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Northern Chapter of the New Mexico Network for Women in Science and Engineering LUNCHTIME TALK SERIES https://archive.nmnwse.org/lawis/lunchtalks Talk at 12:00, Tuesday, September 13, 2005 Bradbury Science Museum Auditorium 15th and Central, Los Alamos |
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Betsy Cantwell, ISR-DO, LANL
What About Getting People to Mars? |
(LA-UR-05-6647) Preparing astronauts for the Red Planet is supposed to be a research priority for the International Space Station. But NASA has numerous woes, including an ailing Space Shuttle system. Today's skeleton crew running the station will not be able to complete all of the research currently thought necessary to make a human trip to Mars absolutely safe. What are some of the interesting research issues and options for getting a human crew to Mars?
Issues that will be discussed in this talk include:
For ambitious missions such as a human trip to Mars, the consequences of human-technology interactions become more profound and the expectations for crew task performance increase.
For these long-term missions, a greater emphasis will need to be placed on the roles of crew compatibility and team performance in overall mission success.
Exposure to ionizing radiation from the solar wind, solar particle events, galactic cosmic rays and other sources is a major concern for space flight beyond low Earth orbit.
Engineering challenges abound for a 30 month Mars mission, the transit portions of which will mean long-term microgravity for astronauts.
Biography -- Elizabeth (Betsy) Cantwell is the Deputy Division Leader for Science and Technology in the International, Space and Response Division at LANL. Dr. Cantwell began her career building life support systems for manned space missions with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and retains a consulting role as an advisor to NASA's R&D and risk portfolios pursuant to the President's new Exploration Missions back to the Moon and on to Mars. She will bring this perspective to her talk about research issues for sending a human crew to Mars.
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