Posted on 09/25/2006 6:49:46 PM PDT by KevinDavis
Radiation encountered on extended trips to the Moon or Mars could harm astronauts' brains, experiments on rats suggest. The space farers could face problems with spatial learning, memory and stress.
(Excerpt) Read more at newscientistspace.com ...
Build the Marscraft in Lunar orbit. Make it a double walled sphere with water as the radiation blanket. They can use it as a shield and also as consumable and fuel as necessary. Triple whammy usage!
I got blasted some years ago on the Mars Society web site because I stated that it would be smarter to design and create robots for the voyage to Mars for this very reason. People kept telling me that Robert Zubrin's book, "The Case for Mars", had it all figured out how you could do it for $10-$20 billion dollars.
Needless to say I did not stay on that site very long.
Agreed....
"Local researchers develop composite that can shelter astronauts from radiation..."
"New material may be shield for space trip
That's a pretty good idea, and would also work for other long-term space habitations.
Zubrin doesn't strike me as having much credibility; suffers too much from a combo of hand-waving and wishful thinking.
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