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Intractible dangers for space travel due to ionising radiation

Mars health risks exceed NASA limits Sky News 3 April 14,  Efforts to send humans to Mars would likely expose them to health risks beyond the limits of what NASA currently allows, an independent panel of medical experts said Wednesday.

Therefore, any long-term or deep space missions — which are still decades off — need a special level of ethical scrutiny, said the report by the Institute of Medicine.

‘These types of missions will likely expose crews to levels of known risk that are beyond those allowed by current health standards, as well as to a range of risks that are poorly characterised, uncertain and perhaps unforeseeable,’ said the IOM report.

Currently, astronauts are launched into low-Earth orbit, where they spend three to six months at a time aboard the International Space Station (ISS), but journeys to Mars could take up to 18 months.

NASA has said it aims to send people to the Red Planet by the 2030s and is working on building a heavy duty launcher and spacecraft for this purpose.

Health risks from short-term missions in space can include nausea, weakness and blurred vision, while long-term risks include radiation-induced cancer and the loss of bone mass……..http://www.skynews.com.au/tech/article.aspx?id=963933

April 3, 2014 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | health, radiation, USA