From the moon to Mars
AMBITIOUS: SPACE STATION PREPARES FOR MISSIONS FURTHER AFIELD
Scientists want to measure what they’re up against before they can devise ways to protect astronauts.
Detect harmful radiation, pilot a rover module, learn better sleep and body maintenance: astronauts aboard the International Space Station are preparing for future missions even further afield – from the moon to, one day, Mars.
The latest arrival of four more astronauts to the ISS, expected to blast off aboard a SpaceX rocket from Florida tomorrow, will open the door for new experiments aimed at priming humans for long-distance space travel.
“We’re trying out technologies for exploration,” said Remi Canton, director of Cadmos, the division of France’s National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) undertaking 12 new experiments.
Whether it is humans revisiting the moon for the first time since 1972, or eventually travelling as far as the Red Planet, the challenges are overwhelming.
Firstly, how can engineers ensure that astronauts and their equipment are protected from the flow of particles thrown out by solar storms and cosmic rays?
Crew members on the ISS get some protection from Earth’s magnetic shield. Venture further into space, however, and they become sitting ducks exposed to highly charged particles.
“It’s a really big problem for space exploration,” said Canton.
“You need to make sure they haven’t received a lethal dose before they even set foot on Mars, or stay on the moon too long.”
Before scientists can devise ways of protecting their space crews, they need to precisely measure what they are up against.
That is the objective of the
Lumina experiment, which uses a device based on optical fibres dipped in phosphorus to measure the amount of radiation passing through it. “When it irradiates, it darkens very quickly,” explained Sylvain Girard, a researcher at the Hubert Curien laboratory and coordinator of the experiment.
By measuring the rate of darkening and comparing that to the intensity of light signal injected into one end of the apparatus, scientists can accurately deduce the dose of radiation received.
It will allow researchers to measure radiation in real time, with sufficient sensitivity to detect a sudden variation such as that provided by a solar storm.
“It’s like a wave and it takes roughly an hour to swell before it reaches its maximal flow,” said Nicolas Balcon, a radiative environment engineer at CNES.
On a long space voyage, “if we detect a sudden increase, we could save the electronics, get an astronaut back inside the craft, or protect them within shelters that attenuate certain radiative forces,” he added. –