• electric_nan@lemmy.ml
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    2 years ago

    Spending any resources trying to colonize another fucking planet, while we continue to render ours uninhabitable is so fucking stupid. How about we re-learn how to live in balance with natural systems here, and then try and terraform another planet from scratch?

    • floofloof@lemmy.caOP
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      2 years ago

      But how is that going to bolster the fragile egos of some delusional billionaire techbro narcissists?

  • Fungah@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Can we not do the whole the rotat8ng ring artificial gravity yet?

    Like. Why are we not doing this? Can we not do this?

    • remotelove@lemmy.ca
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      2 years ago

      If you haven’t noticed, the space stations we do build require international cooperation and are basically just a bunch of rocket sections stuck together. The ISS, in all of its glory, took years to assemble and has some serious design constraints.

      A project of that magnitude would require lots of highly specialized parts to be launched into orbit first, or, we somehow manage to build an entire fabrication facility in orbit where it can process raw materials.

      The concept of a rotating ring is simple. Developing the means to build it is hyper-complex.

      • grue@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        You don’t have to build a whole ring. You just need a boom and a counterweight.

        I guess the hard part would be that a truncated-circle-sector-shaped room is more awkward to launch than a rocket-section-shaped one of equivalent usable space. (Also, you need a tube and a ladder down to a docking port at the center of mass, because spaceships can’t line up with a target swinging through an arc.)

      • Hupf@feddit.de
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        2 years ago

        basically just a bunch of rocket sections stuck together. The ISS, in all of its glory, took years to assemble and has some serious design constraints.

        Station Alpha intensifies

      • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        We definitely have the resources and aptitude to accomplish all of that. It’s just that our leaders would rather spend it fighting each other instead.

      • MotoAsh@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Not THAT complex. They already have several prototypes they’re planning on testing. They won’t be giant rotating stations, but rooms of a few meters across. It doesn’t take much rotation to get useful amounts of g’s.

    • Randomgal@lemmy.ca
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      2 years ago

      No, we can’t actually. That’s why it isn’t done. It’s science fiction, even if the math checks out.

      • pedroapero@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        A space station with artificial gravity would be a good project, rather than sending a man on Mars just to take a selfie.

  • AFK BRB Chocolate@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    “You can’t protect them from galactic radiation using shielding, but as we learn more about renal biology it may be possible to develop technological or pharmaceutical measures to facilitate extended space travel.”

    I wonder why

    • Delta_V@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      Maybe they’re looking at SLS numbers and ignoring reusable rockets like Starship? Perhaps it would not be feasible to move a sufficient mass of shielding into orbit using the $2 billion per flight, one time use SLS.

  • masquenox@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Gee… it’s almost like all the overmoneyed people who tried convincing us that “colonizing” space was (somehow) a “logical” thing for humanity to do is far, far too privileged and spoilt to realize just how ridiculously fragile humans are outside of the ecosphere we spent millions of years evolving to survive in.

    But hey - I still say we should fire a few billionaires off in a spacecan on a one-way trip to Mars just to be sure…

      • masquenox@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Shove all their money into public healthcare - it’s the gift that keeps on giving (which is why capitalists hate it so much)

  • jpreston2005@lemmy.worldBanned
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    2 years ago

    Another article that can’t even bother linking to the actual research

    Astronauts have an unusually high rate of kidney stone formation, with 1-year post-flight astronauts experiencing incidence rates of 2–7 times that of pre-flight estimates, and in-flight risk estimated to be double that again5. This is of mission critical significance, one Soviet in-flight renal stone episode nearly caused a mission termination due to the severe symptoms, but was relieved by spontaneous stone passage by the cosmonaut just before an urgent deorbit was initiated

    It has been demonstrated that spaceflight associated changes in urinary biochemistry favour kidney stone formation

    the kidney is an exquisitely radiation sensitive organ; it is the dose limiting organ in abdominal radiotherapy

    Our data robustly and orthogonally supports tubular remodelling occurring in microgravity with and without GCR (Galactic Cosmic Radiation). This is highly likely to have functional consequences, as tubular remodelling does in other scenarios39.

    Renal remodelling in microgravity (possibly related to the cephalad fluid shift) may therefore be a primary event that causes subsequent dysregulation of serum and urine electrolyte homeostasis. This is supported by the prompt return to baseline of humans on return to terrestrial gravity.

    Sounds like GCR is a big concern to Renal functionality due to it’s sensitivity to radiation, but they don’t think it’s the main driver of astronauts subsequent renal dysfunction. Interesting stuff.

  • Fedizen@lemmy.world
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    2 years ago

    Why not send a bunch of pigs to the moon and see if they adapt to microgravity after a few generations then see if any adaptations are usable.

    • Rakonat@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      I don’t know that Law Enforcement possess the skill and know how to establish a settlement on their own but I like your thinking, friend!

    • Rose@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      This kind of thinking is the reason we even have to think about moving to Mars as opposed to improving the life on this planet. People seeing themselves as gods and enslaving every creature and thing in sight, resulting in catastrophes like global warming and extinctions.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      There are dozens of astronauts who’ve spent years in the space station. Granted that’s across multiple missions, but the gravity on Mars might end up being enough to mitigate the damage.

      I’m more concerned with the “artist’s impression of a Mars colony” being a few low res shapes placed on top of what is very obviously a close up of a few square feet of Martian surface. Have they already outsourced chat GPT’s image gen to even cheaper models?

      • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Did you read the article? The research states that based on their findings the astronauts would need dialysis on the way back. How would mars gravity help with that if the damage is already done to the kidney when you get there?

      • slumberlust@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        Dozen(s) is not a large enough sample size for long term space impact. Even less, as you’ve noted, because there are even fewer consecutive streaks.

        If you are interested in a sober discussion of some of the known and unknowns surrounding colonizing mars, I would recommend A City on Mars by the Wienersmiths.