Lionel Posted December 9, 2003 #1 Share Posted December 9, 2003 Scientists say measurements taken by the US space agency's Mars Odyssey craft prove that a human mission could survive on the Martian surface. Instrument data show radiation around the Red Planet might cause some health problems but is unlikely to be fatal. Mars Odyssey has sent back a wealth of information about Earth's neighbour since it went into orbit two years ago. The new research was presented at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. On Earth, we are protected from the worst cosmic radiation. The Earth's magnetic field acts like a shield, diverting radiation away. But for astronauts on the Martian surface - or travelling between Earth and Mars - there is no such protection. Nasa scientists have been measuring radiation around Mars with an instrument on board the Mars Odyssey orbiting probe. According to Cary Zeitlin, from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, it has found that astronauts on the Red Planet would be exposed to roughly double the radiation dose they currently experience on the International Space Station. "The dose [an] astronaut would receive on a Mars mission is large enough to be beyond what they've experienced in Earth orbit," he told BBC News Online. "Therefore it opens some questions about the biological effects of this radiation that we haven't really fully addressed yet." View: Full Article | Source: BBC News Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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