Are astronauts at risk of brain damage on the long trip to
Mars? Media reports about a recent study
with mice and radiation indicates this may be the case. As a result, astronauts may arrive in Mars with impaired brain functions due to cosmic rays, which is not the way to start scientific research on the Martian surface.
This is not a new finding as much as more studies on a well studied
issue.
But Dr. Robert Zubrin, President
of the The Mars Society, was not concerned.
In a recent bulletin, he stated the new study has no relationship to a
real world Mars trip, noting:
The principle difference is that the rate that the dose was administered to the mice under study was 4 million times faster than that which would be dealt to travelers in interplanetary space. In addition, the total cumulative dose delivered to the mice inside of 30 seconds was about 50% greater than the GCR dose that astronauts would receive over the course of a 2.5 year Mars mission.
Dr. Zubrin basically called the study misinformation that
should not block continued efforts to travel to Mars. Of course, these cosmic rays present a challenge associated with any space travel, but this may simply be an engineering issue that can be overcome in time. Knowing the risks helps in planning any interplanetary ventures.
