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What would you suggest as a manned mission that isn't merely an expensive stunt? As I understand it an Apollo style mission to Mars or Mercury is presently mor
by a8da6b0c91d 12y ago
What would you suggest as a manned mission that isn't merely an expensive stunt?
As I understand it an Apollo style mission to Mars or Mercury is presently more like an early death sentence to cancer due to radiation exposure.
As best I understand the situation we really need to pull off a five year Biosphere 2 style mission here on earth in a hermetically sealed chamber deep underground. That is the current next step. But nobody has really tried.
- avmich 12y agoGoing to Mars, you have the following options right now. You can shield the spacecraft from radiation with passive mass. That's relatively expensive option, but hardly technologically infeasible. The question is only the price of each kilogram on LEO, and that goes down steadily. You can use spacecraft magnetic field. An interesting area with a bunch of research to do. You can speed up the way to Mars, say, from 6-8 months today to 3 months, having to spend extra fuel at launch and at arrival. For that, you can e.g. revive Nerva-style engines. A combination of these (and possibly other) methods brings Mars closer even for today's safety standards.
- seanflyon 12y ago"If you recruited the Mars crew out of smokers and sent them to Mars without their tobacco you would be reducing their chance of getting cancer." - Dr. Robert Zubrin