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It seems there's an outbreak of the common cold at McMurdo Station. This is notable because of their lack of ability to control the spread of the disease. Workload has been a major factor in promoting the spread of the disease - nobody has the time needed to lay up and heal properly, obey a quarantine or even use better hygiene. And the infection rate is very high - better than half. The common cold is a relatively minor ailment ninety-nine times out of a hundred, but it can kill under some circumstances, and can readily infect everyone in a closed environment.
I worry that something similar, involving an otherwise innocuous illness that would not be vaccinated or quarantined for before the mission, could happen at a Mars Base. If it were to lay low as much of the Mars base population as it has at McMurdo, the consequences could be disastrous.
"We go big, or we don't go." - GCNRevenger
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Closed loop areas of environment are problematic in the regards to contagians.
On the last shuttle mission to the ISS they actually swabbed lots of places all over the station to see how bacterium of all sorts have adapted to space.
Wallops rocket launch set for Monday
It will be a Commercial endeavor will carry satellites for science and defense experiments.
It's only the first of three more launches that will follow within the next 12 months. There are estimates that each launch's cost, including the rocket and satellites are around $60 million.
The GeneSat-1 project was developed by the NASA Ames Research Center in collaboration with students and faculty from several California universities. The satellite's mission will last four to six months, said Bruce Yost, Ames' GeneSat mission manager.
The 11-pound miniaturized, autonomous "spacelab," consisting of three connected cubes, will carry harmless E. coli K-12 bacteria into orbit to study the long-term effects of spaceflight on living organisms.
The rising spaceport count and its minimal costs to make the rocket makes me wonder how bloated the Orion Ares1/v are.
Mid-Atlantic commercial spaceport counts down to first takeoff
It will be the first takeoff from the commercial Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, one of only six federally licensed spaceports, and it's the result of a decade of work to get a regional space industry off the ground.
Monday's launch will cost about $60 million, including the rocket and the satellites, and Wallops and MARS have had about six months to prepare, Reed said. Other launches can cost $100 million just for the rocket and take 12-18 months to prepare.
the parts making up the Minotaur are well-understood, Dulles-based Orbital Sciences Inc. built the 70-foot-tall, 70,000-pound rocket, with two stages made from decommissioned Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles and two stages made from Orbital's Pegasus rockets.
Not to get us to far off topic: the launch site also will be needed for the coming shuttle launch as well.
NASA Wallops also assists the Kennedy Space Center on shuttle launches, providing radar support and transmitting data between the shuttle and the space center. The instrumentation at Wallops needed to support the shuttle has to be set up and locked nearly two days before its launch.
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What you describe is called the crud and the incident happened about three years ago if I remember (RAF personel from the falklands had to go in to help run the base).
In the antartic even the janitors have degree's and with so little time time available to do experiments and work the people at the station ignore the little things like looking after themselves and so they get sick and it spreads to others.
They have now imposed hygene rules like having hand cleaning stations just before you enter the base galley and a rule of common courtesy if you get sick you stay away from others.
Chan eil mi aig a bheil ùidh ann an gleidheadh an status quo; Tha mi airson cur às e.
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What you describe is called the crud and the incident happened about three years ago if I remember (RAF personel from the falklands had to go in to help run the base).
Technically, it's what Scientific American magazine describes, but yes, apparently I misread the article. (It wasn't hard. Darn Editors. :? )A quick check with other sources reveals that, while McMurdo is having another outbreak this year, it is not nearly as bad as 2003. However, my search did reveal another interesting phenomenon.
There's an outbreak recorded this year, 2006. There was a major problem with an outbreak in 2003, and I found outbreaks recorded in 2000, 1997, and mention of a case in 1994.
It might just be sampling error, but this is starting to look like a pattern.
Is this the "three year Crud?"
"We go big, or we don't go." - GCNRevenger
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CME - I'm not sure it would necessarily be disastrous but it is a factor (especially as low gravity does appear to compromise the immune system). Strangely I was speculating on another thread whether people in Antarctic stations also suffered compromised immunity because their immune systems weren't being tested in the way they are in crowded cities etc.
I think the workplan on Mars should allow for a "slowdown" situation where everything switches to minimal power and resource use (I was thinking of dust storms but this could apply also to situations where there are not enough people active to maintain all systems.
Let's Go to Mars...Google on: Fast Track to Mars blogspot.com
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Here is the original for mars and earth contagion topic
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