Re:Airbus to build 'first interplanetary cargo ship'
by dividedbyzero on Wednesday July 29, 2020 @10:25AM
(#23986996)
I believe those people would have accumulated enormous radiation dosages over the duration of the flight, they might not have a long life left and a return voyage would shorten that even more. Might as well stay put for the remaining time on Earth, err, Mars, stay in deep lava tubes and help build that colony.
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Re:Airbus to build 'first interplanetary cargo ship'
by JumpCrisscross on Wednesday July 29, 2020 @10:31AM
(#23987059)
> those people would have accumulated enormous radiation dosages over the duration of the flight
What is this based on? One of the chief contributors to the mass of a Mars voyage is shielding.
Re:Airbus to build 'first interplanetary cargo ship'
by spacemark on Wednesday July 29, 2020 @01:50PM
(#23989593)
You can't really shield against galactic cosmic rays (too high energy, would require far too much mass), which make up approximately 95% of the dose.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/340/6136/1080.abstrac...
*Edit - but the comment higher up isn't right either, that most Mars-bound astronauts will have decreased lives. The paper linked above estimates 3% of astronauts to die from cancer caused by the trip (assuming no exposure on the surface of Mars, meaning they're in the ground).