Astronauts Would Face High Radiation on Manned Mars Mission

Curiosity's self portrait on Mars. Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS While Curiosity's primary mission was to find out if Mars might ever have been capable of supporting Martian life, the rover has also collected data pertinent for a different kind of life: human beings. Curiosity has kept tabs on radiation levels on Mars as well as during the 253-day, 350-million-mile trip it took to get there. Findings released today indicate that radiation levels an astronaut would receive from a trip to Mars and back would be high: approximately 2/3 of their lifetime recommended dosage. Space travelers outside of Earth’s life-friendly atmosphere and magnetic field have to contend with a serious dose of two kinds of harmful radiation: galactic cosmic rays, which are basically everywhere in space, and solar energetic particles, which arise from activity on the sun. The former would present a constant low dose, with particles energetic enough to penetrate ...