertex accuracy, include the Doppler effect; the searchlight effect; time dilation; Lorentz transformation; and the runtime effect.

A production of the MIT Game Lab.

Play now for Mac and PC! http://gamelab.mit.edu/games/a-slower-speed-of-light/

PermalinkCommentsscience game video-game mit 3d light-speed

Why aren’t my kids hyper after binging on sugar?

2012 Oct 1, 8:23

“A particularly troublesome finding was that for some children, if they were told that sugar would make them hyper, then they actually would become hyper after thinking that they had eaten sugar.”

PermalinkCommentsscience sugar parent

Ben Goldacre’s TED talk on publication bias, drug...

2012 Sep 28, 3:55


drug companies hiding the results of clinical trials.

(via I did a new talk at TED, on drug companies and hidden data.)

PermalinkCommentsscience video ted

NASA Rover Finds Old Streambed on Martian Surface (nasa.gov)

2012 Sep 27, 2:58PermalinkCommentsspace mars science nasa

A New Species Discovered ... On Flickr (npr.org)

2012 Aug 11, 9:17

Winterton, a senior entomologist at the California Department of Food and Agriculture, has seen a lot of bugs. But he hadn’t seen this species before.

There’s no off switch when you’re the senior entomologist. If you’re browsing the web you find your way to Flickr photos of insects or start correcting Wikipedia articles on insects.

PermalinkCommentsflickr insect science photos

wired: jtotheizzoe: Meet Sarcastic Mars Rover, now on Twitter,...

2012 Aug 7, 5:57










wired:

jtotheizzoe:

Meet Sarcastic Mars Rover, now on Twitter, doing a science all over your everything.

Meet your new twitter friend.

PermalinkCommentshumor mars rover science

laughingsquid: Nope. Nik Tesla.

2012 Jul 16, 7:38


laughingsquid:

Nope. Nik Tesla.

PermalinkCommentshumor science history meme

(via Classic pro-science-careers music video PSA: Chemical...

2012 Jun 29, 10:03


(via Classic pro-science-careers music video PSA: Chemical Party)

Xeni says: “The EU wasn’t always so terrible at promoting science careers through funny internet music videos! (thanks, Guido)”

PermalinkCommentshumor chemistry video

Crypto breakthrough shows Flame was designed by world-class scientists | Ars Technica

2012 Jun 7, 9:12

So this is another Stuxnet by Israel/US?

The analysis reinforces theories that researchers from Kaspersky Lab, CrySyS Lab, and Symantec published almost two weeks ago. Namely, Flame could only have been developed with the backing of a wealthy nation-state. … “It’s not a garden-variety collision attack, or just an implementation of previous MD5 collisions papers—which would be difficult enough,” Matthew Green, a professor specializing in cryptography in the computer science department at Johns Hopkins University, told Ars. “There were mathematicians doing new science to make Flame work.”

PermalinkCommentstechnical security web internet md5 cryptography flame

wired: [via motherjones]: theweekmagazine: Sticking to an...

2012 Jun 7, 3:29


wired:

[via motherjones]:

theweekmagazine:

Sticking to an exercise routine takes dedication, and many fitness junkies swear that a running companion can be a huge help. That’s why researchers have developed “Joggobot,” a quad-rotor helicopter drone designed to motivate joggers by flying in front of them. 

The aerial robot uses its camera to spot a colorful pattern on a T-shirt worn by the jogger, and flies at a safe distance ahead. The runner can control Joggobot using a smartphone: In “companion mode,” the drone simply maintains the jogger’s pace; in “coach mode,” it pushes its human trainee a little faster.

Don’t worry, there’s a video

Science!

Maybe it should chase you instead?

PermalinkCommentshumor exercise robot future video

Get Set: A Jet To Replace Needles For Injections : Shots - Health Blog : NPR

2012 May 27, 7:18

Star Trek’s hypospray apparently already existed and has been patented since 1960.

PermalinkCommentsstar-trek science medicine injection video npr

A whole Richard Feynman Talks collection by Brian Norgard...

2012 Feb 29, 10:19


A whole Richard Feynman Talks collection by Brian Norgard contains wonderful videos like this.

PermalinkCommentsrichard-feynman video science

What a cool idea! (via Mad Science Monday: Never Visit The...

2012 Feb 16, 5:43


What a cool idea!

(via Mad Science Monday: Never Visit The Dentist Again)

PermalinkCommentshumor teeth dentist video bow-and-arrow

DRM is to publishing as science was to Stalinism

2012 Jan 30, 9:11

I hadn’t heard of “Social DRM” (described in this article). Sounds like my blackmail DRM idea.

PermalinkCommentsdrm publishing
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