Problem of radiation security in interplanetary missions remains to be solved - academician
MOSCOW. Jan 24 (Interfax-AVN) - The main engineering problem - the protection of crews of prospective interplanetary missions from space radiation - remains to be solved, Russian Academy of Sciences Vice President, Academy Space Research Institute Director Academician Lev Zelyony said.
"A mission to the Moon, not to mention a flight to Mars, is a much more complex engineering task than near-Earth missions. Astronauts deployed in orbits, where the International Space Station (ISS) is, are protected by the Earth magnetic field which mostly shields us from space radiation," Zelyony said.
"We will bump into a new factor - space radiation - as soon as we go beyond the Earth's magnetic field, and we have yet to learn how to deal with it," he noted.
Long-term missions to the ISS are extremely important in the search for engineering, medical and biological solutions, which will provide reliable protection for crews of interplanetary spacecraft in the future, Zelyony said.