Space Travel/Losing Humanity

I've always been fascinated with the thought of long term space missions. I've also wondered what a mission of 2 or more years would do to the psycology of the astronauts. That much time away from earth has to have an impact on a person. On a very long mission, 5-10 years, at some point your thought processes must change. I'm sure that man is going to continue pressing forward with the exploration of space and eventualy move beyond just travel, doing things like colonization on the moon, Mars, etc. and maybe even farther.

Suppose a self sufficient colony was constructed on Mars and humans inhabit it and begin living normal lives and having children. After a generation or two the children are not going to have any real connection to earth any more, assuming they don't visit or move back to Earth. Will the children begin to make evolutionary changes? After many generations will the inhabitants cease to be humans and become "humanoid" Martians? If we all knew that by moving to a colony on another planet, our decendants might cease to be human and become something else, who would volunteer? It's not the same as moving from Mexico to the U.S., where after a couple generations, your grandchildren might not speak spanish. It's more than that.

I'm sure somebody, somewhere, in the scientific field has done research and probably put alot of thought into this. But I don't hear alot about it. All of what I'm saying here is still a long, long, long way off but I think it's something we should think about. It has profound implications for us as a species. Maybe this has been discussed here before, but with each passing year our technological know-how grows and we get a little closer to the really big exciting things in space travel.

Maybe I'm being flakey. Anyway, anyone else think about this stuff?

Might I suggest Asthenia? When you're in space for a long time, you start to develop a weakness, a lack of energy, and a general depression (lack of self). Major Bummer.

Might I suggest the Red Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson? He tells a fantastic sci-fi story IMO, but it is very very true to what could be possible and might very well happen in the near future.

The idea is that, yeah, they lose the connection and Mars will eventually become a separate entity. Children will be taller due to lowered gravity, and while they'll be essentially the same beings, it won't take too long for them to end up different enough to be classified as Homo Martian or something better sounding than that. The government will undoubtably be much 'freer' due to the lack of authority and the population that will get their first (civilians, scientists, workers).

Read the books.

I agree with the statement you made about how the effect of long term space missions must change the astronauts thought processes.

I think this is something that we can look back into our own history books and have some insight into. Just as our ancestors were originally immigrants from other countries, our future generations would look back similarly. Eventually the connection between our origins and our current reality are strained. It is only through family and traditions that any of the original heritage remains.

We could only assume that this same scenerio would occur if eventually we did find a way to inhabit another planet or moon. The history would eventually begin to fade, and our offspring, and thier offspring would lose some of the earth they had known through us.

Apration, you brought up a good point I had'nt thought of...........

Originally posted by Apration Eventually the connection between our origins and our current reality are strained. It is only through family and traditions that any of the original heritage remains.

We could only assume that this same scenerio would occur if eventually we did find a way to inhabit another planet or moon. The history would eventually begin to fade, and our offspring, and thier offspring would lose some of the earth they had known through us.

I had'nt considered the "family tradition" aspect before. I would love some more input. I don't think mankind has put forth a real discussion on this topic. The best reference we have is Sci-Fi novels and movies.