The team of Dennis Tito, the eccentric billionaire who recently announced his plan to send a married couple into space to fly by Mars, said that human waste will be used to protect the couple from radiation exposure. The trip could take at least 17 months and radiation exposure could result in the couple becoming severely ill.
Cosmic rays in space are constant and dangerous, and a wall shielding will help to protect the vessel. Astronauts exposed to high levels of radiation may suffer from nausea, fatigue and damage to the immune system.
Damage to the eyes, gastrointestinal system, lungs and central nervous system can also occur. Cancer risk is increased through long-term radiation exposure, as detailed by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.
As reported by the New Scientist, water and organic materials can be effective in protecting the ship's occupants from the radiation. The spacecraft's wall for the mission, pegged 'Inspiration Mars,' is expected to be lined with bags of food and water. This will create a liquid shield, a 40-cm-thick protective lining.
"Food is going to be stored all around the walls of the spacecraft, because food is good radiation shielding," said Taber MacCallum, a member of the team funded by multimillionaire Dennis Tito. Over the course of the mission, once the bags are emptied they will be replaced with other bags full of human waste.
"Dehydrate them as much as possible, because we need to get the water back. Those solid waste products get put into a bag, put right back against the wall. It's a little queasy sounding, but there's no place for that material to go, and it makes great radiation shielding," said MacCallum.
As reported by The Register, NASA is currently working on a system that will extract moisture from urine and feces to provide clean drinking water, using osmosis. The project, called Water Walls, will not only shield astronauts from radiation and provide clean water, but will provide thermal and humidity control and could be used for food growth. The two-person Inspiration Mars fly- by is expected to take place in January 2018.
(Edited by Lois Heyman)
