Sleep problems could jeopardise future missions to Mars | Hacker News Reader

Sleep problems could jeopardise future missions to Mars

bbc.co.uk

20 pointsDanBC9 comments

This is good stuff to know before a Mars mission, but the headline is unnecessarily dire-sounding. It's a problem, yes, but it doesn't sound particularly hard to solve. Get bright, sun-spectrum, non-gloomy lighting for the "day", get dim-to-nonexistent lighting for "night", and establish a schedule for switching between them. This should help, probably quite a lot.

It's possible that some people won't be able to adjust to reasonable indoor lighting; it's pretty difficult to artificially replicate daylight. Or there may be energy constraints.

The article suggests that they'll just screen astronauts for irregular sleep cycles, which should only take a couple weeks of simulation at most.

Or two to four months, as the article specifically states.

That was actually one of the valuable research results; 500 days was not a better test than 120 days.

Or they could just use windows and shades. The lack of windows was an unnecessary constraint in the study.

It would break the experience. Wouldn't it also facilitate depression by constantly reminding them that they are on Earth and could leave at any time they wanted to?

Perhaps I should have said that it was a constraint that is not necessary on an actual Mars mission.

Plus melatonin and modafinil.

Haven't pilots have used this stuff for years?

Presumably going to Mars is particularly bad, but actually going to freaking Mars probably helps a little with the depression.

Ask anyone who has gone through long term sleep disruption (parents). It will mess you up.

An irregular sleep cycle seems pretty mild compared to super space bacteria, a weakened immune system, and problems with radiation.

http://boingboing.net/2013/01/07/another-danger-for-astronau... http://boingboing.net/2013/01/04/how-space-radiation-hurts-a...

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