

Fake mission to Mars leaves astronauts spaced out - bcl
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/jan/07/fake-mission-mars-astronauts-spaced-out

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mapt
I don't understand the problem. In space, particularly in a situation where
there isn't much to do, why _should_ schedules stick to an arbitrary 24 hour
repetition cycle? If everybody's sleeping about 1/3 of the time, why is it
important that their cycles line up precisely?

edit: On the surface of the actual planet, of course there are constraints on
what is possible and any joint missions need to be synchronized, but it's also
easy to simulate a degree of the normal daytime forcing cycle.

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lmm
Asking the crew to live on mars time and using standard techniques for shift
workers (bright lights and blackout curtains) to help this seems like the
obvious approach. Certainly it seems scientifically irresponsible to say the
effects "would likely have been much worse had the subjects been required to
live on a 24.65-hour day" without testing it.

