Importantly, since the International Space Station (ISS) is in low-Earth orbit within the magnetosphere, it also provides a large measure of protection for our astronauts.
And our atmosphere subsequently absorbs the majority of particles that do make it through this bubble. A huge magnetic bubble, called the magnetosphere, which deflects the vast majority of these particles, protects our planet. This damage can mean an increased risk for cancer later in life or, at its worst, acute radiation sickness during the mission if the dose of energetic particles is large enough.įortunately for us, Earth’s natural protections block all but the most energetic of these particles from reaching the surface. Energetic particles can be dangerous to humans because they pass right through the skin, depositing energy and damaging cells or DNA along the way. The main concern in space is particle radiation. Radiation, at its most basic, is simply waves or sub-atomic particles that transports energy to another entity – whether it is an astronaut or spacecraft component. “You’re constantly being bombarded by some amount of radiation.” “The space radiation environment will be a critical consideration for everything in the astronauts’ daily lives, both on the journeys between Earth and Mars and on the surface,” said Ruthan Lewis, an architect and engineer with the human spaceflight program at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
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From better shielding to advanced biomedical countermeasures, NASA currently studies how to protect astronauts and electronics from radiation – efforts that will have to be incorporated into every aspect of Mars mission planning, from spacecraft and habitat design to spacewalk protocols. In the film, the astronauts’ habitat on Mars shields them from radiation, and indeed, radiation shielding will be a crucial technology for the voyage.
While the mission in the film is fictional, NASA has already started working on the technology to enable an actual trip to Mars in the 2030s. "The Martian" film highlights the radiation dangers that could occur on a round trip to Mars. Today, as a result of extensive space radiation research, we have a much better understanding of our space environment, its effects, and the best ways to protect astronauts-all crucial parts of NASA's mission to send humans to Mars. In the early days of human space flight, scientists were only just beginning to understand how events on the sun could affect space, and in turn how that radiation could affect humans and technology. Luckily, the Apollo 16 crew had returned to Earth just five months earlier, narrowly escaping this powerful event. Mostly protons, with a few electrons and heavier elements mixed in, this wash of quick-moving particles would have been dangerous to anyone outside Earth’s protective magnetic bubble. Along with a gigantic burst of light in nearly all wavelengths, this event accelerated a wave of energetic particles. 7, 1972, in the heart of the Apollo era, an enormous solar flare exploded from the sun’s atmosphere. That really is the fundamental breakthrough needed to revolutionise access to space.” ~ Elon Muskįunnily enough, they are also looking into ways to get humans onto Mars.Ī picture taken directly from their website: Aug. A fully reusable vehicle has never been done before. “If one can figure out how to effectively reuse rockets just like aeroplanes, the cost of access to space will be reduced by as much as a factor of a hundred. REUSABILITY: THE KEY TO MAKING HUMAN LIFE MULTI-PLANETARY They are currently working on making spacecrafts reusable.
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In the movie they push Beth Johanssen away from her tech startup and into NASA and they helped create the Hermes Spacecraft. It was founded by Elon Musk in the March of 2002. Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, better known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California, United States. We have the potential here at SpaceX to have an incredible effect on the future of humanity and life itself." ~ Elon Musk We have goals that are absurdly ambitious by any reasonable standard, but we’re going to make them happen. "SpaceX is like Special Forces… we do the missions that others think are impossible.