The next goal for NASA is to send humans to Mars. However, the same feat is what Russia’s Roscosmos space agency, ESA, and China’s National Space Administration want to achieve. Now, according to Russian scientists, a Mars mission will negatively influence astronauts’ lifespans.
With the recent technologies, it would take about two years to travel to the Red Planet, and the travel back to Earth would take two and a half years off the lifespan of each astronaut, as a recent report conducted by Russian scientists revealed. It’s all about the cosmic radiations to which the human crew would expose itself during the journey to Mars.
“To date, calculations have been done on the total radiation risk to astronauts’ lifespans following long flights to Mars lasting up to three years during the period of maximum solar activity given varying thickness of aluminum shelter-based protection from radiation,” the Roscosmos report reads, cited by Sputnik News.
Russian Scientists Found That A Mars Mission Will Influence Astronauts’ Lifespans
“When performing calculations for a simple sphere-shaped spacecraft with a standard model of a human body within it, and considering the scenario of a speedy launch of a spacecraft into Mars’ orbit using a liquid-fuelled rocket engine and a nuclear propulsion system,” the Russian scientists’ report said.
“It was calculated that for a two-year expeditionary mission to Mars and back, the total radiation risk to the lives of astronauts, regardless of age, with protection from a radiation shelter of 20 g/cm2 would be 7.5 percent, with the drop in average life expectancy being 2.5 years,” the scientists added in their recent paper.
“In the future, the designs and technologies for a space-based greenhouse that have been created can serve as a design basis for a production-model greenhouse as part of the life support system for an orbital Moon-based station or a manned ship to Mars,” the report concluded.
Vadim is a passionate writer on various topics but especially on stuff related to health, technology, and science. Therefore, for Great Lakes Ledger, Vadim will cover health and Sci&Tech news.