Gary’s Q&A

Listener question & Gary’s response · Transcript passage

Jesus Chan asks Gary, greetings from Laredo, Texas, the once capital of the Republic of the Rio Grande! With all the excitement around human space exploration and the prospects of traveling to the Moon and Mars, what do you believe is the most critical issue we must address to ensure success? Is it a medical advancement to protect the human body in space, the development of a revolutionary propulsion system, the creation of artificial gravity, or something entirely different?

That is a very good question. There is a lot that we don’t know about making such a trip. For starters, we have only sent 18 humans beyond low earth orbit. All 18 were part of the Apollo program and they spent a very limited amount of time beyond low Earth orbit.

This is important because the further away you get from Earth and our protective magnetic field, the more radiation you will experience in the form of solar wind and cosmic rays. We have zero experience of human beings in interplanetary space.

The second problem is gravity. We’ve had many people now who have spent extended periods in zero gravity. While they can survive in that environment it isn’t ideal. Extended time in zero gravity results in bone loss, muscle atrophy, and a host of other problem.

Artificial gravity seems like an easy solution, but we’ve never actually tried it before. At some point, we are going to need some sort of revolving space station with artificial gravity if nothing more than as a proof of concept.

Finally, in terms of propulsion, if you remember back to my episode on the subject, nuclear rockets could dramatically reduce the time it takes to get to Mars. If we had a nuclear rocket, the first trip there might be a quick there and back to plant the flag and declare victory.

However, in the long run, you’d probably need to send supplies up beforehand for an extended stay base. Something close to the movie The Martian with Matt Damon…although the dust storms in the movie were highly exaggerated. The air pressure is too low to do that much damage.

In terms of the moon, because it has no atmosphere, you’d probably want to put a base either in a lava tube or at least cover it with lunar soil to protect it from radiation.