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Let’s learn about surviving a trip to mars.

Astronauts would face dangers both getting to and surviving on the Red Planet

A trip to Mars may be many years off. But scientists are already figuring out what it would take to keep people safe and healthy on a journey to the Red Planet.

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By Maria Temming

July 12, 2022 at 6:30 am

So far, Mars has been the domain of space robots . Over the last 60 years, many spacecraft have flown by, orbited and even landed on the Red Planet. But human explorers could work faster and be more flexible than machines. Not to mention, setting foot on Mars would be a major milestone in space exploration. That’s why the United States, China and other countries want to send people to Mars . But surviving this adventure would be no easy feat.

A Mars mission would be the farthest journey in human history. At an average 225 million kilometers (140 million miles) away, Mars would take at least six months for astronauts to reach. (It would take at least another six months to get back home). In contrast, Apollo astronauts got to the moon in few days.

While space travel is never free of danger, the length of a roundtrip to Mars poses many extra health risks . For one thing, floating in microgravity for long periods weakens bones and muscles. Plus, it allows fluid to build up in the head, putting pressure behind the eyes and causing vision problems. Artificial gravity machines could help.

But then there’s space radiation to worry about. The Earth’s magnetic field protects astronauts near Earth from high-energy cosmic rays . Those charged particles might raise the risk of cancer and other health problems. On longer journeys, though, astronauts would be exposed for months. Taking certain vitamins could reduce the impacts. But scientists are still working out the details.

Mars explorers will have to pack light to lift off from Earth. But they won’t be able to restock on supplies like astronauts on the space station do. Astronauts on the space station practice for this by growing lettuce and other food in space . Engineers are also developing 3-D printing techniques that could let future Mars astronauts build tools as needed. The material for those tools could come from the astronauts themselves. For instance, astronaut pee could feed yeast that churns out ingredients to make plastic .

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Setting up and surviving at a Mars colony would be even more complicated. Since astronauts can’t haul construction materials from Earth, scientists are dreaming up ways for astronauts to use materials on Mars . Long-term visitors would also need plenty of oxygen to breathe. A device on NASA’s Perseverance rover is currently laying the groundwork for a future Mars oxygen factory. The device pries oxygen off molecules of carbon dioxide , the main gas in Mars’ atmosphere.

Planning for a trip to Mars isn’t just about protecting astronauts. It’s also about protecting Mars from astronauts. Humans are teeming with microbes. And spreading those microbes could compromise the search for life on Mars. As a result, a key part of responsible space exploration is making sure Earth germs don’t infect other planets .

Want to know more? We’ve got some stories to get you started:

Preparing for that trip to Mars Space farming techniques, next-generation rockets and 3-D printing could all factor into a successful trip to Mars. (2/22/2018) Readability: 6.6

Surviving Mars missions will take planning and lots of innovation En route to Mars, astronauts will face health risks from microgravity, radiation and more. (10/22/2020) Readability: 8.0

How a year in space affected Scott Kelly’s health A comparison to his twin looks at how long-term spaceflight changes the human body. (5/17/2019) Readability: 7.3

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En route to Mars, astronauts may face big health risks

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Design your own sustainable Mars colony with guidance from NASA. Take inspiration from communities on Earth and learn about the limitations of the Martian environment to build a model of your ideal human base on the Red Planet. Or, follow NASA’s instructions to build your own model Mars’ rover .  

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Quick Facts

• Mission Name: Mars 2020
• Rover Name: Perseverance
• Main Job: Seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.
• Launch: July 30, 2020
• Landing: Feb. 18, 2021, Jezero Crater, Mars
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4 Years on Mars: Curiosity's Incredible Journey in Pictures

Four years after its harrowing descent through Mars's thin atmosphere, Curiosity celebrates its action-packed journey.

Four Earth-years ago today, NASA’s Curiosity rover successfully touched ground on Mars's dusty surface, after surviving a nail-biting descent through the red planet's thin atmosphere.

Since its triumphant arrival, the car-size "laboratory on wheels" has traveled more than 8.4 miles (13.5 kilometers), taking pictures, collecting samples, and analyzing rocks along the way. Recent software upgrades even let Curiosity autonomously choose which rocks it examines— and shoots with laser beams .

Curiosity has spent more than 1,421 sols, or Martian days, exploring Gale Crater , a low-lying region that may have held past life, if it existed. While the rover has yet to confirm whether Mars once hosted living things, it has found evidence of an ancient freshwater lake in the sediments of Yellowknife Bay, the lowest point of the crater, offering tantalizing insight into the planet's past habitability.

Since September 2014, Curiosity has been examining Mount Sharp, a mountain of layered rocks towering more than three miles (five kilometers) high in the middle of Gale Crater.

These layers likely "captured a long record of time, just like the layers in the Grand Canyon," said Ashwin Vasavada, Curiosity's deputy project scientist, in a previous interview .

Beyond examining rocks, Curiosity has a suite of weather instruments that has been providing scientists with crucial information about the planet. For instance, researchers are tracking changes in methane in the Martian atmosphere, which fluctuates by up to a factor of 10 for unknown reasons. The rover also monitors the peculiar flow of winds inside the large basin of Gale Crater, and it keeps tabs on radiation exposure on Mars, which may affect future human missions to the red planet.

Even after four years— and a recent software scare —the rover is healthy and has a lot of life in it. Speaking from the rover's perspective a year ago, "we don't feel like we are getting old yet," said Vasavada. "We still feel like we have a lot ahead of us."

Maya Wei-Hass contributed reporting.

Follow Michael Greshko on Twitter .

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How NASA is planning to get humans to Mars

The upcoming Artemis II mission is the first step in a long mission

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NASA recently announced the crew of its upcoming Artemis II mission, which will be the first manned trip to the moon since 1972. The launch is being billed as the first step toward getting humans to Mars , but how does NASA plan to do that? Here's everything you need to know:

How will NASA get to Mars?

The journey will start with the Artemis program, which has the goal of establishing the first long-term human outpost on the moon. From there, NASA says , they "will use what we learn on and around the moon to take the next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars."

In 2022, NASA unveiled a rough outline for its first crewed Mars mission, identifying "50 points falling under four overarching categories of exploration, including transportation and habitation; moon and Mars infrastructure; operations; and science." These objectives "will inform our exploration plans at the moon and Mars for the next 20 years," said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy.

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These objectives include , among other things, "[Developing] a transportation system that can deliver large surface elements from Earth to the Martian surface," as well as "[developing] Mars surface power sufficient for the initial human Mars demonstration mission," and building "entry, descent, and landing (EDL) systems capable of delivering crew and large cargo to the Martian surface."

However, there is still a ton of work to be done, as making a human trip to Mars "will be challenging," Space.com writes. The distance itself will play a major factor. Earth and Mars are an average of 140 million miles away from each other, and it would take about 500 days round-trip to get between the two planets, "assuming the funding and technology come into play at the right time," the outlet adds. A lack of gravity would also pose a significant problem, so crews may have to live in a pressurized cabin during the mission to help acclimatize to the change.

If all goes well — and that is a big "if" — Space.com notes that NASA "envisions using a habitat-like spacecraft to ferry crew members to the red planet, using a hybrid rocket stage (powered by both chemical and electrical propulsion)." The initial mission would be made by four people, with two making the journey to the Martian surface. But since you can't live on a desolate planet by yourself, NASA estimates the crew would need at least 25 tons of supplies awaiting them on Mars, which will have been delivered by a prior rover mission.

How will Artemis II help accomplish this goal?

The mission, set to launch toward the end of 2024, will be the first crewed flight of the Orion spacecraft, the vessel that has been tapped to send humans to Mars. Both the Orion and the Space Launch System (SLS) associated with it "are critical to NASA's exploration plans at the moon and beyond," the agency writes .

The Orion capsule is specifically designed to keep humans alive during months-long missions, and "will be equipped with advanced environmental control and life support systems designed for the demands of a deep space mission," per NASA . The first step in proving that these systems are viable will be a successful Artemis II mission, which CNN reports will go beyond the moon and "potentially further than any human has traveled in history."

The upcoming mission is only a flyby, and while humans will not land on the moon until Artemis III, operating on the lunar surface requires "systems that can reliably operate far from home, support the needs of human life, and still be light enough to launch," NASA writes. As a result, "exploration of the moon and Mars is intertwined," with the moon providing a platform to test "tools, instruments, and equipment that could be used on Mars ."

When does NASA plan to go to Mars?

That could depend on how fast things develop. In 2017, then-President Donald Trump signed an order directing NASA to send humans to Mars by 2033, and former President Barack Obama had set a similar goal of a mission in the 2030s, CNET reports.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson pushed that date back slightly, saying the agency's plan "is for humans to walk on Mars by 2040," per CNN . Nelson added that the goal was to apply "what we've learned living and operating on the moon and continue them out into the solar system."

President Biden's budget proposal for the next fiscal year included an allocation of $27 billion to NASA, of which $7.6 billion would be used for deep-space exploration. However, negotiations on a budget deal are ongoing between Congress and the White House, so it remains to be seen how much of these potential NASA funds will actually see the light of day.

Who will go?

That probably won't be decided for years to come. Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in 2019 that "we could very well see the first person on Mars be a woman," per Space.com , but no specifics regarding an astronaut class were given. Artemis III is expected to land both the first woman and first person of color on the moon, so it won't come as much of a surprise if a similarly diverse group heads to the red planet. Elon Musk, who has worked alongside NASA via his spaceflight company SpaceX, has said he believes humans will be on Mars by 2029 at the latest, but he hasn't provided any names either.

For now, though, the question of who will be the first person to place their boots on the Martian surface remains a mystery.

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 Justin Klawans has worked as a staff writer at The Week since 2022. He began his career covering local news before joining Newsweek as a breaking news reporter, where he wrote about politics, national and global affairs, business, crime, sports, film, television and other Hollywood news. Justin has also freelanced for outlets including Collider and United Press International.  

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SpaceX plans to leave the first humans on Mars stranded with no way home

Spacex has presented some key details for its upcoming missions to mars and how the company will navigate the journey with starship..

SpaceX has conducted a presentation at its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, revealing some key details about its upcoming Mars missions that will feature the world's most powerful rocket, Starship.

The company's CEO, Elon Musk, has taken to stage to discuss what fans of SpaceX can expect out of the company in 2024 and what will be involved in creating a sustainable presence on the surface of Mars. Musk said that this is the first time in human civilization that Earth is capable of making the species multiplanetary, and all of this hinges of the success of Starship, the world's largest and most powerful rocket ever created.

Musk outlines that mass to orbit is a key factor in achieving a Mars base, and when Starship is complete, it will be capable of taking 200 tons to orbit while being fully reusable. The SpaceX CEO explains that once Starship is in orbit, it will need to be refueled by a tanker that's also in orbit. This new technology will be called Ship to Ship Propellent Transfer, and for every trip to Mars, Starship will need to be refueled six times, so a ratio of 5 to 1. Musk said that SpaceX plans on demonstrating Ship to Ship Propellent Transfer sometime next year.

" You actually want to use the ship. Take a part the ship and use it for raw materials on Mars. Because the ship materials will be so valuable, most of the ships you won't want to bring back, you would just want to use them for raw materials. Eventually we will want to bring ships back and I think we will want to give people the option of coming back because they're more likely to want to go if there's some option of coming back. But I think most of the people that go to Mars will never come back to Earth, " said Musk during the presentation (skip to 23:00)

Additionally, Musk said that Starship's ship will be turned into scrap metal once it lands on Mars as its parts will be extremely valuable to the pioneers living on the Red Planet. Ultimately, the company plans on creating a Starship that is capable of making a return trip back to Earth, but initially Musk believes most people who sign up for a trip to Mars will not return to Earth.

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What If You Were the First Person on Mars?

Posted: April 12, 2024 | Last updated: April 12, 2024

Congratulations, you've taken the seven-month-long journey and have landed on Mars. And it turns out, you're the first person. Better start getting the human colonization efforts prepared.Will you ever make it back to Earth? How will you gather resources for survival? And will this happen one day?Transcript and sources: <a href="https://insh.world/science/what-if-you-were-the-first-person-on-mars/Made">https://insh.world/science/what-if-you-were-the-first-person-on-mars/Made</a> possible with the support of Ontario Creates <a href="http://www.ontariocreates.caWatch">http://www.ontariocreates.caWatch</a> more what-if scenarios: Planet Earth: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-HhCwYD7rc&list=PLZdXRHYAVxTJCzxwmCq0NNpYq9N9wyb2lThe">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-HhCwYD7rc&list=PLZdXRHYAVxTJCzxwmCq0NNpYq9N9wyb2lThe</a> Cosmos: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfuJyVkMH_g&list=PLZdXRHYAVxTJno6oFF9nLGuwXNGYHmE8UTechnology:">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfuJyVkMH_g&list=PLZdXRHYAVxTJno6oFF9nLGuwXNGYHmE8UTechnology:</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS3bBO05fpU&list=PLZdXRHYAVxTIeRY3JtgXgoGqSEB7kDdKOYour">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS3bBO05fpU&list=PLZdXRHYAVxTIeRY3JtgXgoGqSEB7kDdKOYour</a> Body: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmXR46TrbA8&list=PLZdXRHYAVxTJNsV9FFeNAKl2ySsHj8GZOHumanity:">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmXR46TrbA8&list=PLZdXRHYAVxTJNsV9FFeNAKl2ySsHj8GZOHumanity:</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdCDQIyXGnw&list=PLZdXRHYAVxTIFnvmOeWbv-Mt8zFxSCSvZFollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdCDQIyXGnw&list=PLZdXRHYAVxTIFnvmOeWbv-Mt8zFxSCSvZFollow</a> what-if on Instagram for bonus material: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/what.if.show/Suggest">https://www.instagram.com/what.if.show/Suggest</a> an episode: <a href="http://bit.ly/suggest-whatifT-shirts">http://bit.ly/suggest-whatifT-shirts</a> and merch: <a href="http://bit.ly/whatifshopFacebook">http://bit.ly/whatifshopFacebook</a> Watch: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/What.If.scienceWatch">https://www.facebook.com/What.If.scienceWatch</a> on Tubi: <a href="http://bit.ly/what-if-tubi"Imagination">http://bit.ly/what-if-tubi"Imagination</a> will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it, we go nowhere." — Carl SaganIf you enjoy What If, make sure to check out our other channel "Underknown": <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/interestingshitProduced">https://www.youtube.com/c/interestingshitProduced</a> by Underknown in Toronto, What If is a mini-documentary web series that takes you on an epic journey through hypothetical worlds and possibilities. Join us on an imaginary adventure — grounded in scientific theory — through time, space and chance, as we ask what if some of the most fundamental aspects of our existence were different.Feedback, inquiries and suggestions: <a href="https://underknown.com/contact">https://underknown.com/contact</a>

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10 min read

Real Martians: How to Protect Astronauts from Space Radiation on Mars

Sarah Frazier

Miles Hatfield

On Aug. 7, 1972, in the heart of the Apollo era, an enormous solar flare exploded from the sun’s atmosphere. Along with a gigantic burst of light in nearly all wavelengths, this event accelerated a wave of energetic particles. Mostly protons, with a few electrons and heavier elements mixed in, this wash of quick-moving particles would have been dangerous to anyone outside Earth’s protective magnetic bubble. Luckily, the Apollo 16 crew had returned to Earth just five months earlier, narrowly escaping this powerful event.

In the early days of human space flight, scientists were only just beginning to understand how events on the sun could affect space, and in turn how that radiation could affect humans and technology. Today, as a result of extensive space radiation research, we have a much better understanding of our space environment, its effects, and the best ways to protect astronauts—all crucial parts of NASA’s mission to send humans to Mars.

“The Martian” film highlights the radiation dangers that could occur on a round trip to Mars. While the mission in the film is fictional, NASA has already started working on the technology to enable an actual trip to Mars in the 2030s. In the film, the astronauts’ habitat on Mars shields them from radiation, and indeed, radiation shielding will be a crucial technology for the voyage. From better shielding to advanced biomedical countermeasures, NASA currently studies how to protect astronauts and electronics from radiation – efforts that will have to be incorporated into every aspect of Mars mission planning, from spacecraft and habitat design to spacewalk protocols.

“The space radiation environment will be a critical consideration for everything in the astronauts’ daily lives, both on the journeys between Earth and Mars and on the surface,” said Ruthan Lewis, an architect and engineer with the human spaceflight program at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “You’re constantly being bombarded by some amount of radiation.”

Radiation, at its most basic, is simply waves or sub-atomic particles that transports energy to another entity – whether it is an astronaut or spacecraft component. The main concern in space is particle radiation. Energetic particles can be dangerous to humans because they pass right through the skin, depositing energy and damaging cells or DNA along the way. This damage can mean an increased risk for cancer later in life or, at its worst, acute radiation sickness during the mission if the dose of energetic particles is large enough.

Fortunately for us, Earth’s natural protections block all but the most energetic of these particles from reaching the surface. A huge magnetic bubble, called the magnetosphere, which deflects the vast majority of these particles, protects our planet. And our atmosphere subsequently absorbs the majority of particles that do make it through this bubble. Importantly, since the International Space Station (ISS) is in low-Earth orbit within the magnetosphere, it also provides a large measure of protection for our astronauts.

“We have instruments that measure the radiation environment inside the ISS, where the crew are, and even outside the station,” said Kerry Lee, a scientist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

This ISS crew monitoring also includes tracking of the short-term and lifetime radiation doses for each astronaut to assess the risk for radiation-related diseases. Although NASA has conservative radiation limits greater than allowed radiation workers on Earth, the astronauts are able to stay well under NASA’s limit while living and working on the ISS, within Earth’s magnetosphere.

But a journey to Mars requires astronauts to move out much further, beyond the protection of Earth’s magnetic bubble.

“There’s a lot of good science to be done on Mars, but a trip to interplanetary space carries more radiation risk than working in low-Earth orbit,” said Jonathan Pellish, a space radiation engineer at Goddard.

A human mission to Mars means sending astronauts into interplanetary space for a minimum of a year, even with a very short stay on the Red Planet. Nearly all of that time, they will be outside the magnetosphere, exposed to the harsh radiation environment of space. Mars has no global magnetic field to deflect energetic particles, and its atmosphere is much thinner than Earth’s, so they’ll get only minimal protection even on the surface of Mars.

Throughout the entire trip, astronauts must be protected from two sources of radiation. The first comes from the sun, which regularly releases a steady stream of solar particles, as well as occasional larger bursts in the wake of giant explosions, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, on the sun. These energetic particles are almost all protons, and, though the sun releases an unfathomably large number of them, the proton energy is low enough that they can almost all be physically shielded by the structure of the spacecraft.

Since solar activity strongly contributes to the deep-space radiation environment, a better understanding of the sun’s modulation of this radiation environment will allow mission planners to make better decisions for a future Mars mission. NASA currently operates a fleet of spacecraft studying the sun and the space environment throughout the solar system. Observations from this area of research, known as heliophysics, help us better understand the origin of solar eruptions and what effects these events have on the overall space radiation environment.

“If we know precisely what’s going on, we don’t have to be as conservative with our estimates, which gives us more flexibility when planning the mission,” said Pellish.

The second source of energetic particles is harder to shield. These particles come from galactic cosmic rays, often known as GCRs. They’re particles accelerated to near the speed of light that shoot into our solar system from other stars in the Milky Way or even other galaxies. Like solar particles, galactic cosmic rays are mostly protons. However, some of them are heavier elements, ranging from helium up to the heaviest elements. These more energetic particles can knock apart atoms in the material they strike, such as in the astronaut, the metal walls of a spacecraft, habitat, or vehicle, causing sub-atomic particles to shower into the structure. This secondary radiation, as it is known, can reach a dangerous level.

There are two ways to shield from these higher-energy particles and their secondary radiation: use a lot more mass of traditional spacecraft materials, or use more efficient shielding materials.

The sheer volume of material surrounding a structure would absorb the energetic particles and their associated secondary particle radiation before they could reach the astronauts. However, using sheer bulk to protect astronauts would be prohibitively expensive, since more mass means more fuel required to launch.

Using materials that shield more efficiently would cut down on weight and cost, but finding the right material takes research and ingenuity. NASA is currently investigating a handful of possibilities that could be used in anything from the spacecraft to the Martian habitat to space suits.

“The best way to stop particle radiation is by running that energetic particle into something that’s a similar size,” said Pellish. “Otherwise, it can be like you’re bouncing a tricycle off a tractor-trailer.”

Because protons and neutrons are similar in size, one element blocks both extremely well—hydrogen, which most commonly exists as just a single proton and an electron. Conveniently, hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, and makes up substantial parts of some common compounds, such as water and plastics like polyethylene. Engineers could take advantage of already-required mass by processing the astronauts’ trash into plastic-filled tiles used to bolster radiation protection. Water, already required for the crew, could be stored strategically to create a kind of radiation storm shelter in the spacecraft or habitat. However, this strategy comes with some challenges—the crew would need to use the water and then replace it with recycled water from the advanced life support systems.

Polyethylene, the same plastic commonly found in water bottles and grocery bags, also has potential as a candidate for radiation shielding. It is very high in hydrogen and fairly cheap to produce—however, it’s not strong enough to build a large structure, especially a spacecraft, which goes through high heat and strong forces during launch. And adding polyethylene to a metal structure would add quite a bit of mass, meaning that more fuel would be required for launch.

“We’ve made progress on reducing and shielding against these energetic particles, but we’re still working on finding a material that is a good shield and can act as the primary structure of the spacecraft,” said Sheila Thibeault, a materials researcher at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

One material in development at NASA has the potential to do both jobs: Hydrogenated boron nitride nanotubes—known as hydrogenated BNNTs—are tiny, nanotubes made of carbon, boron, and nitrogen, with hydrogen interspersed throughout the empty spaces left in between the tubes. Boron is also an excellent absorber secondary neutrons, making hydrogenated BNNTs an ideal shielding material.

“This material is really strong—even at high heat—meaning that it’s great for structure,” said Thibeault.

Remarkably, researchers have successfully made yarn out of BNNTs, so it’s flexible enough to be woven into the fabric of space suits, providing astronauts with significant radiation protection even while they’re performing spacewalks in transit or out on the harsh Martian surface. Though hydrogenated BNNTs are still in development and testing, they have the potential to be one of our key structural and shielding materials in spacecraft, habitats, vehicles, and space suits that will be used on Mars.

Physical shields aren’t the only option for stopping particle radiation from reaching astronauts: Scientists are also exploring the possibility of building force fields. Force fields aren’t just the realm of science fiction: Just like Earth’s magnetic field protects us from energetic particles, a relatively small, localized electric or magnetic field would—if strong enough and in the right configuration—create a protective bubble around a spacecraft or habitat. Currently, these fields would take a prohibitive amount of power and structural material to create on a large scale, so more work is needed for them to be feasible.

The risk of health effects can also be reduced in operational ways, such as having a special area of the spacecraft or Mars habitat that could be a radiation storm shelter; preparing spacewalk and research protocols to minimize time outside the more heavily-shielded spacecraft or habitat; and ensuring that astronauts can quickly return indoors in the event of a radiation storm.

Radiation risk mitigation can also be approached from the human body level. Though far off, a medication that would counteract some or all of the health effects of radiation exposure would make it much easier to plan for a safe journey to Mars and back.

“Ultimately, the solution to radiation will have to be a combination of things,” said Pellish. “Some of the solutions are technology we have already, like hydrogen-rich materials, but some of it will necessarily be cutting edge concepts that we haven’t even thought of yet.”

Sarah Frazier NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt, Md.