NASA Explains How It Will Protect Mars Astronauts From Space Radiation

With all the space agencies and private companies hoping to send people to Mars, space radiation has stood out as one of the biggest, if not the biggest challenges. But NASA is working on ways to make sure its astronauts get to the Red Planet safely by reducing the threat of radiation through a variety of techniques.

In a press release, NASA Human Exploration Strategic Analysis lead Pat Troutman said that the space agency is doing what it could to allay any concerns about space radiation and the risks it poses to astronauts.

“When we add the various mitigation techniques up, we are optimistic it will lead to a successful Mars mission with a healthy crew that will live a very long and productive life after they return to Earth,” said Troutman.

While no one knows the amount of radiation that astronauts may encounter on Mars, space radiation is notably different, more intense, and more dangerous than the radiation on Earth, NASA wrote. Even astronauts in the International Space Station are exposed to 10 times the natural radiation on Earth, despite the fact that the ISS is located right within our planet’s magnetic field. There are also a variety of threats outside this protective field, such as galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), solar particle events (SPEs), and the trapped space radiation within the Van Allen Belts.

Given how Mars astronauts are at so much risk of exposure to space radiation, NASA can secure crew members from SPEs by using additional shielding materials in the area where they are asked to take shelter in. But NASA noted that it still is having difficulty shielding astronauts from GCRs, which are so “energetic” that they can blast through various types of materials, including plastic, water, and even metals.

Once the above reaction happens, secondary radiation is created as neutrons, protons, and other particles are formed in a series of reactions throughout the shielding materials. This, according to NASA Space Radiation Element scientist Lisa Simonsen, could lead to structural damage to DNA and an adverse change in cellular processes to would-be Mars crew members.

At the moment, NASA is evaluating different techniques and materials that could protect Mars crew members from GCRs, as well as shielding concepts for habitats, vehicles, and space suits. The space agency is also working on radiation-sensing instruments that could be used on the Orion spacecraft, among other methods that could help mitigate the threat of space radiation.

Although the space radiation on Mars is one of the biggest dangers crew members could face on a mission to the Red Planet, a report from ExtremeTech noted in July that NASA is facing other challenges ahead of the mission’s planned 2030s launch. Financial constraints, for one, might force NASA to postpone the mission for a later time, as creating reliable systems that could protect human space travelers will likely cost a lot of money.

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