[geoschmo]

Originally posted by dogscoff:

quote:

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The space suits and the space craft are just not strong enough to fight off the radiation either on the Moon itself or through the Van Allen radiation belt. (They went through the Van Allen belt in an hour, this was not enough time to be affected by the radiation. The astronauts were affected by radiation, they just were not made ill by it as the doses were small.)

I think whoever wtrote this misunderstood the point being made. It's not the radiation *within* the Van Allen belt that's the problem- it's the unshielded radiation of the sun *beyond* the belt.

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No actually you are incorrect D. Look up Van Allen Belt on google or something. It's a band of radioactive particles trapped by the earths magnetic field. Being in it for long periods of time is harmful to humans and even intrumentation. Passing thgouh it though doesn't cause significant damage beacuse the levels just aren't that high.

You are thinking probably of the general background radiation in space that we are protected from by our atmosphere and the magnetic field of the earth. This is a concern, one that we will have to resolve if we want to do any long-term trips to mars or other planets. But for a trip of a few days to the moon it's just not an issue.

At least not one that we are aware of. There may be some long term health effects of even short term cosmic background radiation, like increased risks of cancer or something. It's hard to tell though because we have such a small sample of astronauts to study and they are in such extrodinary health otherwise. But it's not like being cooked in a microwave oven.

Geoschmo