The decision makers in the Soviet Union at the time wanted to reach Mars since the sixties. Even then it was clear that the race to the moon was lost and so their focus shifted to long manned missions
The decision makers in the Soviet Union at the time wanted to reach Mars since the sixties. Even then it was clear that the moon race was lost and so their focus shifted to long manned missions.
"To achieve the goal, four questions had to be asked," says Dr. Anatoly Grigory, director of the Institute for Biomedical Problem Solving, Russia's leading institute in the field of space medicine and biology.
"The first question was how to provide medical support during the flight to Mars. The second question was how to ensure the psychological compatibility between the members of the small and isolated crew. The third was - how to create a stable and efficient life support system; and the fourth question was how to provide the best protection against radiation in space.
Dr. Anatoly Potapov, a doctor who specializes in space medicine, says that the challenge is enormous. Human walking can be a much bigger challenge than flying in orbit around the Earth.
Among the other differences between an orbital flight and a flight to Mars is the length of the journey, up to 14 months has so far been the record for a flight in Earth's orbit. A mission to Mars will take more than three years. A journey to Mars will also require complete autonomy of the crew, dangerous levels of radiation and the chance of being hit by a meteorite. And last but not least, the crew members will have to rely only on themselves to operate the life support systems.
The main component of medical support for a mission to Mars will be the integration of a doctor in the interstellar team." says cosmonaut Valery Poliakov, who serves as director of the institute. "This doctor will have to solve all medical problems in the flight king by using the equipment on board the spacecraft and while utilizing his experience in a variety of treatments - from surgeries and to complicated treatments as well as medical leave.
Russian experts are also working on developing an independent life support system, which will also include an on-board incubator. Dr. Potatov says: "The size of the greenhouse will depend on the number of staff members, 2 square meters per person. This greenhouse will completely satisfy the needs of the staff in vitamin C and A and partly vitamins PP, B1 and B2. According to Dr. Potatov, the institute's experts discovered Because six crew members would need 37 tons of water during a two-year mission to Mars. In any case, the water recycling system on board, together with a water reserve in case of emergency, will make it possible to reduce the amount to only 7.5 tons. The food supply system alone would weigh as much.
Psychological problems can be caused by isolation, unexpected situations, interaction of a small team, hard work and pressures to successfully complete the task. Dr. Potatov performed several experiments in isolation. The most recent experiment lasted 240 days and proved that life in isolation is difficult. There were cases of violence and sexual harassment - one person even escaped. The most important condition for the success of the mission will be if they assemble the crew long before the flight So that the team members will have enough time to know how to live and work with each other and be a real team" says Dr. Grigoriev. "We believe that six people is the optimal number" He adds. "The team should include a commander who will also be a pilot, a co-pilot, a flight engineer, a doctor and two scientists.
Long periods outside Earth's protective atmosphere will increase the interplanetary subjects' exposure to deadly space radiation. According to him, protecting the staff from radiation is a matter of timing and distance. "A flight to Mars should be at a time when the sun's activity is the lowest. The flight itself should be as low as possible. Special protection also includes a shelter on board, medicines and a special design of the spacecraft shell. We believe that 10 grams of aluminum per cubic meter will be enough to provide reasonable protection to the crew members during the journey to Mars.
Polyakov, who flew his record flight in his early fifties, believes that the age of the Mars pilots should be between 50 and 60, and even older, but only those who do not have medical problems. "This is the age when a person reaches their health and psychological peak, and is socially stable. Besides, interstellar flight can cause a lot of damage to the cosmonauts' reproductive system, so it's better to take people who don't need it.
The open question is whether the crew should include cosmonauts of both sexes. Dr. Potapov believes that the inclusion of women will cause emotional and hormonal disturbances to the all-male team, however, the institute's experts say that women who participated in the experiment together with men showed higher concentration, better orientation and intuition than men.
It is possible to solve all the problems associated with a flight to Mars, Polyakov says. "Look, after 437 days of exposure to radiation and weightlessness, I walked out of the landing compartment all by myself. That was one of the goals of the flight - to prove that a person could work on Mars after such a long flight.
By: Yuri Karash -space.com; Translated by Avi Blizovsky
