ISS
Science Looks to Mars
Can humans live on Mars? Is it safe? The Vision
for Space Exploration opens the door for NASA to find out. Researchers
on Earth are using several experiments aboard
the international space station to study health and safety issues.
Space
travelers living on Mars for extended periods will need
to grow plants, which provide food and generate oxygen. But the decreased
gravity and low atmospheric pressure environment will stress the plants and make
them hard to grow.
Greenhouses
in the Station's Destiny Laboratory and in the Zvezda Service Module grow plants
in a controlled environment. Station crews tend the plants, photograph them and
harvest samples for return to Earth. Researchers can use the resulting data to
develop new techniques for successfully growing plants in space.
NASA
is also concerned about health
hazards posed by space radiation. A spacecraft bound for Mars will be exposed
to substantial amounts of radiation, and it will have to protect the humans inside
from exposure.
On the station,
sensors inside the crew areas monitor radiation levels. NASA scientists,
who have maintained radiation data since the beginning of human
space flight, continue to learn about the dangers it poses. Researchers
use the station to test materials that could be used for Mars-bound
spacecraft.
Will
it ever be safe for humans to live on Mars? Researchers are learning more every
day, thanks to the results of ISS experiments. |