Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Aug 3, 2005 17:38:52 GMT -6
Researcher Warns Space Weather Hole Blocks Manned Mars Mission
Research published in the journal Space Weather warns that massive gaps in our understanding and monitoring of space weather will effectively block US plans for a manned mars space mission. The study, led by University of Warwick researcher Dr Claire Foullon, draws on work that Dr Foullon and colleagues carried out for the European Space Agency on radiation hazards and space weather.
Dr Foullon points to particular concerns about the radiation dangers of Solar Proton Events (SPEs) particularly those that follow Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs - massive clouds of material ejected from the Sun that produce dangerous, high energy, charged particles).
One of the largest such events ever recorded arrived at Earth in August 1972 right between NASA's Apollo 16 and 17 manned missions. Simulations of the radiation levels an astronaut inside a spacecraft would have experienced during this event found that the astronaut would have absorbed lethal doses of radiation within just 10 hours. It was simply good luck that this happened between the missions.
More here: www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=17536
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Bring out the aluminum hats!
