What do ya mean? This could be a boom for us older folks! Read: "This is enough to give 10% of men and 17% of women aged between 25 and 34 lethal cancers later in their lives, it concludes. The risks are much higher than the 3% maximum recommended for astronauts... The risks are smaller for older people because cancers have less time to develop."
So maybe the first long-mission astronauts will be us older folks, who have already had kids? George --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, "Amy Harlib" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > This is really depressing! > > > http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/dn7753 > Cosmic rays may prevent long-haul space travel > 15:01 01 August 2005 > NewScientist.com news service > Rob Edwards > > > The radiation encountered on a journey to Mars and back could > well kill space travellers, experts have warned. Astronauts would > be bombarded by so much cosmic radiation that one in 10 of them > could die from cancer. > > The crew of any mission to Mars would also suffer increased > risks of eye cataracts, loss of fertility and genetic defects in > their children, according to a study by the US Federal Aviation > Administration (FAA). > > Cosmic rays, which come from outer space and solar flares, are now > regarded as a potential limiting factor for space travel. "I do > not see how the problem of this hostile radiation environment can > be easily overcome in the future," says Keran O'Brien, a space > physicist from Northern Arizona University, US. > > "A massive spacecraft built on the moon might possibly be > constructed so that the shielding would reduce the radiation > hazard," he told New Scientist. But even so he reckons that humans > will be unable to travel more than 75 million kilometres (47 > million miles) on a space mission - about half the distance from > the Earth to the Sun. This allowance might get them to Mars or > Venus, but not to Jupiter or Saturn. > > > Risky business > > Helped by O'Brien, the FAA's Civil Aerospace Medical Institute in > Oklahoma City investigated the radiation doses likely to be > received by people on a 2.7-year return trip to Mars, including a > stay of more than a year on the planet. The study estimated that > individual doses would end up being very high, at 2.26 sieverts. > > This is enough to give 10% of men and 17% of women aged between 25 > and 34 lethal cancers later in their lives, it concludes. The > risks are much higher than the 3% maximum recommended for > astronauts throughout their careers by the US National Council on > Radiation Protection and Measurements. > > The risks are smaller for older people because cancers have less > time to develop. But women are always in more danger than men > because they live longer and are more susceptible to breast and > ovarian cancers. > > The study warns that cosmic rays would also increase the risk of > cataracts clouding the eyes. Furthermore, men exposed to a solar > flare might suffer a temporary reduction in fertility, and the > chances that any children conceived by travellers to Mars will > have genetic defects are put at around 1%. <snip> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> <font face=arial size=-1><a href="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12hcbj72m/M=362335.6886444.7839734.2575449/D=groups/S=1705034827:TM/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1123799191/A=2894362/R=0/SIG=138c78jl6/*http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/arts_culture/?source=YAHOO&cmpgn=GRP&RTP=http://groups.yahoo.com/";>What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater?Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good</a>.</font> --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
