Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to re: *sigh*

For once we all seem to agree...
Adam — (archived)

...that Zubrin is human and open to correction. That's a good thing.

Mark,
I have a pretty thick skin so we're cool. As for points (2) & (3) they're niggling details, not major issues. There's a few other quibbles I have with his interstellar discussion, but the book is a side issue. Mars Direct or Mars Semi-Direct are good starter missions, but they're not real base-builders inspite of what "The Case for Mars" advocates. Mars really needs a higher speed transport system for a serious base/colony to be started off sustainably. Zubrin wants to get to Mars as quick as politically possible based on NASA's track record so Congressional razor-gangs don't murder a nascent colony effort in its crib. His efforts have galvanised the Mars community and rescued the idea from the von Braun era "Space-Stations-Moon-bases-Mars-Missions" clumping which has killed many a Mars program.

But it's flawed and I think we all know it. The mission profile's year in open space and the two years on Mars involves too much galactic cosmic radiation being soaked up by the crews. That's a big unknown and without proper shielding - active or passive - it's sacrificial. I know Zubrin glosses over it and sees it primarily as like any other carcinogenic process, but it's not. The direct cellular damage caused by the GCR particle tracks - especially damage to neurones - is a whole different kind of radiation damage compared to the keV-MeV stuff we know from X-rays and fall-out. It's a serious issue that I'm hoping more BioSats will elucidate, especially the bio-data the Russians are hoping to collect with that Phobos return mission.

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