With Europe gun-ho about testing whether or not humans can handle the isolation en route towards the red planet, another group in Utah is experimenting on drills training us to stay alive once we get there.
(Physorg.com) “This is a unique mission, the first dedicated to emergency preparedness,” says Schneider. “I wanted to develop the emergency at radiation protocols on this mission because it is one of the problems with Lunar and Mars manned exploration.”
Schneider will monitor three hypothetical different radiation warning systems during the mission. One, located outside the habitat, is an immediate gauge of radiation in the area. Monitors in orbiting satellites will supply information on the direction of the solar storm, and information from the satellites orbiting the sun will provide the third set of information.
Although many industries are focused on technology that could eventually get us there, it will be research like this that ensures that we actually survive there. Despite the glamorous view of the solar system on the lunar surface (or for Martian fans a red planet sunset) humanity may be forced to spend a large portion of their time underground, only venturing out for scientific and industrial missions.
Training like this might become common place for future generations on both the Mars and the Moon. Unless of course we can construct some kind of artificial magnetic field around these worlds.
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