Comments on: Briefs: export control reform continues, PETA declares victory

By: Justin Kugler

Justin Kugler — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 20:42:37 +0000

There are studies that suggest an inflatable habitat alone could have kept radiation exposure at ALARA levels during the intense solar storms of the 1970s. If you use a water jacket for your consumables storage, so much the better.

By: Dennis Berube

Dennis Berube — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:09:53 +0000

Yes hasnt inflatables, with water jackets, shown to perform very well with regards to radiation? Bigelows inflatables could be adapted for long missions like a Mars flight!

By: Justin Kugler

Justin Kugler — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:12:00 +0000

For radiation shielding, yes, Rhyolite. The higher the hydrogen density of the material, the better it performs.

By: Rhyolite

Rhyolite — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 07:52:58 +0000

Major Tom wrote @ December 12th, 2010 at 10:29 am

Is per unit volume the right metric? I would think the relevant metric would be per unit mass because spacecraft tend to be more mass limited than volume limited.

By: Justin Kugler

Justin Kugler — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 03:16:30 +0000

The long-term effects, and mechanisms driving said effects, of the space environment on the human body are not “well understood.” Go look at the Human Research Roadmap. It identifies critical gaps in our knowledge for the safe, sustained human exploration of the solar system.

http://humanresearchroadmap.nasa.gov/

Do your homework before you presume to pass judgment on others.

By: Major Tom

Major Tom — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 15:29:03 +0000

“Anyway water is the answer for shielding”

Polyethylene is actually better. Packs in more hydrogen atoms per unit volume so it blocks more radiation.

FWIW…

By: amightywind

amightywind — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 15:11:45 +0000

They are doing critical work on figuring out how to keep human being healthy in microgravity and you do them a tremendous disservice by tarring their profession with such a wide brush.

Sorry. Lavish, perpetual funding of well understood subjects is not in the national interest. Too many marginal research activities have ridden the coat tails of the NASA budget. It is time for change.

By: Scott Bass

Scott Bass — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 14:45:53 +0000

Well I think is is obvious they will need a safe house to go to during specific solar event at the very least, I advocate an inner hull surrounded by water, one of the best sheilds there is, plus if your on an exploration mission you can’t have too much of it, obviously multiple launches need to fill it up but there will have to be anyway, the mars ship will have to be put together in segments anyway, it will look more like skylab with several Orion capsules hooked to it or perhaps a few dragons.

Anyway water is the answer for shielding

By: dad2059

dad2059 — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 14:30:55 +0000

Animals are cheap, bred quickly and provide a lucrative underground economy for those involved. Laboratories know this and have taken advantage of this fact for decades, if not centuries.

It is disgusting, but it’s a fact of economic life for various labs and the pharmaceutical industry in particular.

By: vulture4

vulture4 — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 04:59:49 +0000

Mass isn’t necessarily required. All hazardous space radiation is in the form of charged particles, and can be repelled by a strong positive charge. That’s why the electrostatic shielding system developed mainly by Robert Youngquist at Kennedy Space Center is so revolutionary.