Mission to Mars: Radiation as the Major Concern for Mars Travel

In the Pixar science-fiction animation WALL-E, the Earth is so polluted and trashed that all humans have fled for refuge in outer space, leaving only two robots to clean up. The film insinuates that being aboard a space capsule far from Earth is safer for the characters than being on our planet. But is this really true? Would we really survive better somewhere else in the universe? Perhaps, but there are also some great risks for future space-dwellers. Journeys to space stations and the moon have shown that space travel can lead to many medical issues, such as cataracts due to light from the sun, and bone loss due to decreased calcium metabolism. Most importantly, as NASA and SpaceX are gearing up to send a manned craft to Mars, the effects of radiation on genes are at the forefront of current studies.

Radiation occurs when an energy source emits waves or particles of energy which can be absorbed by the object in the path of that energy. On a molecular level, though, radiation energy is described as being “deposited” into the receiver’s cells, causing changes in the cell’s functioning and modifications of gene activation or inactivation. These effects can result in damage to the genome and death of the affected cell, causing acute ramifications, with symptoms like nausea and confusion, or delayed consequences, such as cancer. Increased fluence, or energy particles per unit area of the radiated matter, is directly associated with more tumors.

A less simplistic result of radiation is the “bystander effect”. Cells that are subjected to the heavy ions emitted by an energy source can also cause oncogenesis in unaffected nearby cells. Studies have shown that radiation can be transmitted from those irradiated cells to unirradiated ones close by. This effect is so strong that even low doses of low energy radiation can lead to oncogenesis in the unirradiated cells. Therefore, even if astronauts are mostly protected from radiation, any effects that do get through to their bodies and cells can be multiplied.

Source :- yucommentator