Catching Some Rays on Mars

By Corey S Powell
May 1, 2002 5:00 AMNov 12, 2019 4:52 AM

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The Mars Odyssey spacecraft produced these new maps of the radiation levels astronauts would encounter on the surface of the Red Planet. The safest areas (blue) are in low-altitude zones where the thin Martian atmosphere provides maximal protection from cosmic rays. There the annual dose would come to about 10 rems, roughly one-third the flux on the international space station.

Photograph courtesy of NASA/JPL

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