NASA WORKING ON RADIATION OBSTACLE: Could radiation exposure put a stop to space travel?
While that's a sizable obstacle, NASA is working on mitigation techniques so that crew members can go to Mars and return in good shape.
To protect the crew and equipment, researchers are developing shields for transport vehicles, habitats and space suits that astronauts might use on Mars. They have experience with radiation already. The International Space Station, approximately 250 miles above the Earth, is within the planet's protective magnetic field. Even so, “astronauts receive over ten times the radiation than what’s naturally occurring on Earth,” according to a NASA news release.
Outside the magnetic field, they will be exposed to galactic cosmic rays, which NASA defines as “atomic nuclei from which all of the surrounding electrons have been stripped away during their high-speed passage through the galaxy.” Galactic cosmic rays “are so energetic they can tear right through metals, plastic, water and cellular material,” the news release explains.
CHINESE SPACE LAB TUMBLING: The name, Tiangong 1, means heavenly palace, but the Chinese space lab may not be heavenly much longer.
The 8.5-ton space station is expected to crash to the surface within a few months, according to The Guardian.com’s website. The article quotes Jonathan McDowell, astrophysicist from Harvard University, who says the craft could come down in a few months.
Much of the space station should burn up in the atmosphere, according to the report. But some pieces -- weighing 100 kilograms or roughly 220 pounds -- could impact Earth. It’s unlikely that anyone would be hurt, but China has assured the United Nations that it is monitoring the spacecraft’s descent.
The report made by China to the United Nations recounted that Tiangong 1 was launched Sept. 29, 2011, and conducted six successive rendezvous with Chinese spacecraft. In March 2016, it stopped functioning, but by then, it had fulfilled its mission.
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