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I'm not a super expect in space, but I'd argue yes. There is more radiation there, but we know how much and how to shield from it. The ISS does have an "escape
by ufmace 4y ago
I'm not a super expect in space, but I'd argue yes. There is more radiation there, but we know how much and how to shield from it. The ISS does have an "escape module" descent craft allowing the crew to evacuate in a few minutes any time needed, but they've never had to use it yet. IMO that's a good argument that it isn't that big of a deal. Yes, it'll be a bit riskier for the crew in that there's no security blanket of a quick easy escape to Earth in the event of a real emergency, but well shit happens. I don't think there's anything going on as far as isolation that's really more severe than tons of other things that have already been done.
- eganist 4y agoWe have absolutely no experience shielding people from solar winds and cosmic radiation in any way that would be meaningful for an interplanetary journey. Even the ISS is benefiting from Earth's magnetosphere and atmosphere. We have a few vague ideas: * Thick plating. (How? Not like we can launch it, so we'd have to build the space craft in space using materials mined from e.g the moon or asteroids) * An artificial magnetosphere, which researchers are still doing feasibility studies on. But there'd be a litany of challenges there as well, such as figuring out how to design it so that we don't see deleterious effects on electronics or people. Moon jaunts were short enough that it didn't matter, but anything interplanetary will need this challenge to be solved lest we want our explorers to suffer excruciatingly painful deaths.