<p>Astronauts onboard a privately funded expedition to Mars in 2018 will use their own faeces to protect themselves against cosmic radiation.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The couple during the Inspiration Mars mission, funded by multimillionaire Dennis Tito, and set to fly-by the Red Planet in 2018 will face cramped conditions, muscle atrophy and potential boredom.<br />However, their greatest health risk comes from exposure to the radiation from cosmic rays, New Scientist reported.<br /><br />The project will develop a radiation shield for the spacecraft by lining its walls with human waste, among other materials.<br /><br />“It’s a little queasy sounding, but there’s no place for that material to go, and it makes great radiation shielding,” said Taber MacCallum, a member of the team funded by Tito who announced the audacious plan earlier.<br /><br />Solid and liquid human waste products will be put into bags and used as a radiation shield – as well as being dehydrated so that any water can be recycled for drinking, McCallum said.<br /><br />“Dehydrate them as much as possible, because we need to get the water back,” he said.<br /><br />“Those solid waste products get put into a bag, put right back against the wall,” said MacCallum, adding food too could be used as a radiation shield.<br /><br />“Food is going to be stored all around the walls of the spacecraft, because food is good radiation shielding,” he said.<br /><br />This will not be dangerous as the food will merely block the radiation, it will not become a radioactive source, the report said.<br /><br />Water has long been suggested as a shielding material for interplanetary space missions.<br />“Water is better than metals for protection,” said Marco Durante of the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany.<br /><br />That is because nuclei are the things that block cosmic rays, and water molecules, made of three small atoms, contain more nuclei per volume than a metal. <br /></p>
<p>Astronauts onboard a privately funded expedition to Mars in 2018 will use their own faeces to protect themselves against cosmic radiation.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The couple during the Inspiration Mars mission, funded by multimillionaire Dennis Tito, and set to fly-by the Red Planet in 2018 will face cramped conditions, muscle atrophy and potential boredom.<br />However, their greatest health risk comes from exposure to the radiation from cosmic rays, New Scientist reported.<br /><br />The project will develop a radiation shield for the spacecraft by lining its walls with human waste, among other materials.<br /><br />“It’s a little queasy sounding, but there’s no place for that material to go, and it makes great radiation shielding,” said Taber MacCallum, a member of the team funded by Tito who announced the audacious plan earlier.<br /><br />Solid and liquid human waste products will be put into bags and used as a radiation shield – as well as being dehydrated so that any water can be recycled for drinking, McCallum said.<br /><br />“Dehydrate them as much as possible, because we need to get the water back,” he said.<br /><br />“Those solid waste products get put into a bag, put right back against the wall,” said MacCallum, adding food too could be used as a radiation shield.<br /><br />“Food is going to be stored all around the walls of the spacecraft, because food is good radiation shielding,” he said.<br /><br />This will not be dangerous as the food will merely block the radiation, it will not become a radioactive source, the report said.<br /><br />Water has long been suggested as a shielding material for interplanetary space missions.<br />“Water is better than metals for protection,” said Marco Durante of the Technical University of Darmstadt in Germany.<br /><br />That is because nuclei are the things that block cosmic rays, and water molecules, made of three small atoms, contain more nuclei per volume than a metal. <br /></p>