radiation en route to Mars

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for the article link.

If the radiation is intense enough that you see cosmic
ray flashes in your retinas (Apollo astronauts) then
you have a serious problem with long term exposure.
Adult humans can take a lot of radiation with a mild
increase in cancer. Their reproductive cells are much
more vulnerable and would be ill advised to have
children afterwards.

Commercial airline pilots have a reported ratio of 3:1
girl to boy in their offspring. This is with just the
father flying at 35,000 feet where radiation is
minimal compared even to LEO and the ISS.

The only configuration I would be comfortable with
going to Mars in is one that had very heavy shielding
and artifical gravity. By heavy I am talking a
thousand tons or better. Hydrogen is very efficient
per mass. There are other things to be concerned
about that need armor.

The approach of using drugs to combat both begs the
question of doing something that mammals were never
'designed' to do. Little microbes multiply so fast
that if half of them die periodically, it is hardly
noticed. All higher lifeforms suffer perminent damage
that is tricky to treat and prone to massive side
effects. For radiation you are playing a game with
fostering as many problems as you treat (antioxidants,
gene repair molecules). With osteoporosis anything
that adds calcium may add it in the wrong place
causing painful bone spurs.

My recommendation is to mine the moon (detailed
earlier and by many people) and build up a sizeable
space craft at L5 before trying for Mars. This way
you are getting there in comfort and security and not
facing the rest of your life guessing what cost the
experience has been to your body. If done properly
this only adds a few years to the target date of the
mission and you get a powerful moon base as well.

- Thor

> NASA just released this article on radiation doses
> in
> route to MArs. I know this has been a topic on this
> list before and am interested in your thoughts:
>
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/17feb_radiation.htm?list115805