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Close this windowPosted on 01/16/2004 5:45:43 PM PST by ambrose
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December 10, 2003
Man could survive a mission to Mars according to NASA scientists, who say experiments on board the Mars Odyssey craft prove that humans could endure the planet's harsh conditions.
The results show that radiation around Mars might cause some health problems, but scientists told the BBC that humans could survive the conditions.
The research from NASA's Odyssey module, orbiting Mars for two years and sending back information to scientists on Earth, was presented at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
On Earth, humans are protected from the worst cosmic radiation with the planet's magnetic field acting like a shield, diverting radiation away.
For astronauts on the Martian surface - or travelling between Earth and Mars - there is no such protection.
NASA scientists have been measuring radiation around Mars with an instrument on board the Mars Odyssey orbiting probe.
Astronauts on Mars would be exposed to roughly double the radiation dose that they experience on the International Space Station, said Cary Zeitlin from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.
"The dose that astronauts would receive on a Mars mission is large enough to be beyond what they've experienced in Earth orbit," Dr Zeitlin told the BBC.
"Therefore it opens some questions about the biological effects of this radiation that we haven't really fully addressed yet."
This radiation could perhaps lead to more cancers, more cataracts and nervous system damage.
But overall it was manageable and humans could go on Mars missions relatively safely, Dr Zeitlin said.
They would need to use the planet itself to shield them, building their shelters in hollows, and perhaps taking materials that would reduce radiation further.
Ironically, the instrument used to measure the radiation, named Marie, has itself been damaged, apparently beyond repair, by excessive radiation from the Sun.
It stopped functioning following a massive solar flare in October.
But NASA said it sent back enough data before its demise to reassure them about the feasibility of human missions to Mars.
AAP
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/12/09/1070732210342.html
Yup... Chunky style!
(I don't trust air I can't see.)
"Total Recall" was a Pretty Good Effort at an Old, Very Good, Science Fiction Story by one of the Great "Science Fiction" Authors.
NO ONE has EVER "Pretended" that the "Story" was IN ANY WAY "Related to 'Reality.'"
The Author--Philip K. Dick--wrote the story to comment about "Human Nature;" NOT as a "Treatise on Human Technology!!"
Doc
The trusty shortwave was able to pick up Radio Canada this morning. Caught part of a discussion about polluting "other worlds"
and "humans" aren't going to go underground on Mars because there might be contaminatable "life" in them thar holes.
John F'ing Kerry 'em. The envirowackos here, I mean.
But first let us tackle Mars.
And Titan may be more inhabitable than Mars! Not in the sense that you could walk on the surface. More in that the atmospheric pressures suitable contained could be workable. Titan also holds VAST VAST VAST VAST (did I say Vast yet?) quantities of Hydrogen and Helium 3. Think of Titan as the big gas station of the solar system.
But first let us tackle Mars.
Man did I bork my reply.
And Titan may be more inhabitable than Mars! Not in the sense that you could walk on the surface. More in that the atmospheric pressures suitable contained could be workable. Titan also holds VAST VAST VAST VAST (did I say Vast yet?) quantities of Hydrogen and Helium 3. Think of Titan as the big gas station of the solar system.
Dick also wrote the story that became the movie "Minority Report", a good story of the human condition and governmental abuse. I believe he wrote some others that became movies but can't remember for sure. Good writer.
Well why not? Lots of males of certain sexual persuasions happily survive in 'Uranus.'
What is the boiling point of water at 7mb?
I would think that even breathing pure oxygen it would be necessary to have the air one's breathing be at a pressure over 7mb, but how much above? At 200mb a pure oxygen atmosphere would yield a partial pressure of oxygen comparable to that of earth sea level. Lower levels would require a person to acclimate by increasing lung capacity, but I would think that doable to some extent.
The question then becomes whether it would be practical to have a survival apparatus which was lighter and more convenient than a full-fledged space suit. I don't know what the practical limits are; a 7mb Martian atmosphere seems like it would be a bit on the low side to offer much assistance, but it might offer a little.
Actually, that reminds me of a thought I had a few years ago: one key to being able to set up an effective form of habitation may be having an atmospheric pressure which is above the vapor pressure of some convenient liquid. If the Martian atmosphere were above the vapor pressure of some liquid which could be locally synthesized, then one could dig or find a crater, fill it with liquid, and put a habitation at the bottom. Ballast would be needed to keep the habitation from floating, but differential pressures could be kept comparatively modest.
..and this is what you would look like without a helmet..
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