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Phil Edgerton wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
> *****************************************************************************
>
> I read recently that the problem of immense and deadly radioactivity between
> here and Mars is not solvable by any mechanism currently known of or even
> imagined. It's like the problem of nuclear energy. All the safety and
> economic debate about it is rendered moot by the fact that a byproduct of it
> is a deadly poison whose half life is measured in the hundreds of thousands
> of years. So most of the debate about humans going to Mars is rendered moot
> by the fact that we can't withstand the radiation we would experience in
> getting there.
>
> Phil Edgerton, The Health Adventure

Before the first missions in the 60's, the doctors were
sure that humans couldn't survive zero-g for any length
of time.   There were also adamant scientists who believed
the first Moon walkers would sink into the soil.
We are talking beyond 10 years here before
any humans would be venturing out into this region.
Give science and technology a chance.  If you think
any activity can be without risk, you are living
in a different universe.  I was walking across
a downtown intersection, minding my own business,
and in the crosswalk with the light - and got
hit by a student worrying about her final exams.
Life has risks.  Exploration has risks.  But to
claim all is impossible stifles the spirit.
It is also not a good way to approach science.

Clear DARK Skies,
--
Jack Dunn
Mueller Planetarium - UNL

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