Expeditionary Astronauts Wanted
Expeditionary Astronauts Wanted, SpaceRef
“As NASA returns humans to the Moon and then heads out to Mars, a new type of astronaut will be required to explore these worlds. Let’s called them “expeditionary astronauts”. Just as expeditions fanned out across our planet to explore its wonders, expeditions to other worlds are now on the horizon. Project Apollo gave us a taste of what this could be like. Project Artemis will take it to a whole new level. And how we do these things is going to be different. Unlike Apollo NASA plans to go back to the Moon utilizing partnerships with other space agencies and private companies. Some companies may even go there on their own. The people who go on these missions are going to need skillsets much more diverse and synergistic than their Apollo predecessors. One astronaut has already started.”
Extraordinary astronauts should apply at Space X rather than NASA.
Shuttle Mission Specialists were an interesting bunch. By the time of Shuttle top-notch test piloting skills were no longer required for all of the crewmembers, and yet the Mission Specialists were far from being just passengers on a joyride. The bio of any Mission Specialist typically reveals a strong mix of a variety of skills, interests and accomplishments, along with fairly high levels of education typically in either science or engineering. These were type A individuals who thrived on setting and meeting goals. And more than just physically fit, most of them would best be described as being athletic. Hiking, mountain climbing, scuba diving, etc. were common hobbies among this group.
But that was LEO. For lunar and planetary exploration, while the above mentioned skills will be extremely helpful, I think Keith is on the right track with mountaineering and similar exploration as being almost a requirement. Especially when done in groups of two or more people where people are depending on each other for survival. There may be no better analog for exploring the surface of other worlds.
“mountaineering, exploration, and spaceflight…”
It goes even deeper than that…. Add field geologists, spelunkers, Antarctic researchers and technicians, outdoor trekking, and off-shore research and work, and people with diverse cross-field skill sets and educations. These are some of the best all inclusive experiences. So, the best initial candidate astronaut for planetary surfaces is one who has a geology degree, is a mountaineer, has cross training in at least two other fields (engineering, mining, emergency medical, IT, waste management, science, etc.), an active private pilot, and has integrating social skills (cooking, story telling, musician, psychology studies, etc.). In other-words, they need to be all round “Renaissance” people. And they mist be willing to be away from Earth for years. This will be the status quo until base populations reach around 35 where the need will arise for a few specialized jobs that are minimally cross trained (e.g., doctor, IT, maintenance/systems engineer, cook). Increased specialization only increases with growing populations. The question is whether we will ever see human populations of anywhere near those sizes in the next 30 years. A rough calculation I made shows that if a mission architecture increased one long-term inhabitant every six months that it would take NASA 100s of years to reach the summer working population of McMurdo Alaska. Something drastically different will need to occur if we are ever to see large, diverse and growing populations off Earth.
I’m not sure where one person per year comes from, or why the number of people at McMurdo matters (especially the summer, as opposed to the year-round population.) But I note that the Air Force operated a station on T-3, Fletcher’s Ice Island, in the Arctic from 1952 to 1978. Except for a few one-year gaps, it was permanently staffed. Eventually, they had two or three dozen people there. But at the start, and for the first year or two, there were only four or five people there. (Baring a temporary fiasco involving a botched attempt at the first landing at the north pole, mechanical failures and grounded aircraft…)
It was just a modified classical NASA mission 3-7 of people and always return with one person left behind at a growing base for an extended rotation as landings overlap. The whole point is that humans will never migrate off Earth in mass given any current concepts, funds or motivations. And science will never be a financial nor economic driver to make it happen either.
Those sound like made up numbers. Why 3-7 people? Why only one per year? What do you mean by a “modified classical NASA mission”? The only “classical NASA mission” I can think of is Apollo, which was two people and averaged two missions per year. And why only leave one person behind? That would certainly be unsafe for the first person, possibly for the first few people.
If we’re allowed to make up numbers, I’ll take your seven people, but assume two flights per year and everyone staying on the Moon. That hits the wintering over population of McMurdo in 18 years, not centuries. In fact, it would hit the wintering over population of Amundsen-Scott in three and a half years.
I think it will take something really drastic – a reduction in the transportation cost. Whether SpaceX and/or Blue can crack this
nut remains to be seen.
They need someone like Story Musgrave. Too bad he’s 83 now.
I can imagine the jockying by astronauts to get that first flight!
We still have a bit of a glut of astronauts. Commercial crew will no doubt open up more flight opportunities, but these new lunar missions will certainly be the most sought after.