Guest: Dr. Nick Kanas; Topics: We discussed the excellent new textbook-like humans in space book by our guest, "Behavioral Health and Human Interactions in Space."
Please direct all comments and questions regarding specific Space Show programs & guest(s) to the Space Show blog which is part of archived program on our website, www.thespaceshow.com. Comments and questions should be relevant to the specific Space Show program. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are a violation of our copyright and are not permitted without prior written consent, even if for your own use. We do not permit the commercial use of Space Show programs or any part thereof, nor do we permit editing, YouTube clips, or clips placed on other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted, but the quote must be cited or referenced using the proper citation format. Contact The Space Show for further information. In addition, please remember that your Amazon purchases can help support The Space Show/OGLF. See www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.
We welcomed back to the program Dr. Nick Kanas to discuss human health in space per the framework of his new book (textbook-like), "Behavioral Health and Human Interactions in Space." During our 1 hour 32-minute discussion, we covered many topics from LEO out to Mars, from spending time in LEO orbit to going to the Moon, landing on the Moon, living on the Moon and then finding our way to Mars to plant human roots on the Martian surface. The option of living in free space came up and was liked by our guest. Listen to our discussions about free space living pros and cons.
As I have done with other program summaries, I believe the Tags created for this show serve as the best short summary for topics discussed over our 92-minute conversation. For your convenience, I have repeated the Tags here for your easy reference.
Tags: Dr. Nick Kanas, Psychiatry Professor Emeritus @ UCSF, Behavioral Health and Human Interactions in Space, crew interactions on-orbit, spiritual effects in space, asthenization, Mars psychosocial stressors, lunar stressors, Artemis landing on the Moon plus Mars, mental and social concerns for lunar and Mars settlements, cognitive decline in space, psychological concerns in LEO, microgravity, radiation, various medical and psychiatric studies for human spaceflight, human reproduction in space, free space settlements, Artemis, landing on the Moon, living on the Moon, cultural differences in space, international cooperation for space projects, systems engineering, The Overview Effect, chronic depression and fatigue in space, robotics and AI, Russian crews, Chinese crews, SpaceX and living on Mars, astronaut care, telescopes for long duration spaceflight & settlement, test pilot Right Stuff comparisons.
Highlights from this discussion included brief but important commentary about pregnancy, babies and children in space on a settlement. Another topic that stood out for me was the issue of the crew dealing with the ever-increasing distance view of Earth getting smaller and smaller on the way to Mars, i.e. Earth separation. This coupled with the communication time delays was an important factor, at least from my perspective, in crew mental health on a Mars trip and eventually a Mars mission to stay. Nick did mention some ideas to address the time delays in communication. One idea was to stack family messages so they arrive one after another to mitigate the time delay in having some sort of normal conversation with loved ones back on Earth. Don't miss what was said about this. Yet another point discussed dealt with a Space Show favorite topic, the gravity prescription. Our guest talked about the need to know the best partial gravity for human spaceflight and suggested experiments to help determine that number.
Early in the show I asked a question about cognitive decline in long duration missions, maybe even LEO missions. Don't miss what our guest said about cognitive decline which is a real risk though it appears returning to Earth may help reverse some of it. There was some discussion about comparing crew health with Russians and Americans. Not much was known regarding Chinese crew health but listen to what he said regarding what we do know regarding the Russians. We also had an extensive Artemis Project discussion which included human behavioral health concerns for landing on the Moon.
During our 92-minute conversation, many other concerns and issues came up, were discussed with brief comments and then we moved on to additional concerns. As for the excellent book by our author which served as the foundation for our discussion, the Table of Contents covering multiple pages in the 393-page book provided a very though and descriptive outline of human space behavioral issues both real and potential. I would like to add that Chapter 10 included a summary of the book but also conclusions regarding major sections of the book and human spaceflight health concerns. I list them here so that Space Show listeners have a better sense of the depth and importance of assuring crew health on the psychiatric and sociological side of things along with engineering and science safety.
10.1 Summary
10.2 Conclusions on Stress and Its Measurement
10.3 Conclusions on Weightlessness and Low Sensory Input
10.4 Conclusions on Circadian Rhythm and Sleep
10.5 Conclusions on Confinement, Isolation, and Monotony
10.6 Conclusions on Psychiatric Considerations
10.7 Conclusions on Sociological Considerations
10.8 Conclusions on Crew Selection
10.9 Concluding Remarks
Please post your comments/questions for our guest on our blog page for this program. You can reach our guest through me here at The Space Show.
The Space Show
