Want to go to Mars? Know the solar flare danger that can even kill you

Following the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission yesterday, excitement in the astronomy community is at an all-time high. Many are wondering what other new achievements India and the world can achieve. And among the huge list of ideas for space exploration, one thing always comes first – a manned mission to Mars could pave the way for colonization on the red planet. However, a NASA scientist has warned us that this dream may not be realized in the near future with the current technology we have. Why? That’s because radiation from the sun’s rays and massive eruptions (CMEs) will kill us long before we reach Mars.

NASA scientist Dr. Michelle Thaller spoke to The US Sun and explained that the technology we have at the moment is simply not enough to protect the astronauts who will travel to Mars. The biggest challenge is space radiation. On Earth, we are protected by it because the ozone layer and the upper atmosphere absorb any incoming radiation to ensure that the Earth is not exposed to them.

But in space, nothing can protect people. During a journey that can take up to nine months, avoiding radiation from solar flares and CMEs will be extremely difficult.

Solar storms could kill astronauts on their way to Mars

Although normal radiation still exists in space, the intensity of this radiation increases many times when a solar flare erupts on the Sun or CME sweeps across an area in space. Recently, some scientists have found a correlation between the clouds of dying Neptune and the increased activity of the Sun on the Sun. And if the Sun can affect Neptune, the most distant planet in the solar system, it can certainly affect the spacecraft between Earth and Mars.

This radiation is so powerful that it can cause radiation poisoning, various cancers, degenerative and genetic disorders, and even death.

And this could be a major limitation on sending Earth people to Mars by 2050, a deadline by which SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has given himself the task of transporting 1 million people to Mars. . NASA astronaut Stan Love told The US Sun that there was simply no chance of creating a human colony at the time.