The Problem with Deep Space Travel

Hallucinations and mental health issues happened at sea when I was in the Navy. Starts at about 50 days continuously at sea. We had guys who swore they saw flying men with bat wings, paranoid behavior of all types, and lots of insomnia. I can only imagine what a multi year mission to Mars will do to people.

I just want to clarify around the 8 minute or so mark in the video, when you bring up that “some astronauts have hallucinated… flashes of light,” there’s pretty good evidence to suggest that those in particular may not be hallucinations at all, but rather a type of high-energy radiation that happens to pass through the optic nerve.

I don't think it's fair to mention Skylab astronauts turning off radio communications with mission control without also mentioning that they were being worked 24 hours a day. They weren't out of their minds they were exhausted and standing up for themselves.

Another problem with Deep Space Travel is simply... time. Lots and lots of time. It was touched on a couple of times, but really the time factor becomes huge in its own right whenever you start looking past the Moon or Mars. Four light years doesn't sound like much to get to our nearest solar nighbor, until you realize that at current technology that's centuries of time spent between systems in the deep black nothingness of space.

You didn’t mention a really promising anti-radiation technique undergoing studying, fungi discovered into radioactive scenarios (like old reactors or similar). This type of fungi works and live by radio-synthesis, basically the same process of a regular photosynthesis that every plants do to convert energy of sun into life. Design a new type of “insulation” for space ships and stations (both in orbit or the ground of other celestial bodies) could minimize the exposure of astronauts and be really cheap to maintain since the nature of the “natural” solution.

"What you need, is, a clown." space station 13 veteran cracks knuckles "My time to shine."

Many years ago in a high school creative writing class, I wrote a story where scientists were conducting an experiment to see if people could withstand long periods of time in space. At one point the participants in the space ship reported that a salesman was tapping on their window trying to sell them stuff. The scientist's conclusion of course was that no, humans weren't meant for long trips in space.

Another thing can be the background "noise" that is constant on earth. Basically a frequency that we are used to and get negative psycholigical effects without

Always a pleasure to get an upload from this channel.

8:15 the flashes of light could actually be high energy particles interacting with the optic nerve or the brain. Basically like a bit flip in your neurones. There is a great video by Veritasium about the topic.

For such a relatively new channel this is still definitely one of the best not just in science but overall quality on YouTube. Please keep up the great work

NASA: "We need humor, a uniquely human trait!" Also NASA: "So we're gonna build a computer to mimic human humor simulations--"

I've done a couple of space grade projects for the Space Shuttle long ago. The BIGGEST problem that I encountered was that just about EVERYTHING out-gasses. Anything that's a solvent, paints, inks, plastics, etc. 😖 It was a major pain in the @$$. I don't think they were imagining any smells. They were probably real fumes emitted by equipment itself.

Now this is the unique type of content we both never expected yet needed to see We seriously need to Make Astronauts Hr Giger biomechanics durable to extreme effects of space

Such a comprehensive overview, very nice! I wonder if just putting sleeping ares in a centrifuge would be enough to support long duration missions.

I worked many years city mass transport service depo maintaining streetcars or trolleys. I noticed 1/3 of long term mechanics who stayed in same work area year after year. Dealing with 750-980 volt overhead electric power. Had developed tremors and other minor neurological problems. Making their other underline hidden and past health issues more troublesome.

The radiation protection vest shown in the video is from the Israeli company Stemrad. I worked on the lower back portion (i.e.: the butt) of the vest that's going on Orion this year. There are two dolls onboard: One called Zohar that will wear the vest, and one called Helga that will not. Each doll is packed with radiation sensors that's measure the effectiveness of the vest. Another vest like this is already on the ISS and was tested for commutability and effect on astronaut work performance in microgravity.

9:55 I just had a wild thought. Have you ever seen John Carpenter's The Thing. What if there was no alien thing. What if the entire episode was a group delusion. This group of people just went crazy due to the isolation, and they killed each other because they believed they were alien shape shifters. An interesting and frankly more terrifying story. More terrifying because it's so unlikely that an alien shape shifter would crash on Earth it might as well be impossible. But a group of people living in isolation, that can, totally happen.

Mental health being taboo has many deleterious effects to society, one of which is ignoring the importance of psychology as a field of technology. Unfortunately, although the military of Western countries seems to recognize the importance of dealing with it, basically every developing country, as well as developed Asian countries, seems to have problems with it. As a psychologist, this is super frustrating to watch.

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