nuclear-news

Space Travel – ionising radiation would kill you

How a long mission to Mars could kill you NBC News, By Eric Niiler 7/18/2011 We’ve already “done” the moon, but Mars still beckons like some interplanetary Brigadoon ; visible through the eyes of clever little rovers and orbiters, but just beyond the reach of human footsteps…..

Radiation  The combined effects of background cosmic rays from extragalactic sources and extreme radiation events from the sun make space travel too hazardous for an estimated six months there and six months return. ”The estimate now is you would exceed acceptable levels of fatal cancer,” said Francis Cucinotta, chief scientist for NASA’s space radiation program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. “That’s just cancer. We also worry about effects of radiation on the heart and the central nervous system.”

Cucinotta says these estimates do take into account protective shielding around a crew vehicle, probably some form of polyethylene plastic. Lead shields actually create secondary radiation when struck by cosmic rays, while water, perhaps the best form of protection, would have to be several meters thick to get enough protection. (“Houston calling Water Balloon 1, do you copy?”)

Lead and water, in any case, are very heavy for the quantities that would be required, making them an expensive shielding to launch….. studies show that radiation can damage the vitamins in food supplies, and the loss of even one vitamin in the food chain could cause serious health effects over a long trip. Little is known about the long-term effects of radiation on food supplies, since International Space Station (ISS) crews have been partially sheltered by Earth’s magnetosphere.

It’s expected that the crew will have to grow its own food in some kind of greenhouse,… http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43796117/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/how-long-mission-mars-could-kill-you/?__utma=14933801.1192036095.1344035709.1344126652.1344387760.3&__utmb=14933801.1.10.1344387760&__utmc=14933801&__utmx=-&__utmz=14933801.1344387760.3.3.utmcsr=google|utmccn=(organic)|utmcmd=organic|utmctr=(not%20provided)&__utmv=14933801.|8=Earned%20By=msnbc%7Ctechnology%20%26%20science%7Cscience%7Ccosmic%20log=1^12=Landing%20Content=Original=1^1

August 8, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | 2 WORLD, health, technology