The first (s)crewed mission to Mars should be all female. Here's why.

submitted by hfxB0oyA from bigthink.com

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[–]MyLongestJourney 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

It makes a good case based on :

a)The fewer resources they will need-less oxygen,less food and less space.On the mission to Mars macroscale,it cuts on costs significantly.

(note:The article fails to account for the menstruation needs- either you allow for monthly menstruation and take into account the mass of pads/tampons needed or you will have to account for the mass and side effects of menstruation suppressing drugs.Just a personal observation).

b)The fewer chances of heart attacks and female reproductive systems being at less at a risk from radiation.

c)All-woman groups being far more likely to choose non-confrontational approaches to solve interpersonal problems and most definitely are more likely to deal with a situation without resorting to violence according to statistics.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (6 children)

It makes a good case based on :

a)The fewer resources they will need-less oxygen,less food and less space.On the mission to Mars macroscale,it cuts on costs significantly.

No, thats a good case for a WEIGHT LIMIT, not wide-sweeping sexism. You do realize that some women are fat, and some men are small right?

[–]dike 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

With a female and a male of the same height, weight, and body fat percentage, the female will still need less food and oxygen because she has a slower metabolism. The female body uses food and oxygen more efficiently. If they can find enough competent female astronauts who want to spend the rest of their lives on Mars, I think it's fine.

The social claims are bogus imo. Neither masculine nor feminine styles of conflict resolution are superior, and the astronauts will most likely all be dykes anyway so they wouldn't operate socially like a group of typical straight girls.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

With a female and a male of the same height, weight, and body fat percentage, the female will still need less food and oxygen because she has a slower metabolism.

Same fallcy, people are not statistics, you arent dealing with people of the same height, weight and body fat percentage. You can very well have some men that need less resources than some women, they can be smaller. I guarantee Lizzo needs more resources than me. This is the same black IQ argument. I guess we shouldnt let Ben Carson be a brain surgeon because all things being equal blacks have lower IQs. Because it turns out he is a pretty damn good brain surgeon, even though on average, blacks are not the best brain surgeons.

You could just calculate each individuals resource requirements rather than using a heuristic, you would end up with MORE women than men this way like you want, without discriminating on sex

[–]dike 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (0 children)

You could just calculate each individuals resource requirements rather than using a heuristic

Sure that sounds good.

I guarantee Lizzo needs more resources than me.

I doubt that they're really trying to prove yo mamas so fat her ass is the size of a planet, but a bunch of morbidly obese astronauts floating around like Michelin Men in a giant cup of space cocoa is a hilarious idea.

Obese astronauts would require less food for a short period of time, but there are other complications that make it seem not worth it.

[–]MyLongestJourney 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I am pretty certain they won't be picking any landwhales for that mission.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

No, but its still a discriminatory heuristic. I imagine it would be a simple matter to calculate resource usage for each astronaut and choose based on this criteria that is more accurate and doesnt discriminate based on sex - even if you'd probably end up with mostly females anyway

[–]MyLongestJourney 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Personally I want both male and female astronauts. If we want to live on Mars one day,we must collect data on how both sexes will fare dealing with both environmental challenges and interpersonal relations/conflict.