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Radiation hazard to Mars travellers

Travel to Mars – on a one-way ticket? Some experts believe it’s the only way to explore the red planet and save NASA By ERIC BERGERHOUSTON CHRONICLE Oct. 19, 2009,
“………….The astronauts we’d send would never come home………….

Radiation problem

Aside from the logistics of trying to launch a rocket off the surface of Mars, perhaps the biggest challenge to sending humans to the red planet is radiation exposure in interplanetary space.

Humans on Earth are shielded from radiation by the planet’s atmosphere as well as a belt of charged particles – the Van Allen radiation belt – that is held in place around Earth by its magnetic field.

Damaging radiation comes both from solar flares as well as cosmic rays ejected by distant exploding stars called supernova. Beyond low-Earth orbit a spacecraft would have no protection from either of these sources of radiation………….

This radiation wouldn’t immediately kill astronauts, but it could cause problems later in life such as cancer or other diseases caused by tissue degeneration. NASA has only begun to understand the risks and solutions of radiation .

Experts think humans could go to Mars, but there’s a catch | National | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle

October 20, 2009 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 1, health, USA | antinuclear, nuclear, radiation, radioactive