Would astronauts need a lot of shielding to safely travel into deep space?
We have the answer to this intriguing question
When it comes to deep space travel, we believe the answer to sufficient protection – on top of the standard shielding of a spacecraft and a water tank around the astronaut’s cabin – is to travel faster through space so astronauts are exposed for a shorter length of time. This relies heavily on our advancement of propulsion systems.
According to measurements from the Mars Science Laboratory, which it took during its 253-day journey to the Red Planet, the amount of radiation – in the form of deadly cosmic rays and energetic solar particles – that would be accumulated by the human body is the equivalent to getting a whole computerised tomography, or CT scan, once every five or six days. From this, scientists believe that a ‘storm shelter’ fixed to the craft would assist with stopping particles from the Sun during a low solar cycle, but, cosmic rays have such high energy that they could easily seep through a chunk of aluminium just 0.3 metres (one foot) thick!
Keep up to date with the latest news in All About Space – available every month for just £4.99. Alternatively you can subscribe here for a fraction of the price!