The end is very funny. Mars trip costs 1200 mSv, NASA cap is 1000. Should we just send old men to Mars? Oops, they dropped the cap to 600, we need this tech now.
The NASA cap is a specific lifetime radiation dose; the Mars trip cost is an estimate of some kind, but they don't specify the duration of the mission. Is 1200 mSv the estimate for the outbound journey, or for both legs, or for both legs plus a 1-year stay on a Mars base?
I'm 68, and I've already had cancer; I probably match the "old man" criterion. But I won't be volunteering to travel through a hostile environment, to visit - a hostile environment. For pity's sake, use robots.
Why not use people who are willing to take the risk?
Also, there’s a huge qualitative difference between a human on Mars and a robot on Mars in terms of what it means for humans back on Earth. It’s an achievement people will take pride in, can help unify people, & inspires the imagination of the next generation in a way that robots won’t.
A short search gave me this number, apparently for the US:
> 20 mSv a year, averaged over defined periods of 5 years with no single year >50 mSv
This basically prohibits paid-for space labor.
I recently had a lung perfusion scan where I inhaled a saline vapor with technetium in it and I was the x-ray source for the imaging. When I got home I measured 43mSv/hr. I must be pretty close to the NASA limit. Too bad I'm not an astronaut though.
Would having a medical scan cause an astronaut to have a reduced usable lifetime?