That “One Way Trip to Mars” thing? May want to rethink that trip if you signed up.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

Remember that offer to send couples to Mars by the Dutch non-profit organization 'Mars One'? http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/05/09/78000-people-apply-for-one-way-trip-to-mars/

Yeah... I think that if you signed up for that you may want to read this. NASA has found something that kinds dampens that idea.

Now if you excuse me, I need to go and take my name off something.

Astronauts would face high radiation on Mars trip, NASA says
By Elizabeth Landau, CNN
updated 7:02 PM EDT, Thu May 30, 2013

(CNN) -- For those of you dreaming of visiting Mars, readings taken during the Curiosity rover's voyage to the Red Planet offer a new measurement to ponder as you weigh the risks.

Mars-bound pioneers will be exposed to radiation levels that could effectively retire astronauts under NASA's current standards, scientists reported Thursday. The radiation astronauts would face on a round trip would be comparable to getting an abdominal CT scan "about once every five days," said Cary Zeitlin, principal scientist for the NASA-led Martian Radiation Environment Experiment.

The findings were published Thursday in the journal Science, based on data from a device called the Radiation Assessment Detector that took readings during Curiosity's trip to Mars. The spacecraft was similar to one that would carry humans, and scientists were interested in measuring galactic cosmic rays and solar energetic particles on the trip.

"It is clear that the exposure from the cruise phases alone is a large fraction of (and in some cases greater than) currently accepted astronaut career limits," they wrote.

READ MORE @ http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/30/us/mars-radiation/

[LiberalEsto]

1. Mars Travel announces "Go and Glow" tour package nt