Storage Tubes Explained

Earlier this past "week", I posted a message, showing some pictures of storage tubes on a CTM.

You deserve an explanation.

The storage tube idea came from a visit to a certain Swedish department store, in particular, the one on I-10 near Silber Rd. Storage is a big deal on manned spacecraft, due to obvious mass constraints. On longer-term trips, personalization and personal space becomes very important as well. A 1997 book by the Committee on Advanced Technology for Human Support in Space at National Research Council, entitled Advanced Technology for Human Support in Space, says that there is no experience with multi-year isolation (beyond 400 days or so) of groups. I don't think that anyones knows enough about long-term group isolation in confined spaces to determine compatabilities of six homogeneous people (six American males of similar age, temperament, physicality, social/economic/political history) or heterogeneous people (six people of differing nations, ages, tempers, physical abilities, social groups, income levels, and political feelings).

NPR has done a series on isolation in high-security prisons. I found the link at the Staff Psychologist Blog. The series focuses on inviduals who spent years in isolation. This is in contrast to what is likely to happen on a trip to Mars, where 4 to 6 individuals will spend a finite time in space. Prisoners are by themselves, for an indefinite amount of time. Nonetheless, the story was fascinating for its implications. Decline in cognitive activity, sociability, and even in speech, were noted. Some prisoners became severely mentally ill. Others, when released into the public, became stuck in a rut of daily activities. For example, one person frequently just drove aimlessly in his car after work. He didn't like interacting with children, or many other people. He couldn't stand to watch TV anymore, after spending years doing just that -- watching TV in his cell.

I hope that no astronauts will have the severe mental baggage that many prisoners have, though the stuck-in-a-rut symptoms, and avoidance of things that they couldn't have (children) and had in excess (TV), are fascinating.

What a load of problems to avoid!

Since no one had any definitive answers, I decided to use my own experience in isolation in groups. Namely, spending the Fall 2000 and Spring and Fall 2003 semesters living in a dorm, and my years in architecture studio.

Those of you who have lived in dorms know what I'm talking about. Needless to say, I put up on the walls as much Chris Loyd as I could possibly do. That freaked out my roommates a bit, to have the other half of a 200 sq ft room covered in my stuff, but hey, it was my side of the room! Architecture school was a bit different, where I had work to distract me, as well as a computer much of the time. To enclose my space with doors to my locker, and cardboard, and watch a movie or something, was a Good Thing.

Take the above, and add mass constraints. The visit to Ikea showed flexible fabric cylinders in which one could stuff clothes, stuffed animals, etc. I thought that a slightly more sturdy version, to withstand launch, could hold books, the 2026-equivalent of the iPod. Make them transulcent to show off whatever stuff the astronauts bring with them. Since they are intended to hold soft, plushy, compact stuff, they can be shoved aside and compressed laterally without much effort.