Renewed interest in human space exploration has highlighted the gaps in knowledge needed for successful long-duration missions outside low-Earth orbit. Although the technical challenges of such missions are being systematically overcome, many of the unknowns in predicting mission success depend on human behavior and performance, knowledge of which must be either obtained through space research or extrapolated from human experience on Earth. Particularly in human neuroscience, laboratory-based research efforts are not closely connected to real environments such as human space exploration. (...) As caves share several of the physical and psychological challenges of spaceflight, underground expeditions have recently been developed as a spaceflight analog for astronaut training purposes, suggesting that they might also be suitable for studying aspects of behavior and cognition that cannot be fully examined under laboratory conditions. Our objective is to foster a bi-directional exchange between cognitive neuroscientists and expedition experts by (1) describing the cave environment as a worthy space analog for human research, (2) reviewing work conducted on human neuroscience and cognition within caves, (3) exploring the range of topics for which the unique environment may prove valuable as well as obstacles and limitations, (4) outlining technologies and methods appropriate for cave use, and (5) suggesting how researchers might establish contact with potential expedition collaborators. We believe that cave expeditions, as well as other sorts of expeditions, offer unique possibilities for cognitive neuroscience that will complement laboratory work and help to improve human performance and safety in operational environments, both on Earth and in space. (shrink)

We show that, given extensive exploration of a three-dimensional volume, grid units can form with the approximate periodicity of a face-centered cubic crystal, as the spontaneous product of a self-organizing process at the single unit level, driven solely by firing rate adaptation.

There are many ways of enhancing human performance. For military aviation in general, and for spaceflight in particular, the most important tools are selection, training, equipment, pharmacology, and surgery. In the future, genetic manipulation may be feasible. For each of these tools, the specific modalities available range from the ethically acceptable to the ethically unacceptable. Even when someone consents to a particular procedure to enhance performance, the action may be ethically unacceptable to society as a whole and the burden (...) of risk for the individual may be too great. In addition, there are several characteristics that define the quality and the acceptability of the consent. Each method of enhancing performance will be examined in the context of the principles of medical ethics in a western society: autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence, and justice. The aim is to draw the attention of aeromedical practitioners to the complexities of ethical dilemmas such as this particular one in order to help them to develop a morally justifiable code of practice that balances society’s needs against individual ambitions and corporate goals. (shrink)

This book explores the contexts, questions, challenges and opportunities for creative exploration of form, materials, and the body, in space. Presenting 9 original case studies from artwork shaped by the unique physical and psychological conditions of space, and informed by exclusive interviews with artists working in the field, it highlights collaborations between artists, engineers, and theorists that have recontextualized the perception and use of weighted materials and subject positions in art practice.

Tentant de rompre avec une représentation de la sérendipité comme produit du hasard et de la chance relatifs à « l’esprit scientifique », il s’agit ici d’analyser comment la sérendipité peut être le produit d’une concordance des « temporalités de champs » résultant d’une combinatoire de temps d’habitus, d’activité et d’institution propres à chaque champ. Ces temporalités de champs rythmant leurs luttes pour le monopole de la pratique scientifique, elles constituent un point de concordance entre champs à partir desquels s’agencent (...) les conditions de production et d’identification d’une découverte « par sérendipité ». Une telle approche a, au reste, l’avantage de combler un point aveugle de la littérature sociologique et de proposer une analyse structuraliste du processus de découverte scientifique permettant de l’appréhender comme « pratique coordonnée d’institution ». (shrink)

I seem to know that I won't experience spaceflight but also that if I win the lottery, then I will take a flight into space. Suppose I competently deduce from these propositions that I won't win the lottery. Competent deduction from known premises seems to yield knowledge of the deduced conclusion. So it seems that I know that I won't win the lottery; but it also seems clear that I don't know this, despite the minuscule probability of my winning (...) (if I have a lottery ticket). So we have a puzzle. It seems to generalize, for analogues of the lottery-proposition threaten almost all ordinary knowledge attributions. For example, my apparent knowledge that my bike is parked outside seems threatened by the possibility that it's been stolen since I parked it, a proposition with a low but non-zero probability; and it seems that I don't know this proposition to be false. Familiar solutions to this family of puzzles incur unacceptable costs—either by rejecting deductive closure for knowledge, or by yielding untenable consequences for ordinary attributions of knowledge or of ignorance. After canvassing and criticizing these solutions, I offer a new solution free of these costs. Knowledge that p requires an explanatory link between the fact that p and the belief that p. This necessary but insufficient condition on knowledge distinguishes actual lottery cases from typical, apparently analogous ‘quasi-lottery’ cases. It does yield scepticism about my not winning the lottery and not experiencing spaceflight, but the scepticism doesn't generalize to quasi-lottery cases such as that involving my bike. (shrink)

Funding organizations around the world are adopting open science policies, resulting in a pressing need for open science programs. In response to the 2011 decadal survey, NASA sought to expand and accelerate omics research, releasing its GeneLab Strategic Plan in 2014. GeneLab is an open science data repository and analysis portal for spaceflight and space-relevant omics data. GeneLab’s output has been outstanding, but its full potential as a way to transform space biology has not yet been achieved. NASA should (...) pursue the development of GeneLab as an open science platorm in earnest. (shrink)

There is a long history, dating back to the 50s, which examines the manner in which team roles contribute to effective team performance. However, much of this work has been built on ad-hoc teams working together for short periods of time under conditions of minimal stress. Additionally, research has been conducted with little attention paid to the importance of temporal factors, despite repeated calls for the importance of considering time in team research (e.g., Mohammed, Hamilton, & Lim, 2009). To begin (...) to understand team roles and how temporal aspects may impact the types of team roles employed when teams are working in extreme mission critical environments, the current manuscript uses a data-driven, bottom-up approach. Specifically, we employ the use of retrospective historical data as our input and a historiometric approach (Simonton, 2003). Source documents consist primarily of autobiographies, memoires, biographies, and first-hand accounts of crew interaction during spaceflight. Critical incidents regarding team interaction were extracted from these source documents and independently coded for team roles by two trained raters. Results of the study speak to the importance of task and social roles within teams that are predominantly intact and operating in extreme environments where mistakes can be life threatening. Evidence for the following task (i.e., coordinator, boundary spanner, team leader, evaluator, critic, information provider, team player, and innovator) and social roles (i.e., team builder, nurturer, harmonizer, entertainer, jokester, and the negative roles of attention seeker and negativist) were found. While it is often task roles that receive the greatest attention, results point to the importance of not neglecting the socioemotional health of the team (and the corresponding roles). Results also indicated that while some roles were consistently enacted independent of temporal considerations (e.g., mission length), the degree to which others were enacted varied across missions of differing lengths. Additionally, based on the current sample we see the following trends: (1) increased enactment of the team builder role as mission duration increases, (2) prominence of the entertainer role, and (3) increased emphasis on the visionary/problem solver role on missions over two years. (shrink)

Freeman Dyson has a well-deserved reputation as a truly original thinker. He helped to conceive Project Orion, a hydrogen-bomb-powered starship concept, and his name is associated with the Dyson sphere, the ultimate solar-energy based civilization. Whenever there are two conflicting opinions on a controversial technical subject, be it disarmament, nuclear power, or construction of big accelerators, Dyson can be depended upon to propose a strikingly original third opinion, always logical and well-considered, which bears little resemblance to either of the other (...) two. In the case of the space program his views stand in striking contrast to those of both the "Get humans into space at whatever cost" camp and the "Dump manned spaceflight and do space science with machines" advocates. (shrink)

All large-scale technology options in recent history were received by the public, partly with enthusiasm, partly with rejection. This applies to space exploration as a whole, but particularly to human spaceflight. However, the conclusion that human spaceflight involves huge costs for little benefit by no means justifies its rejection as a pointless endeavor. In fact, there may be a trans-utilitarian or non-monetary rationale to justify human spaceflight. Consequently we have to distinguish between utilitarian and trans-utilitarian ends of (...) spaceflight. It is this system of utilitarian and trans-utilitarian ends, and the resources allocated to each of them, that constitutes the culture of a society. As a result, human spaceflight emerges as a cultural option. Such options neither need to be taken under all circumstances, nor does the acceptance of any such option mean that they should be exempt from further critical reflection. Rather, having considered all other cultural options, they should be pursued as far as they can be afforded. (shrink)

This book gives a concise history of biophysics in contemporary China, from about 1949 to 1976. It outlines how a science specialty evolved from an ambiguous and amorphous field into a fully-fledged academic discipline in the socio-institutional contexts of contemporary China. The book relates how, while initially consisting of cell biologists, the Chinese biophysics community redirected their disciplinary priorities toward rocket science in the late 1950s to accommodate the national interests of the time. Biophysicists who had worked on biological sounding (...) rockets were drawn to the military sector and continued to contribute to human spaceflight in post-Mao China. Besides the rocket-and-space missions which provided the material context for biophysics to expand in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Chinese biophysicists also created research and educational programs surrounding biophysics by exploiting the institutional opportunities afforded by the policy emphasis on science's role to drive modernization. The book explores and demonstrates the collective achievements and struggles of Chinese biophysicists in building their scientific discipline. (shrink)

A chamada corrida espacial remete a um dos mais instigantes eventos da Guerra Fria e da própria história humana. Neste artigo, busca-se explicitar o contexto do pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial em que Estados Unidos e União Soviética decidiram investir em tecnologias para explorar e ocupar o espaço exterior, sobretudo a órbita terrestre, destacando suas estratégias ligadas à obtenção de informações sobre a ação do “inimigo” mediante a constituição de sistemas permanentes de inteligência a um baixo custo político para as tensas relações (...) bipolares. Em meio a demonstrações de superioridade bélico-científica envolvendo o desenvolvimento de mísseis intercontinentais, satélites de pesquisa e os pioneiros voos espaciais tripulados, as superpotências se empenharam para instalar secretos sistemas orbitais de monitoramento dos arsenais nucleares, cuja entrada em operação passou a propiciar tecnologias eficazes para o governo do terror nuclear e para a administração diplomático-militar dos conflitos decorrentes de seu enfrentamento planetário. Além de recuperar informações sobre a Guerra Fria, a problematização da corrida espacial também contribui para o estudo genealógico dos programas sidero-planetários de monitoramento que se afirmam como elementos dos dispositivos de poder das contemporâneas sociedades de controle.Bring data! Space race and Intelligence The so-called space race refers to one of the most exciting events of the Cold War and of the human history. In this article, we try to explain the post-World War II context in which the United States and Soviet Union decided to invest in technologies to exploit and occupy outer space, especially the terrestrial orbit, highlighting their strategies for obtaining information about the action of the "enemy" through the constitution of permanent systems of intelligence at a low political cost for tense bipolar relations. Amidst demonstrations of warlike scientific superiority involving the development of intercontinental missiles, research satellites, and pioneering manned spaceflight, the superpowers worked to install secret orbital systems for monitoring nuclear arsenals, whose entry into operation began to provide effective technologies to the government of nuclear terror and to the diplomatic-military administration of the conflicts arising from its planetary confrontation. In addition to retrieving information about the Cold War, the problematization of the space race also contributes to the genealogical study of the space-planetary programs of monitoring that affirm themselves as elements of the devices of power of the contemporary societies of control. Resumen Bring data! Carrera espacial y inteligencia La carrera espacial lleva a uno de los más estimulantes eventos de la Guerra Fría y de la historia humana. En este artículo, vamos a explicitar el contexto de lo post Segunda Guerra Mundial en lo que Estados Unidos y Unión Soviética decidieron hacer uso de tecnologías para explorar y ocupar el espacio exterior, sobretodo la órbita terrestre, subrayando las estrategias relacionadas a la obtención de información sobre la acción del “enemigo” frente a la constitución de sistema permanentes de inteligencia de bajo coste político para las tensas relaciones bipolares. Entre las demonstraciones de superioridad bélica-científica involucrando el desarrollo de misiles intercontinentales, satélites de investigación y los pioneros vuelos espaciales tripulados, las superpotencias insistieron en instalar secretos sistemas orbitales para monitorear los arsenales nucleares, cuyo inicio de operación proporcionó tecnologías eficaces para el gobierno del terror nuclear y para la administración diplomático-militar de conflictos resultantes del enfrentamiento planetario. Además de recuperar informaciones sobre la Guerra Fría, la problematización de la carrera espacial también contribuye a que el estudio genealógico de programas siderales y planetarios para monitorizar que se afirman como elementos de dispositivos de poder de sociedades de control contemporáneas. (shrink)

The universality of gravity (1g) in our daily lives makes it difficult to appreciate its importance in morphology and physiology. Bone and muscle support systems were created, cellular pumps developed, neurons organised and receptors and transducers of gravitational force to biologically relevant signals evolved under 1g gravity. Spaceflight provides the only microgravity environment where systematic experimentation can expand our basic understanding of gravitational physiology and perhaps provide new insights into normal physiology and disease processes. These include the surprising extent (...) of our body's dependence on perceptual information, and understanding the effect and importance of forces generated within the body's weightbearing structures such as muscle and bones. Beyond this exciting prospect is the importance of this work towards opening the solar system for human exploration. Although both appear promising, we are only just beginning to taste what lies ahead. (shrink)

The paper investigates the evolution of the first manned international space mission – a rendezvous and docking between a US and a Soviet spacecraft in 1975 known as the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. The aim is to reconsider the rationales behind the ASTP from both a conceptual and an empirical perspective in order to get a better understanding of the evolution of international cooperation in the highly competitive and strategic field of space technology. Based on archival sources from Moscow, it sheds (...) some light on those factors that led to a change in the previous reluctance of Soviets to cooperate with the US in the manned spaceflight. From the theoretical point of view, it argues that the ASTP was as much a tool of competition as one of cooperation and resulted from an interplay between cooperative and competitive logics. To explain the turn towards cooperative practices, the article looks at the complex constellation of competitive relations that existed within the national and international context of space exploration and changed in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The decisive role in those changes was played by factors that can be subsumed under the notion of the so-called “third.”. (shrink)

Mounting ambitions and capabilities for public and private, non-government sector crewed space exploration bring with them an increasingly diverse set of space travelers, raising new and nontrivial ethical, legal, and medical policy and practice concerns which are still relatively underexplored. In this piece, we lay out several pressing issues related to ethical considerations for selecting space travelers and conducting human subject research on them, especially in the context of non-governmental and commercial/private space operations.