[ RadSafe ] Mission to Mars

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

I saw a presentation a couple of years ago that conclude that if you
could assume the passengers were 50+ year-old men, and shielded
appropriately, the trip was doable.  If, however, you had to design as
if the passengers might be pregnant 20 year-old women, the shielding
would be too massive, and you couldn't build a ship that met the other
requirements.  

I, personally, would rather continue sending SPECTACULARLY successful
robotic probes until a Space Elevator is built.  At that point the cost
to get mass out of the gravity well plummets, and all the constraints
for a ship that can get to Mars changes.  

On a related note, I've toyed with the idea of how you could use nuclear
power (more-or-less conventional reactor, rather than using
thermoelectric tech) in microgravity, I've pretty much concluded you
need to have it in a spinning ship, with the top towards the axis, and
auxiliary equipment acting to balance the mass.  Quite possibly the
design you would wind up with is a disc, or saucer.  This would, however
not make for a ship you got to land anywhere.     

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Maury Siskel
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2013 2:47 PM
To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing List
Cc: JPreisig at aol.com
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Mission to Mars

I thought this trip remains beyond the shielding capabilities to
withstand irradiation exposure  --  has this changed?  Otherwise sounds
like a great adventure -- Dog also sez ok.
Maury&Dog  [MaurySiskel  maurysis at peoplepc.com]
========================= On 2/22/2013 12:55 PM, JPreisig at aol.com wrote:
> Dear Radsafe:
>
>       Hey All.  On US TV News today, Zubrin and  colleagues have
announced a private effort to
> reach Mars via spaceship or whatever.  The mission will start in
2018.  The trip will last 501 days.
>
>       Wonder if Maury and Dog will volunteer for the  trip???  Get
your spacesuits and Geiger Counters  ready???
>
>       Regards,   Joe Preisig
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