For thousands of years, humans have looked up at the night sky and pondered their place in the cosmos. One little red dot in particular has long held our interest: Mars. Today, experts believe it's no longer a question of if we'll ever set foot on the Red Planet, but when. Recent technological advances mean this could happen within decades. While the dream of colonizing Mars is a fascinating one, is it a good idea? What will be the biggest challenges? And once we get there, could we even survive?
The biggest incentive for putting humans on Mars is to have "an insurance mechanism for our species," says Stephen Petranek, author of How We'll Live on Mars. "We're a nomadic species. We learned long ago that if we don't move, we don't survive...
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But such flares can be detected in advance and temporary radiation shelters used to largely protect the crew. A longer term hazard is the general exposure to higher levels of radiation whether it be from the sun or sources external to the solar system. We can minimize these effects, but there will be increased exposure and thus a higher risk of cancer later in life.
Indeed, the adverse effects of radiation are humanity's biggest hurdle to living in space. Research suggests that astronauts would experience short-term neural damage from high-energy space radiation particles. Astronauts on the International Space Station are shielded from these rays by Earth's magnetosphere, but on Mars, astronauts will have no such protection.
A new study published in the journal Scientific Reports found that even six months after returning to Earth, Mars astronauts would experience brain inflammation and neuron damage. Other side effects of long-term space travel could include memory problems, anxiety, and depression. The study concludes with a dire warning: "Cosmic radiation exposure poses a real and potentially detrimental neurocognitive risk for prolonged deep space travel... [and] deep space travel poses a real and unique threat to the integrity of neural circuits in the
In fact, fear is necessary when it comes to making improvements and preventing things from happening by taking precautions. Along with the fear of the world ending, there comes plans for solutions. The ideal solution would be to colonize other planets. This idea has been around since the time of we knew other planets existed. Living on other planets for a long time was was just a thing for the future, it was something only movies or children with wild imaginations would talk about, but the future is a lot closer than we think. People see space colonization is the resolution for the problems here on earth. Colonizing in unfamiliar planets could be a replacement for earth incase someday it ends and scientist have been working on improving technology and making huge advances for the day that humans live on foreign planets
But actually, for the astronaut’s entire trip to the depths of space from Moon and back, the astronauts really only obtained a dose equal to about one-tenth of one per cent of the radiation needed for a dose that could kill a human being. The explanation is that the harmful effects from radiation are equivalent to the strength of the radiation and the time that it is exposed. A human would need to spend almost four months touching the Van Allen belts to receive a dose to kill somebody. The astronauts passed through them in only one single hour. As for their time spent beyond the Earth's magnetic field, where the astronauts could be exposed to cosmic radiation, an astronaut could make a one-way trip to Mars and not receive a dose that exceeds NASA's lifetime limits and that also do not come close to a lethal
Space is 92 billion light years in diameter and ever growing. Despite it’s size, there is more knowledge about this massive area, miles outside the atmosphere, than there is about the cluster of tissue and nerves that is called the brain. With the immensely complex structure of the human brain, it is not surprising that from conception to old age many things can become faulty or even just fail to develop correctly in the first place.
...egular people, believing that if someone was to go to Mars they might have been able to survive A variety of organic compounds present may mean a life is probable. Also, if the trip to Mars in 2023 turns out to be a positive one, then it will prove to everyone that in the future more and more people will move to this other planet. A lot of people will find it unnecessary to stay on Earth if they can start a new life somewhere else in the galaxy. Even though the trip will have America paying billions and billions of dollars, it truly is worth it. A life on Mars could mean living to an older age and being healthier. The point of going to the Red Planet is to find out if there is a better life somewhere other than on Earth. Just like NASA astronaut, Buzz Aldrin said, humans will most likely reach Mars and when they do humans will turn into a two-planet species.
Radiation has both beneficial and harmful effects. The most detrimental health effect on humans, is the incidence of cancer, which has been studied. Humans are exposed to radiation more than they realize. They are exposed medically with x-rays, just by being outside with cosmic rays, and by accidents such as at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Exposure to radiation is high and more studies are done which improve radiation protection.
Who knows what kind of opportunities can come from Mars? We can use the many resources that have already been found on this planet, it could help us in many ways beyond space exploration, and it could even be a new place for us to live. That’s why I believe that the government should fund space exploration to Mars.
Using NASA's, Space Radiation Cancer Risk Projections and Uncertainties, a model of risk and uncertainties; NASA predicted that central estimates for radiation-induced mortality and morbidity could exceed 5% and 10% with upper 95% confidence interval near 10% and 20%, respectively for a Mars mission. NASA's radiation standard limits astronaut exposures to a 3% risk of exposure induced death at the upper 95% confidence interval of the risk estimate (Cucinotta et al. 42-67). Although the radiation levels on Mars are less than expected, it’s possible Mark would have considerably increased
While Mars may seem like a good option for expanding the human race, mankind is not ready to go. Mars has too many risks that we need to further investigate before people are sent there. Laurie Vasquez, author of "Could Humans Actually Live on Mars?" Provides insight on the pros and cons of traveling the red planet: "Solar flares can represent short term hazards for crews heading to Mars and on the surface of the planet" (Vasquez). These hazards include increased exposure to radiation, resulting in possible neuron damage and an inevitable increased risk of cancer. While the effects can be lessened by current technology, the health risk is still too great to send people to Mars. While the red planet may seem like a good option for expanding
Radiation is all around us and exposure to it is inevitable. Some of the exposure, such as in the environment, is unintentional. We are also purposely exposed to it in medical imaging. As stated above, there are many positive and negative sides to radiation. Medical imaging has grown tremendously over the years and allows us to detect injuries, and diseases. The negative side to radiation, is all of the dangerous health effects that can harm our body. There is a lot of research that scientists are working on to reduce the amount of radiation that our bodies are exposed to when undergoing medical imaging.
Mars is our next best hope in life on another planet. Because of science mankind can grow and harvest plants in the modified mars soil, make a thick warm atmosphere, and drink no frozen mars water. Mankind can grow and flourish more as a species with this idea of colonizing mars. With more scientific advancements we can colonize mars and we will colonize mars.
Although traveling and colonizing Mars would be revolutionary, there are many health risks in exploring this mysterious red planet. One health risk that could arise from the future traveling and colonizing Mars is the mental health issues like anxiety and depression that could occur in Mars space travel. As Author Laurie Vasquez writes in her article “Could Humans Actually Live on Mars” she elaborates that “Other side effects of long-term space travel could include memory problems, anxiety, and depression”. Another important health risk to point out in Mars space exploration is short term neurological damage space travel can do on your brain. Neural circuits in the brains of astronauts would get damage and cause a serious brain impact. As Vasquez
Colonizing Mars is a huge mistake. Mars one is planning to send humans to settle on the red planet. Colonizing Mars is a dangerous operation because it is a one way trip,there is no food or water currently there,and the toxic atmosphere.
Mars Cannot be Colonized—Not Yet It has been exactly 45 years since any man has set foot on the Earth’s Moon. Now, after almost half a century, Mars One has released their plan on sending the first humans on a one-way trip to Mars in attempt of colonizing the red planet. While this will become a great feat for humankind if it is successful, there are numerous downsides to colonizing Mars, including a dysfunctional society, extremely high costs and unfit living conditions. Despite the Benefits, Mars cannot not be colonized because the disadvantages of colonization entirely outweigh the advantages.
The energy in ionizing radiation can cause chemical changes in the the cells that can lead to damaging them. Most of the cells can either permanently or temporarily become abnormal or they can just die. Radiation can cause cancer by damaging the DNA in the body. The damage of the cells can also depend on how long the organs are exposed (environmental protection agency, 2017, unknown). If someone has many exposures at one time that radiation in the body keeps adding on. As well as if its only a little bit of exposure in on day and years later you get exposed again it keeps adding on the radiation will never leave the body. Having radiation in your body doesn’t affect you right away but as you get older it starts to show and you feel it. Chronic exposure is when someone is exposed many time for long periods. When this happens the type of effects it will carry is having harmful generic change, cancer, tumors, and even cataracts. Partial health effects can also depend on if it was internal or external exposure. Internal exposure is when either by drinking, breathing, eating and even an injection cause radiation to get inside your body. External exposure is when taking an x-ray out of your body and letting it go through letting all the energy go as it goes in (environmental protection agency, 2017, unknown). In the dental world radiation gets into the patients when we take x-rays on there teeth. In order to avoid to much radiation on them we put a lead apron on them and make sure to cover their thyroid which is the most common way of getting cancer when taking an x-ray. When we take the x-ray we stand behind a wall at least 6 feet away to avoid ourself from getting
...usion, the major challenges that humans could face on an expedition to Mars and back; are radiation exposure, biological problems induced by weightlessness, spacecraft