Brain Damaged Astronauts?

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.

How About Russia and Mars?

The International Space Station may still be seen as successful U.S.-Russian cooperation, what about a future Mars mission?  Dr. Robert Zubrin, President of The Mars Society, had some grim words about Russia prior to the invasion of Ukraine in Fall 2013 edition of The Mars Quarterly.  In his article, he discusses some dark comments by Putin advisor Alexander Dugin:

"Liberalism,” says Dugin, meaning the whole western consensus, “is an absolute evil....Only a global crusade against the U.S., the West, globalization and their political-ideological expression, liberalism, is capable of becoming an adequate response...The American empire should be destroyed.”

Notheless, Dr. Zubrin still believed in a joint U.S.-Russian mission to Mars, noting, "Dr. Carl Sagan proposed a similar concept to help counteract U.S.-Soviet tensions in the 1980s. It was a good idea then, but critically necessary one now"

I am not sure if the recent events in Ukraine may have changed the mind of Dr. Zubrin, but I think we need to be very careful here.  The International Space Station already hands in the balance.  Do we want more of our NASA dollars dependent on a fickle and growingly reckless Russia?  My tendency is to say no for now.

Let's put any joint Mars mission on the shelf until we know we are able to work together with Russia on this planet.