Join Debatepedia's Facebook group! | News: Next on Debate Digest: War on Drugs
See Debatepedia's resources for the Spring 2010 The People Speak Global Debates on climate change adaptation
Argument: Long weightless travel to Mars would weaken Astronauts' bodies
From Debatepedia
Parent debate
Supporting quotations
"Ask Marshall Brain: Why haven't we sent astronauts to Mars?" March 2004:"If you launched a spaceship flying at 15,000 miles per hour, it would take at least five months to get to Mars (probably six or seven). And once you got there, the planets wouldn't be lined up nicely anymore. You would have to wait 18 months for them to get "close" again. Then it's another six-month trip home!All of this would be extremely hard on the astronauts. The weightlessness would cause their bones to lose 1% of their mass per month. Then there's the radiation in space. The Earth's atmosphere and its magnetic field protect us from most of this radiation, but in space, astronauts are totally exposed.And don't forget the psychological issues. Imagine being cooped up in something the size of an RV with the same five or six people for two or three years. The typical family would get pretty testy in just two or three days.Another problem is the sheer size of the spaceship. It would have to carry more than 1,000 pounds of dehydrated food per person, plus tons of water and fuel, a big lander, life support systems, medical equipment and supplies, radiation shielding and so on."
"Astronauts face bone danger." BBC. May 4, 2000: "Astronauts returning from missions in space may take months to start recovering from dangerous bone-thinning. Living in conditions of near zero-gravity places less stress on bones, and in response, they weaken. This thinning could mean that astronauts are vulnerable to bone fractures." Also because of the lack of work done by the muscles during long durations of weightlessness, the human heart weakens very much from underuse which could endanger a long-term space mission by far."
