The astronauts will fly to Mars only once in a lifetime because of the radiation

2018-01-13 17:26

The astronauts will fly to Mars only once in a lifetime because of the radiation
One flight does not carry a significant health risk.

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The instruments on Board the space mission ExoMars helped scientists figure out that the astronauts will be able to make only one flight to Mars is no significant risk to health. As reported by N+1, the risk for health is high level of radiation associated with galaktioni cosmic rays.

In the study, researchers analyzed data collected by the module mounted on Board the probe TGO, which arrived at Mars in October 2016. The module was enabled during the entire time of flight of the probe to the red planet.

“During a six-month flight to Mars and return to Earth the crew of the ship will receive approximately 60% of the radiation dose maximum for the entire career of the astronaut or astronauts if the flight will be carried out during low solar activity,” said the researchers.

As shown by the data obtained, the level of radiation in open space was about 20% higher than during the flight of the Mars Curiosity Rover. Scientists attribute this discrepancy with the fact that the level of solar activity during this period was minimal, which increased the frequency of “firing” probe and all the planets of the cosmic rays from the interstellar medium. Something similar was recorded by the probe LRO during the last two solar minima.

In average, an astronaut, travelling about a year to Mars, will receive approximately 0.7 SV of ionizing radiation (about 73 x-ray) that is an extremely high dose. The ISS gets about 0.3 sorta for a year, but the Earth is about 2.4 millisievert per year. According to calculations of scientists, one journey to Mars the fastest route would eat up slightly more than half of the maximum total radiation dose permissible for an astronaut’s career.