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It looks like SpaceX is choosing a high delta-v trajectory specifically to reduce the danger of 5, 11, and 12. Particularly muscle, bone, and eyesight loss wou
by Symmetry 10y ago
It looks like SpaceX is choosing a high delta-v trajectory specifically to reduce the danger of 5, 11, and 12. Particularly muscle, bone, and eyesight loss would be a big problem on a Hohmann tranfer orbit to Mars but not on the trajectory SpaceX is proposing. 8 is silly since nowhere people live is going to be microbe free but the long term health effects of Mars gravity are still utterly unknown and that's something we need to get a hold on.
- djokkataja 10y agoI agree about the long term health effects of Mars gravity. I think with adults you'll probably see some bone density loss, similar to what happens to astronauts on long space missions. But arguably that will be offset by gravity at 39% of Earth's. The bigger concern I have is for children that are born on Mars -- if you want to have a self-sustaining population there, you're going to be raising children there, and physical growth in a low-g environment isn't something we can test in the timeframe Musk has in mind.