Plus: A call to explore Titan after Mars
By Dan Robitzski
Welcome back to our weekly newsletter highlighting the opinions and perspectives of the SpaceNews community.
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NASA is taking strides to invest in and procure the necessary science and technology to develop and operate a base for long-term operations on the moon. But biological research, especially as it pertains to human health and survivability, remains woefully underprioritized, according to a recent commentary by Baylor College of Medicine neuroscientist Jackson Brougher, who also conducts space health research at the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) at Baylor’s Center for Space Medicine.
"The [science-as-a-service] RFI is scoped to Earth science, space weather and astrophysics, and although there are domains of crucial importance, urgency should also be placed on determining whether a crew member’s bones will fracture after six months at one-sixth gravity, or whether lunar dust will permanently scar their lungs," Brougher wrote. "In spite of the need for the rapid creation of new technologies to improve our ability to live on the lunar surface, health and biological sciences are not included in the RFI."
According to Brougher, biological research must be part of the plan from the start if NASA is serious about creating a sustained presence on the moon.
Read the full opinion article on SpaceNews here. |
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Where will humanity go after Mars? William O'Hara, founder and executive director of Explore Titan, asks that question and offers up Titan as the answer in a recent opinion article.
He argues that Titan, Saturn's largest move, is a more appealing option than Venus, Europa or Enceladus, in part because its atmosphere and surface pressure will be slightly more hospitable to human explorers than those other candidates. And the technology and techniques developed during forays to the moon and Mars will make a Titan mission particularly feasible.
"Human missions to Titan would not happen any time soon," O'Hara wrote. "No one is proposing that we can skip the moon and Mars. Much to the contrary, these destinations are crucial steps. We first have to get our interplanetary “sea legs” under us and solidify our ability to travel great distances, land, live and then return from other planetary bodies. Going to Mars will be a giant leap in experience that will apply to Titan. We will learn ways to survive and reduce deep space travel time. It will teach us about performing descent and landing of large objects through an atmosphere other than Earth’s and how to equip crews to be self-reliant so far from Earth. The list goes on and on."
Read the full article on SpaceNews here.
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NASA's Cassini spacecraft took this image looking down on the north pole of Titan. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute
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SpaceNews is committed to publishing our community’s diverse perspectives. Whether you’re an academic, executive, engineer or even just a concerned citizen of the cosmos, send your arguments and viewpoints to opinion (at) spacenews.com to be considered for publication online or in our next magazine. If you have something to submit, read some of our recent opinion articles and our submission guidelines to get a sense of what we’re looking for. The perspectives shared in these opinion articles are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent their employers or professional affiliations. |
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