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Destination Tomorrow - DT18 - Long Duration Space Travel

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Subido el 28 de mayo de 2007 por EducaMadrid

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Third segment of NASA Destination Tomorrow episode 18 explaining the challenges that astronauts face with prolonged exposure to the space environment. This segment also explores issues such as radiation, gravity, duration of missions and food supply.

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As we all know, traveling into space, even on short missions, is a very difficult endeavor. 00:00:00
But the complexity increases dramatically when planning for missions that last for months or years at a time. 00:00:10
With current predictions of crew travel to Mars lasting at least three years, 00:00:16
NASA researchers must find a way to prepare our astronauts for long missions. 00:00:20
To help us understand some of the challenges future astronauts will face, 00:00:25
Tonya St. Romain spoke with Orlando Figueroa at NASA Headquarters to find out more. 00:00:29
Since the early 1960s, the general public has accepted space travel as almost commonplace. 00:00:37
Moon missions, shuttle flights, and trips to the International Space Station 00:00:43
have helped us learn about the challenges of traveling into space. 00:00:48
But with new exploration missions to Mars and beyond, 00:00:51
different and possibly even more challenging problems will need to be overcome. 00:00:54
Just the journey to Mars will require a new way of thinking about space flight. 00:00:59
New vehicles need to be developed, and the crew's physiological concerns, 00:01:04
such as radiation exposure, bone loss, and food storage, 00:01:08
need to be addressed before the mission can be undertaken. 00:01:12
To help find out more about some of these challenges, 00:01:15
I spoke with Orlando Figueroa at NASA Headquarters. 00:01:17
Some of the major challenges in getting crews or human beings to another world 00:01:21
deal with the environment of space. 00:01:25
Not only is it very difficult to get them on their way to the new world, 00:01:29
but the radiation environment that they're going to be exposed to, 00:01:33
the duration of those flights. 00:01:36
Other than the moon, most destinations in the solar system are pretty far away, 00:01:38
so they're going to spend several months in the process. 00:01:43
They also need to carry a significant amount of resources, 00:01:46
water, food, to be able to live in space. 00:01:50
And they're in confined spaces where they need to exercise 00:01:54
and to keep their body healthy. 00:01:57
We on Earth have to be able to keep track of their health. 00:02:00
How are they doing? What happens if they get sick? 00:02:03
So an enormous number of challenges that we have to overcome 00:02:06
before we're ready to take that step. 00:02:08
Orlando, give me an idea of what the proposed spacecraft might look like. 00:02:11
The proposed spacecraft to take the humans in their journey through space 00:02:15
are just, as we speak, being designed. 00:02:19
They're called crew exploration vehicles, 00:02:23
vehicles designed to be able to carry on board a number of astronauts 00:02:25
and have all of the equipment necessary, the food and other equipment, 00:02:30
for them to be able to go on their journey. 00:02:36
Now, they are in similar in shape, perhaps, 00:02:39
to some that we observed during the Apollo era. 00:02:42
They've got a much greater capability 00:02:45
and new rockets that are being developed to take them into space. 00:02:47
Once in space, the system they're going to be using for propulsion 00:02:50
will rely upon chemical, a combination of nuclear energy and or chemical, 00:02:54
these type of technologies that are being developed, as we speak. 00:03:00
Using current rocket technology, it would take at least six months to get to Mars. 00:03:03
In order to cut back on that time, 00:03:07
NASA researchers are looking at new methods of propulsion 00:03:09
that would greatly reduce trip duration. 00:03:12
One of the most promising plans, called Project Prometheus, 00:03:14
could cut this travel time to about two months. 00:03:18
A Prometheus spacecraft would use nuclear propulsion 00:03:21
rather than chemical propulsion to increase speeds to distant worlds. 00:03:24
The nuclear option would make a crewed Mars mission much easier 00:03:29
because it would reduce the need to carry so much food, fuel and oxygen. 00:03:33
Nuclear power would also mean that Martian launch windows would be longer, 00:03:37
allowing a more flexible choice of launch and return times, 00:03:41
leading to a crewed landing mission that could last as little as three or four months, 00:03:44
as opposed to the current projection of about three years. 00:03:49
Another concern is the crew's exposure to radiation when they're in space. 00:03:52
So, how will the vehicle protect them from the radiation that's in space? 00:03:56
Space has a certain level of radiation that can get significantly worse 00:04:00
if they are exposed to solar emissions. 00:04:04
You have a solar ejection. 00:04:08
These are highly charged particles that are traveling incredibly fast through space. 00:04:11
On Earth, we have the benefit of having a magnificent magnetic field 00:04:16
that provides great protection against that radiation, those particles. 00:04:21
In space, you're fully exposed. 00:04:25
So, clearly, we need to worry about the design of a spacecraft 00:04:27
and make certain that it provides a certain amount of shielding 00:04:31
or a combination of materials that can increase the stoppage ability of those particles. 00:04:35
It cannot be 100% effective, so you also need a way to predict 00:04:41
when such a coronal mass ejection may come through, 00:04:45
to give them some adequate warning and perhaps have the astronauts move 00:04:49
to a safer area in the spacecraft to protect themselves. 00:04:53
So, it's a combination of systems and prediction and other capabilities 00:04:58
that would make it much safer. 00:05:02
Will being in microgravity for long periods of time be detrimental to the astronauts? 00:05:05
In space, there is no gravity, of course, or very limited gravity. 00:05:10
So, your bones are not needed for the same purpose or for the same strength 00:05:13
that we would need them here on Earth. 00:05:18
Your muscles, you don't need to exert as much pressure or force in order to move around. 00:05:20
You're not fighting gravity. 00:05:26
So, therefore, you also tend to lose muscle mass. 00:05:28
So, obviously, once you get to the destination, you're going to need that. 00:05:31
Again, not necessarily fits to Mars. 00:05:36
It's about half of the gravity of Earth, so you wouldn't need as much. 00:05:38
Nevertheless, you need a certain amount of strength and muscle mass 00:05:42
to be able to move around and be healthy. 00:05:46
Part of the challenge is to define techniques, skills, equipment, etc., 00:05:48
that allow the astronauts to remain healthy and to protect their bone and muscle mass 00:05:54
to do the journey and return back to Earth. 00:06:02
We have to worry about bringing them back when they're done. 00:06:04
A strong element of the vision for space exploration 00:06:07
is this combination of humans and machines working together. 00:06:10
To learn about a new world, normally we begin the process by sending robots 00:06:14
that explore and understand the environment from a science perspective 00:06:18
as well as from an engineering and safety perspective. 00:06:23
Where would humans go to do further scientific research and explore this new world? 00:06:27
Now, it is a daunting task right now for us to develop all the capabilities that will take us there. 00:06:32
And because of that, we're taking a stepwise approach. 00:06:38
We're going first to the Moon where we're going to bring capabilities, develop technologies, 00:06:42
develop the knowledge necessary for humans to survive in that environment for a long period of time. 00:06:47
And from there, then start graduating, if you will, to Mars as the next target, 00:06:54
the next target where we can start proving the scientific theories and explore this new world 00:06:59
and then move on beyond. 00:07:04
That's what the vision for space exploration is all about. 00:07:06
We at NASA are incredibly excited about the opportunities 00:07:10
that the vision for space exploration are bringing forth. 00:07:13
Who knows what we may discover? Who knows what we may learn? 00:07:16
Coming up, we'll find out what some of the challenges will be 00:07:22
for actually living and working on other worlds. 00:07:25
But first, did you know that the early days of flight had its share of challenges as well? 00:07:28
For example, on May 14, 1918, the U.S. Post Office released the first stamps 00:07:32
commemorating airmail delivery, which were scheduled to begin the next day. 00:07:37
Unfortunately, the plane pictured on the stamp, the J-4 jetty, 00:07:41
was mistakenly printed upside down. 00:07:45
During the inaugural flight, Airman George Boyle had problems from the start, 00:07:48
eventually crashing his jetty into a Maryland cornfield. 00:07:52
Scrambling from his plane, he stood, looking at it, lying upside down, 00:07:55
exactly as the inverted stamps had predicted. 00:07:59
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Idioma/s:
en
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Autor/es:
NASA LaRC Office of Education
Subido por:
EducaMadrid
Licencia:
Reconocimiento - No comercial - Sin obra derivada
Visualizaciones:
647
Fecha:
28 de mayo de 2007 - 17:05
Visibilidad:
Público
Enlace Relacionado:
NASAs center for distance learning
Duración:
08′ 06″
Relación de aspecto:
4:3 Hasta 2009 fue el estándar utilizado en la televisión PAL; muchas pantallas de ordenador y televisores usan este estándar, erróneamente llamado cuadrado, cuando en la realidad es rectangular o wide.
Resolución:
480x360 píxeles
Tamaño:
47.09 MBytes

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