The How of it All

 In the short term, we do not miss what we take for granted as our minds and bodies have not yet realized what we are missing. An MCE facility will provide a long duration experience wherein the mind and body will come to realize the loss, and learn to accept it.

The general design of an MCE (Earth Colony) will be intended to mimic the confinement of a colonial mission station as well as remove all external earth based stimuli we take for granted.

The crews will live and work in the confinement of the habitats for a duration equivalent to or longer than the expected mission before the mission actually begins. During this confinement period the crews will eat mission rations, have external communications limited to that which would be available during the mission and receive training to prepare for mission assignments.

Time spent outside of the mission habitats will be subjected to expected atmospheric conditions at the mission site. Light levels, winds, temperatures, terrain etc, will all be present.  

So far, the only difference between current training and conditioning facilities and the MCE is the duration, and it is this duration that will make the difference in the human software.

This facility allows us to slowly shed our Earthly environment and replace it with a new reality and norm. It allows us to build a new community within the crew thus minimizing the adverse affects of isolation and loneliness. It is possible to feel alone in a crowd when our normal “community” is not there to support us. The MCE environment allows us to recognize, shed, then replace our current reality with a new one better capable of handling space travel and colonialism.

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