Those cosmic rays can mess you up!
No. This is a real problem. Especially at relativistic speeds.
Then let's make sure no one asks your opinion on how to overcome this.
Yeah, but they get to go to Mars. I think you could find volunteers even if you could GARAUNTEE that all those things would happen if you promise that they get to go to Mars.
It's not like they would be dropping like flies during the journey. Flying to Mars still sounds safer than climbing Everest.
You know, I wonder whether running a magnetic field around the ship would serve to sheild the crew the way the earth's magnetic field sheilds us--and how much power would be needed to create an effective sheild.
Well, the really heavy radiation-protected spaceship does not have to land, and could remain high in a barely captive orbit. Apollo-like light module could be used for the landings.
"Unless we can develop instantaneous time and space transfer technologies like Dr Who’s TARDIS."
IIRC, the TARDIS doesn't actually move. It exists "outside" space and time, and when you travel from one point to another it simply pulls its entrance out of the time and space you entered, and pushes it back in at the point you wished to travel to. That's why the TARDIS can be as large as you want without worries over how you move such a large mass from one point to another.
The "new" scientist should forget the "old" spelling. We aren't in England anymore (and the article refers to the U.S.), so it's spelled "traveler" with one "l". Spell checking aint what it used to be.
That said, I also find issue with their conclusion that cosmic rays kill you. They merely mutate your DNA and transform you into the first thing you mention or try to do after you get back.
TS
BS! Isn't this what shielding is for?
Bring back Orion!
LOL!
To the author of this piece:
>But women ... are more susceptible to breast and ovarian cancers.
Duh.
What will the astronauts do?
They will need shielding. Maybe a lot.
Seems to me a Lead coating (inside the walls and pull-down over the windows) would stop 100% of harmful rays? Or am I mistaken? Any scientists out there?
Sheesh! Just fly at night! Problem solved! ;^)
Just one more reason why I prefer time travel.
The risks are smaller for older people because cancers have less time to develop. But women are always in more danger than men because they live longer...
The risks are smaller for older people because they grow less new cells. Cells that produce new cells (bone marrow, embryos) are the most susceptible. Nerve cells are almost immune to low level radiation. Women are in more danger, not because of longevity, but because of more new cell production (ovaries, mammaries).
The drinking water used for the mission, if placed around the perimeter of the ship, could reduce neutron radiation exposure. Dense materials (like lead) would have to be used to shield the astronauts from gamma/cosmic radiation. It would be quite expensive to put enough shielding into orbit and then install it on the ship. Not impossible though.
I always thought that heat dissipation would be another significant problem. Any comments?
Uh ooh, I think we're stuck here for a while. Can't we all just get along?
The logistics of space travel, the distances, time, food, water, engergy are kind of a problem. That's why I don't believe the UFO nuts, earnest though they be.
Question: Since everything on Earth existed since the creation, though some things have changed form, have the space probes that have left Earth's orbit actually changed the planet or are they so infinitesimally small as to make no difference?
Now we know why the leftists demoncraps are so bain dramaged.