NASA wants people to sleep

[WDZOrangeJuice]

From the article I read about (http://www.dvice.com/2013-9-23/nasa-will-pay-you-18000-stay-bed-70-days), NASA wants people to lay in bed for 70 days. And they pay you $18k in doing so.

Also here's another link for the experience of doing the experiment: http://www.vice.com/read/nasa-patient-8179-100

[Bill Phil]

Nah. That pay is way too little. Let's do the math...

About 11 bucks an hour.

Plus, it would get dull quick. Doing nothing does not equal doing nothing. My doing nothing is sitting and watching TV or playing KSP. I still walk around and stuff...

[Guest]

Actually, it's dangerous experiment. Up to the point, that you break your bones, when you try to get up in the end. Not mentioning various dysfunctions. $11 a day is waaaay to low for this.

[RainDreamer]

Well, if they doesn't make it sounds like easy work for "seemingly" a lot of money, who would want to be their lab rat? Just saying, "for science and the advancement in knowledge of all humankind" is often not enough for people.

[Bill Phil]

Well, if they doesn't make it sounds like easy work for "seemingly" a lot of money, who would want to be their lab rat? Just saying, "for science and the advancement in knowledge of all humankind" is often not enough for people.

But they can't pay 36000 dollars total? That would be ~21.5 dollars an hour. Much better deal.

[Norpo]

I'm guessing they don't need a lot of people to do it, just a few science nuts who would do anything for space. While the risk of your bones being deteriorated, social life, and any other job you had up to that point, and probably anything else socially/has to do with other humans related would be ruined, hey, you'd be getting 11$ an hour doing NOTHING, plus FOR SCIENCE! The risk/reward ratio would be different for anyone, and SOMEONE would figure the reward to be higher than the risk. Basic advertising/scam techniques (no offence, but that's exactly the same logic scammers use). There's a few crazy people in any group, right?

They know they're out there...

[Nibb31]

ESA does thes experiments on a regular basis, with people lying down for 60 days:

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Research/Lying_down_on_the_job

http://www.cnes.fr/web/CNES-en/10592-st-2012-experience-d-alitement-prolonge-au-medes-a-toulouse.php

[xenomorph555]

As usual the Russians have outdone NASA and ESA in long endurance. They have done this experiment for... 2 years!

[Camacha]

Nah. That pay is way too little. Let's do the math...

About 11 bucks an hour.

Plus, it would get dull quick. Doing nothing does not equal doing nothing. My doing nothing is sitting and watching TV or playing KSP. I still walk around and stuff...

Great calculation, but that is oversimplifying things just a little bit. I do not know that many people that have earned $18.000 in just two months, and certainly none that have earned it doing unskilled labour. To put it into perspective, it is double the average entire household income in the USA.

[Bill Phil]

True. However, a lot if bone-mass and muscle mass will be lost. Perhaps other health problems that are worse. And then you need to pay for the treatment, if needed. So it could get reduced to 13000. Although probably not.

Plus, it's not income. Although if it was, that'd be ~94000 per year.

[Nibb31]

The study is to find ways to prevent bone loss and other health problems. The participants are monitored by medical teams 24/7 and follow special treatments before, during, and after the 2 month bedrest period. They don't just kick them out after two months without dealing with any problems.

Also, people don't do this just for money. It's a way to help science and improve our understanding on how to live in space. It's funny that this forum is full of space cadets that want us to build cloud colonies on Venus or interstellar warp drives, but when offered the opportunity to actually do something that really helps space science, the biggest criticism is that it's not paid enough.

Edited December 31, 2014 by Nibb31

[RainDreamer]

It seems like they are just requiring you to lie down on the bed all the time, not that you can't do anything else. So if you are working online from home, you can totally also work there, while lying down all the time, getting fed, free internet and electricity, making money while getting extra income on the side just for being there.

[Bill Phil]

The study is to find ways to prevent bone loss and other health problems. The participants are monitored by medical teams 24/7 and follow special treatments before, during, and after the 2 month bedrest period. They don't just kick them out after two months without dealing with any problems.

Also, people don't do this just for money. It's a way to help science and improve our understanding on how to live in space. It's funny that this forum is full of space cadets that want us to build cloud colonies on Venus or interstellar warp drives, but when offered the opportunity to actually do something that really helps space science, the biggest criticism is that it's not paid enough.

Never said it wasn't. And I don't propose cloud conure on Venus. But if I'm sacrificing my time and social life, I would expect a good payment.

Wait, people have been in space for decades now, and we haven't done anything to studyvtheveffects of long-term bone loss or whatever already? That doesn't make sense at all...

[Nibb31]

Never said it wasn't. And I don't propose cloud conure on Venus. But if I'm sacrificing my time and social life, I would expect a good payment.

Yet short of getting hired as an astronaut, this is probably the closest you can personally get to be part of the space program.

But never mind, there is no shortage of volunteers for this kind of experiment. It's probably just not for you.

Wait, people have been in space for decades now, and we haven't done anything to studyvtheveffects of long-term bone loss or whatever already? That doesn't make sense at all...

The effects are well known. This sort of experiment is a way of testing and comparing new treatments in a controlled environment and establishing medical protocols on a wider and more accessible group than the astronauts that are up there doing other work. This allows the medical corps to monitor and examine the subjects constantly in a way that can't be done on the ISS and on a wider panel of subjects. It also allows them to try things that might not work without endangering the lives of the astronauts or impeding their work.

Edited December 31, 2014 by Nibb31

[RainDreamer]

Maybe they need study on a more massive scale? And maybe they are prospecting for space tourism, too, by picking random people of the populace and put them to test, see how normal, fit people, that haven't trained to be an astronaut, can handle the long term effect of space?

[Dispatcher]

If NASA wants guinea pigs (and there are laws against treating prisoners inhumanely), let the good folks at NASA volunteer. Besides, their pay scales are better than what is being offered.

[Nibb31]

If NASA wants guinea pigs (and there are laws against treating prisoners inhumanely), let the good folks at NASA volunteer. Besides, their pay scales are better than what is being offered.

That's just ridiculous. Public and private medical research employs paid test subjects on a regular basis. Are you guys just discovering the practice? How do you think vaccines, medicine, and cosmetics are developed? How do you think medical research is done without testing and comparing on a panel of test subjects?

As for highly paid/highly qualified employees, aren't they better put to use on work that requires those high qualifications they are paid for?

[lajoswinkler]

It's nothing new, but I think the paycheck is a bit slim. This is a bit dangerous and the money required to recuperate one's body might be more than you'd get by participating in this thing.

Voluntary clinical experiments on people who gave their informed consent is a staple in medicine. I honestly don't see any problems with it.

[Nibb31]

I honestly don't think it's that dangerous. The subjects are under constant medical supervision so the yet can be interrupted immediately before it gets dangerous, and they will certainly be followed and treated for any effects after the experiment. The return to "normal gravity" is a major part of the research.

Edited January 1, 2015 by Vanamonde
Snip.

[pxi]

However, NASA doesn't want an ordinary lazybones  you must be a nonsmoker and pass its Modified Air Force Class III physical in order to be eligible.

Well, that knocks me out of the running.

[linuxgurugamer]

Actually, it's dangerous experiment. Up to the point, that you break your bones, when you try to get up in the end. Not mentioning various dysfunctions. $11 a day is waaaay to low for this.

It's actually $10.71/hour, using 24 hours a day for 70 days.

[Nibb31]

Comparisons of hourly wages make no sense. It's an experiment. You do it for science not for money. Do you think NASA astronauts get paid for 24 hours work on the ISS? Or researchers at Scott Amundsen Base ? Submarine crews ? Soldiers ? Oil rig workers ? Truck drivers ? Most of those workers would be happy to get $18000 for a two month mission.

Just because you don't get to sleep at home every night doesn't mean you work 24/7. You guys are just being ridiculous.

Edited January 1, 2015 by Vanamonde
More snip.

[RainDreamer]

Ok...how about we take a deep breath and just...think science? Let just stop thinking of the money, and the politics, and the mess that comes with it. Just think of the science.

Now go ahead, talk about how we can make life in space more comfortable, or how to help the body adapt the transition between zero-G and 1G, etc.

[shynung]

Now go ahead, talk about how we can make life in space more comfortable, or how to help the body adapt the transition between zero-G and 1G, etc.

The transition from 1G to 0G is trivial. Some people would get space-sickness, from their spatial senses being confused (not knowing where is 'down'), but it's not lethal. It's the transition from 0G to 1G that's problematic. For some reason, the body adjust their internal composure according to current mechanical loads, so if it is put in a 0G condition, the structural parts (bone, muscles) weaken because they no longer have to bear their own weight.

I'm imagining that someone who spent too much time in 0G conditions becoming so adapted to the weightlessness in that condition, their bodies are too weak to return to Earth without some sort of exoskeleton to keep it from collapsing under its own weight.

[Motokid600]

Is bone/muscle loss really unstoppable? Can healthy exercise only delay it? Because I remember in a documentary they said the astronauts on SkyLab came back in better physical condition then when they left.