Copyright © 2003 by Ned Chapin. Published by the Mars Society with permission. INFORMATION SYSTEMS GEAR IN MARS ANALOG RESEARCH

• Main Author: Ned Chapin
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Equipment characteristics; device characteristics; supplier collaboration; Arctic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.667.9640; http://marspapers.org/papers/Chapin_2003.pdf

The reports from the Mars Society’s arctic and desert research stations show the serious efforts the crews have made to create appropriate Mars analogs. Those efforts have resulted in findings that will be valuable in preparing for human beings to survive and work effectively on Mars. Increasing further the realism of the Mars analogs will continue to produce valuable findings. One area that so far has received relatively light attention in the analog efforts is information systems gear. What could be done to strength the analog work in that area has both “do ” and “don’t ” items. Among the seventeen major “don’t ” items, here are four: no pens, no pencils, no fans unless with seals on the rotating parts, and no gear with moving contacting parts exposed to the atmosphere (like many on-Earth keyboards or pushbuttons or antennas). Among the seventeen major “do” items, here are four: gear with rechargeable power packs, glove-compatible tethering for small hand-held gear, multi-function gear such as send-receive-capture of audio and images, and gear with no user-maintainable parts. To try to minimize the use of the “don’t ” items and to maximize the use of the “do ” items, planning will be required in preparing the agendas for future crews at the stations. In the information systems area, the Mars Society has the opportunity to collaborate with vendors and researchers in seeking to improve the quality of the analog achievable with the Mars Society’s research stations.