Humans Can Freely Roam The Planet Mars, As Long As...

JAKARTA - Not a few people have ambitions to go to Planet Mars. Several space companies have also prepared space vehicles to explore the Red Planet. However, visiting Mars is not that easy.

Various obstacles will continue to be faced by humans who go there. The Martian environment certainly has an impact on human health. A team of researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles has investigated one piece of this puzzle, as quoted from Digital Trends, Tuesday, August 31.

Like on Earth, Mars also has a relatively small amount of radiation, but it can have an impact on Martian visitors. The researchers found radiation levels should be harmless as long as the mission lasted less than four years.

Luckily, Earth has a magnetosphere that protects humans and other living things from radiation. However, if you travel to Mars, you can be exposed to radiation. However, this research is still in the early stages to determine the effect.

The real problem is that there are two different types of radiation: energetic particles from the sun and galactic cosmic rays. Researchers say it would be best to send a mission to Mars as long as the Sun is at its maximum, which is when the Sun is most active. Because the activity of the Sun can deflect some of the more dangerous particles from outside the Solar System.

Fortunately, researchers have shields to protect spacecraft and astronauts from radiation. They modeled how much radiation an astronaut would be exposed to on a round trip to Mars using the current shield.

“This study shows that while space radiation imposes strict limits on how heavy a spacecraft can be and launch time. That presents technological difficulties for a human mission to Mars, such a mission is feasible", said UCLA research geophysicist, Yuri Shprits.

Researchers explained that they found a relatively thick shield that would help and keep astronauts safe, as long as the journey did not last more than four years. Unfortunately, making the shield too thick would actually be more dangerous as it would increase secondary radiation exposure.