Saturday, February 12, 2011

Well, that's ruined the simulation

The Guardian has another story on the fake Mars mission being conducted in Russia, as they are about to "land" on the fake Mars surface.

The absolutely fundamental thing that makes this simulation psychologically different to the real thing is the fact that all of them know, in the back (and probably from time to time, the front) of their minds that they can walk out on it at any time if they are really fed up.

The other simulation ruining thing I noticed is this:
In their spare time the crew do their best to keep boredom at bay with books, DVDs and video games like Guitar Hero. A few months ago the French crew member, Romain Charles, gave juggling lessons with a set of balls improvised from linseed and balloons.
I'm sorry: there is no juggling to be done in space. This simulation just keeps getting less and less credible all the time...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steve
Astronauts have juggled ping pong balls, globules of water and vegetables while in space as experiments, as well as for fun...

Gab

Steve said...

Depends how you define "juggling". I know your fondness for idiosyncratic definitions from another corner of the internet, but now it's spreading. Eek.

Anonymous said...

Come come now Steve, it's not me saying juggling, it's the astronauts themselves..

http://www.space.com/4213-teacher-astronaut-describes-space-earthbound-students.html