17 hours ago by Elizabeth Howell, Universe Today The Mars Societys prototype Mars habitat in Utah. Image Credit: Mars Society MRDS <\/p>\n
If you wanna get humans to Mars, there are so many technical hurdles in the way that it will take a lot of hard work. How to help people survive for months on a hostile surface, especially one that is bathed on radiation? And how will we keep those people safe on the long journey there and back? <\/p>\n
NASA is greatly concerned about the radiation risk, and is asking the public for help in a new challenge as the agency measures radiation with the forthcoming uncrewed Orion test flight in December. There's $12,000 up for grabs across at least a few awards, providing you get your ideas into the agency by Dec. 12. <\/p>\n
\"One of the major human health issues facing future space travelers venturing beyond low-Earth orbit is the hazardous effects of galactic cosmic rays (GCRs),\" NASA wrote in a press release. <\/p>\n
\"Exposure to GCRs, immensely high-energy radiation that mainly originates outside the solar system, now limits mission duration to about 150 days while a mission to Mars would take approximately 500 days. These charged particles permeate the universe, and exposure to them is inevitable during space exploration.\" <\/p>\n
Here's an interesting twist, toomore data will come through the Orion test flight as the next-generation spacecraft aims for a flight 3,600 miles (5,800 kilometers) above Earth's surface. That's so high that the vehicle will go inside a high-radiation environment called the Van Allen Belts, which only the Apollo astronauts passed through in the 1960s and 1970s en route to the Moon. <\/p>\n
While a flight to Mars will also just graze this area briefly, scientists say the high-radiation environment will give them a sense of how Orion (and future spacecraft) perform in this kind of a zone. So the spacecraft will carry sensors on board to measure overall radiation levels as well as \"hot spots\" within the vehicle. <\/p>\n
Explore further: Radiation monitors tested on space station to fly on Orion <\/p>\n
More information: http:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/content\/nasa-inno<\/a> ssions\/#.VG9GeJDF_SZ<\/p>\n Already tested on the International Space Station (ISS), six radiation detectors developed by a team from the University of Houston physics department and their NASA colleagues have paved the way for two ... <\/p>\n <\/p>\n See the original post here:<\/p>\n First Orion flight will assess radiation risk as NASA thinks about human Mars missions<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 17 hours ago by Elizabeth Howell, Universe Today The Mars Societys prototype Mars habitat in Utah. Continue reading