Heading To Mars
Time magazine has a piece by a gal chosen as one of the finalists for a one way trip to Mars. I find her explanation uninspiring, but it's her life to live.
As much as I'd probably give any number of body parts to walk on Mars, I simply wouldn't do it, at least with current technology and certainly not one way only. I can't imagine having regrets once you were half way through on the six month journey. Heck, the journey itself might drive you nuts!
posted by Fred Mangels @ 1:25 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Actually, the journey itself will probably kill her.
We still haven't solved one of the biggest stumbling blocks... how to survive the cosmic radiation one would be absorbing along the way.
We limit astronaut (and cosmonaut) time in the space station but anyone who goes there has a much increased risk of cancer later on.
That despite the fact the earth's magnetic shield stops most of the dangerous stuff.
Between Earth and Mars there is no protection.
So, while going crazy is a problem... going dead is the bigger issue right now.
Until we can solve that issue I think it would be morally wrong to send anyone to Mars.
Too bad, I'd love to see a first person on Mars walk (although they probably won't say anything cooler than Neil Armstrong said on the moon).
Good point, and that we don't have artificial gravity yet, so I'd be surprised if those explorers could even walk when they get there.
Never mind the solar radiation. Being that much closer to the sun, they'd be very vulnerable to that. They'd also be vulnerable to solar EMP flares that could shut down their life support systems. I've never seen that concern answered.
Then again, I would think those Mars rovers would tell us how big an issue that is, although they couldn't tell us about solar flares. You never know about them till they happen.
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