Those calling for interplanetary colonisation as a 'solution' to human
overpopulation might benefit from a reality check.
From:
WHAT'S NEW Robert L. Park Friday, 07 Dec 01 Washington, DC
THE AMERICAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY and THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
Opinions are the author's and are not necessarily shared by the
American Physical Society or the University, but they should be.
2. SPACE TRAVEL: THERE ARE A FEW HEALTH PROBLEMS TO DEAL WITH.
NASA is making plans for a human mission to Mars in 2014 that
would take 30 months. At the request of NASA, a committee of the
Institute of Health has examined the health issues surrounding
long-duration space missions outside Earth's magnetosphere ("Safe
Passage," National Academy Press, Washington, DC 2001, $80). The
greatest risk is radiation exposure. There are no data on
effects of the high-Z, high-energy particles that flood space and
no suitable experimental facilities on Earth. Nor is there any
way to predict solar outbursts with much higher radiation levels.
Loss of bone density in zero gravity is so severe and NASA's
"countermeasures" so marginally effective, that a mission to Mars
with humans is unlikely to be undertaken unless a biological
solution is found. Most surprising was the importance the report
gives to the risk of psychological and social stress.
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Steve Kurtz
--
http://magma.ca/~gpco/
http://www.scientists4pr.org/
Anyone who believes exponential growth can go on forever in a
finite world is either a madman or an economist.�Kenneth Boulding
