How do we reduce radiation exposure for astronauts going to mars?

How do we reduce radiation exposure for astronauts going to mars?

actually there will be very little radiation danger. the only danger would be if a solar flare or similar were to impact the spacecraft enroute.

Once you’re out of the Van Allen belt it’s just normal cosmic rays until you get to Mars.. But yes, if a solar flare or CME happens, they’d need a safe room to wait it out

don’t go to mars

go to venus

reasoning

it takes less time to get to venus – less time for harmful effects to take their toll

venus has a gravity similar to earth meaning that low gravitational fields won’t take their toll on the body once they are at the next planet like mars

venus has a temp and pressure similar to earth at 50km in the atmosphere 25 deg 1 bar mars doesn’t and never will unless you want to build a large wheel to simulate earth gravity on the surface.

Project Orion FTW.
A little over a month travel time each way, carry heaps of heavy gear, lots of crew, etc.

the americans had actually planned for a venus flyby using saturn V/ apollo technology but it was never put into operation

the idea was that the empty fuel tank of the rocket would serve as a living quarters for about 6 months, 3 months there , 3 months back.

the crew would presumably have a look at venus as they flew by (not going into orbit)

the idea was that they were trying to prove that longer missions would be possible.

it makes me wonder if you could have a large capsule that descnded to the 50km mark and then pop some parachutes and then some balloons

as for the moon it makes me also wonder if you could use a shuttle type vehicle to go into orbit , drop off a lunar lander, retrieve it with the arm and then fly back to earth and land on a runway rather than ditch into the ocean?? it would certainly be roomier than a tiny capsule for the journey there. you wouldn’t need a huge retrieval process as it would simply glide back to a runway.

The US does not have a launcher capable of sending humans to Mars, although the Orion spacecraft, currently under development by NASA, could ferry astronauts from the surface of Earth to join a Mars-bound expedition in Earth orbit and then back to Earth’s surface once the expedition has returned from Mars. NASA has used the Haughton impact crater on Devon Island as a proving ground due to the crater’s similarity with Martian geology. According to New Scientist, an argon plasma-based VASIMR rocket could reduce the transit time to less than 40 days.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manned_mission_to_Mars

Last time humans set foot on another world was 40 years ago.

Shame.

brett said:

Last time humans set foot on another world was 40 years ago.

Shame.

on the upside we’ve got “angry birds”

last time humans set foot on another world it cost the largest economy in the world 11% of their GDP to do it..

>font color = orange>last time humans set foot on another world it cost the largest economy in the world 11% of their GDP to do it..

and most of their imagination and the reason they’ve backed a few duds.

;-)

Dropbear said:

last time humans set foot on another world it cost the largest economy in the world 11% of their GDP to do it..

I assume you mean that over the life of the Apollo program, the cost was equivalent to 11% of any one year’s GDP.

Witty Rejoinder said:

Dropbear said:

last time humans set foot on another world it cost the largest economy in the world 11% of their GDP to do it..

I assume you mean that over the life of the Apollo program, the cost was equivalent to 11% of any one year’s GDP.

yes

if they had some wits about them the yanks could have made some money out of the deal

they could have continued going to the moon by taking an extra passenger from various countries so that they could claima man on the moon too.

lets say you had somewhere like australia , they could have paid… lets say 100 million or more to get a fellah up there and strolling on the moon

the space elevator idea will probably be the cheapest way to get into orbit and build a spacraft for mars but the cost would be enormous