"Astronauts will get dumber on their way to Mars" Topic

"For enthusiasts of space travel, the bad news keeps coming. A new study, just published in Science Advances, finds that the smartest humans who will be chosen to go to Mars may not remain smart by the time they reach their destination (if at all they do).

We have known for a long time that leaving our cushy planet is fraught with problems. Space may be largely empty, but it's filled up with invisible charged particles traveling at nearly the speed of light. Earth's magnetic field deflects these particles, but space travelers will inevitably be exposed to such radiation. And the new study predicts that it will cause rapid and permanent damage to the brain.

In the study, the researchers from the University of California, Irvine and University of Nevada, Las Vegas, subjected mice to radiation similar to the gamma cosmic rays that humans will be exposed to on their way to Mars. After six weeks of exposure to the radiation, which was made up of charged oxygen and titanium atoms, mice were given cognitive tests…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

Yes, but you should remember there is a large faction within NASA that is against any Man flights in Space. They want the budget for Robots and Drone.

Excerpt: "According to the lead scientist of the study, Charles Limoli, there is no way to fully escape high-energy particles."

This may sound like I've already been in space for much too long, but …

Why do they have a scientist made out of lead????

Excerpt: "Trying to carry effective shields is currently prohibitively expensive—the heavier the shielding equipment, the more rocket fuel you need."

Seriously though, what if the ship was reinforced with lead shielding after it's already in space, with the lead sheeting put together in stages, at a space station or lunar base?

And what about creating some sort of magnetic field around the exterior of the vessel (as suggested in the following paper) as added protection, together with the lead shielding?

PDF link

Or water shielding, as mentioned briefly in that same paper, but using water from a lunar source?

Dan

So another words once they reach their destination they will be qualified to become politicians.

"after already in space" isn't on the way to target…more weight regardless of where it is installed is still more weight that needs to be accelerated to the target.

… still more weight…

Mass

Mag fields are really the only way to fly.

Anybody who willingly travels to Mars probably can't get much dumber anyway, so no big deal.

Well, Dan… What I think they mean is that it will add mass to the spacecraft, making it require more fuel, which is more mass, to reach its destination.

Adding wait exponentializes the need of thrust generation.