(Credit: NASA)
Humankind's experience visiting worlds beyond our own begins and ends with the dozen Apollo astronauts who skipped about on tiny swaths of the moon. But that doesn't mean we can't experiment with how and where we might visit (or live) on the extreme surfaces of other worlds. A few studies out recently are doing just that. Radiation? Big deal Our planet provides a protective shield from the most damaging radiation produced by the sun—a shield not available on the moon or Mars. It's a hazard for any human leaving the planet, and it's a hazard for plants, too. However, a new study of the Chernobyl area in the Ukraine, site of the famous nuclear accident, is actually raising hopes for space farming.
