Welcome to the Sunday Paper Club. (almost) every Sunday, this blog will offer analysis of a paper on space habitation and other related topics. These are my opinions on a weekly scientific paper; basically I read the paper and write down my thoughts are I read it. They are subject to my perspectives and believes. I am open to debate, so if any reader believes I have misinterpreted something in a paper, please point it out. I'm only a student and I'm still learning how to read these papers and interpret them. All quotes and ideas are from the paper unless otherwise noted.
This week we are reviewing the paper The Mir Crew Safety Record: Implications for Space Colonization.
This paper is based on the study Space Station Crew Safety Alternatives Study compiled by Boeing-North American and it is based on the Mir Safety Record, but these studies are applied to space colonization. This study gave an overview of all the safety issues that could occur on the International Space Station (ISS).
What’s interesting is that Mir was operated for 14 years, many years past the 5 year design life. Yet, the space station was able to protect its occupants from the harsh environment of space. Also, according to this paper, “the American space program[in 1985] was primarily concerned with the engineering technology required to put a man on the Moon. Medical requirements for survival was a related part, but basic biological research trailed behind and the psychosocial human factors were not an object of study for the most part.” I found this to be stunning, but I should have know this already. It was assumed that astronauts where tough and could deal with what ever was tossed at them, but this can not be ignored in the long term, no one can take high stress environments for years at a time.
The paper examines the slippery slope from a stressor to a safety hazard. Whenever we have a stressor, performance will be degraded. The pursuit of productivity after the performance has been lowered is where most safety hazards come in. We must deploy countermeasures against the stressor and the degraded performance to eliminate the safety hazard.
A space colonization effort can not be played out like a never-ending shuttle mission. People will snap. If they are over scheduled, people will not give up. I see this on nights where my school’s 24 hour library is full at 3am, repeatedly. People will not fail at their assignments, they will complete their work no matter the cost. According to the paper, this is especially true with astronauts who do work “conveyed to NASA by American universities and corporations that had spent millions of dollars to have in-flight experimental programs.” On shuttle missions, astronauts stay quiet about being overloaded, on long term missions, they can not stay quiet. The same thing applies to family problems.
Also, another interesting thing this paper bring up is that feeling of loneliness can build month before a mission, as training starts and one becomes “separated from the agency infrastructure they had come to rely upon”. Also, if maintenance actives fall behind, space inhabitant can be forced out of their habits and forced to give up on some projects. This is only increase stress in the crew.
