What are the "exotic" radiations that mankind will encounter when going to Mars?

Question

I've been wondering about this. I'm also curious as to know how we could shield the astronauts from the effects, would the effects be present on the Martian surface, and how can we test for possible methods of shielding and the effects of these radiations? I saw an article recently on how some fungi use radiation as an energy source - perhaps that is one way.

Wow! Some excellent answers here!!! And, you've given me an idea - how about an artificial magnetosphere? If it could be made portable enough and powerful enough, it just might work to simulate the shielding Earth gets from its magnetoshphere. Again, excellent answers - its going to be VERY tough to pick the best one! :)

Answer 1

Previous answers are partially correct. "Exotic" refers to things that do not get through the Earth's magnetic field. They refer to both solar and universal radiation.

Aboard the ISS they are still within the Earth's magnetic field, but there are dangers to them that our atmosphere protects us from.

A trip to Mars is likely to be deadly unless man can get under the equvalent of about 10-20 feet of dirt. It takes that much to protect against all the ambient radiation out there. This can be water (hydroponic tanks), fuel reserves - it just takes mass to protect against radiation... And an aluminum foil hat won't work! Sorry.

Once on Mars, man cannot stay on the surface without being surrounded by about 20 feet of dirt. The best bet is to get underground, and make air-tight tunnels. Lunar astronaughts have all received about 1/4 - 1/2 the total radiation they can get in their lifetimes. A multi-year tour on Mars will kill them unless they can get underground. I don't know why NASA is not talking about this. I'm sorry, but man cannot live on the surface of Mars for several years.

Mars has no magnetic field to protect astronaughts, or a sufficient amount of atmosphere to stop much ionizing radiation at all.

We need to go to the moon, and practice creating tunnels, and mining to create fuel for the Mars mission. And people on mars need to get underground.

Ron.

Answer 2

I'm not sure what you mean by "exotic" but astronauts do receive radiation exposure from several sources. The most common are cosmic rays which are atomic nuclei that originate from some where in out galaxy, and High energy protons that originate from our sun (Most dangerous during solar flares). The normal radiation that we normally worry about (Gamma, X-ray) are not much of a problem.

Both forms of space radiation mentioned are best protected against by some sort of shielding. Any dense material would do, however you can't go carting lead shields into space! One possible answer is to surround the crew areas with the water supply.

Since protons carry a positive electrical charge it may be possible to surround the space vehicles with a magnetic field, much as people on earth are protected by earth's magnetic field.

The fungus idea sounds cool, but actually the fungus would stop very few of the incoming particles. As in the human body, the vast majority of the particles just pass right through. So unless the fungal shield was extremely dense and/or thick it really wouldn't stop much of the incoming particles.

Space radiation hurts the human body by penetrating the skin and destroying cells and damaging DNA. So all kinds of illnesses can result such as temporary sterility in men and women, bone-marrow damage, radiation burns, cancer, chromosome breakage and damage to the central nervous system.

By the way, being on the surface of mars is actually safer as the Martian atmosphere provides some shielding from the cosmic radiation.

Answer 3

Solar radiation (light across the spectrum including hard UV) protons and electrons in the solar wind

Cosmic radiation, gammas and high-energy protons and helium nuclei--very very high energy.

The solar radiation is probably manageable via shielding. The cosmic radiation can't easily be blocked. Astronauts near the earth are partly protected by the earth's magnetic field. On the way to Mars, they'll absorb some pretty high doses despite whatever we do to mitigate it. I suspect that's just a risk they'll have to be willing to expect.

I don't know that fungi will be more weight efficient than metals. They didn't evolve to absorb this kind of energy.

Answer 4

They will be cooked by fast protons. The atmosphere is equivalent to 911 cm of lead shielding. All SkyLab, Mir, and ISS FBUAR residents get radiation cataracts - and that is still within the magnetosphere. A six month trip to Mars each way will be nasty. Add one well-aimed solar flare and it wll be lethal.

Answer 5

Due to its low mass (37% of the Earth's), Mars lacks a thick atmosphere to shield it surface from dangerous solar and cosmic radiation. Furthermore it lacks a magnetic field to deflect plasma outbursts from the sun's surface. Explorers on Mars will have to use advanced materials to protect them from these dangers. Several materials are being developed and tested. The best way to test these materials is to use them on the space station, to see how well they perform.

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