The Problem with Deep Space Travel

Credits:
Narrator/Writer: Stephanie Sammann
Writer: Ashleen Knutsen

Music:
Resolve by Jamie Bathgate
A Moon Walk---instrumental-version by Yehezkel Raz
Death In Space by Jon Gegelman
Ephemeral by Stanley Gurvich
Toward Mars by Jon Gegelman
Fused by Stanley Gurvich
It Was Time We Let Go by Stanley Gurvich
Discovery by Jimmy Svensson
Inner Space by Eric Haley

References:

[markw]

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.

[tristanread]

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.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

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.

[DavidRFortney]

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.

[Mukenin]

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.

[MickPosch]

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.

[theinfernoburns]

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

[gilliamdelauw]

"What you need, is, a clown."

*space station 13 veteran cracks knuckles*
"My time to shine."

[inconel]

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

[tengkualiff]

Always a pleasure to get an upload from this channel.

[thedoruk]

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

[pabloherrmann]

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.

[EladLerner]

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.

[masonkiel]

NASA: "We need humor, a uniquely human trait!"

Also NASA: "So we're gonna build a computer to mimic human humor simulations--"

[KOOLURATOOLGaming]

Love the feel of this channel - Just pure knowledge.

[registeredjademark]

I feel like I should be watching this on the Discovery Channel! Wild that I’m getting this for free on YouTube. Thank you for making and sharing this!

[SciHeartJourney]

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.

[erictaylor]

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.

[bbirda]

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

[fastfiddler]

One of the few channels I actually want the bell rung on. Also, to loosely quote Mr. Tyson: All this talk about colonizing other worlds and the technology we would need to achieve that, you'd think we would be able to save our own planet with less effort.