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Comment by criddell | Hacker News Reader

There are plenty of people who would trade twenty or thirty years of their Earth life for a final five or ten as a pioneer on (or in) Mars. I probably wouldn’t volunteer yet, but once I’m in my 60’s? Maybe… It’s one way of eliminating anxiety around living too long with dementia.

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Something nags at me the ideal mars astronaut would be more late 20s and 30s rather than 60/70.

Sure, but there are political considerations as well. It's a lot harder to sell sending a 30 year old to die in five years on Mars than it is to sell a 60 year old doing the same.

you wouldn't have even five to ten MONTHS on Mars

not unless there is a leap in shielding technology

and as someone 60, let me explain you have no idea how your shift in desire will become quality of life, less pain and suffering

but we'll actually get technology to improve aging and quality of life in aging way before humans are able to travel to Mars and live there

I mean what's there if you aren't going to survive?

Go live in a desert if you want a living challenge, it's same thing but far less radiation

As to 'shielding', there's plenty on Mars. It's called dirt and rock. There's a high likelihood that caves are available, for one thing. In the short term, other needs may be satisfied via shipment from Earth. The initial colony can be scouted, supplied, and constructed using unmanned missions.

Longer term habitation will involve Martian agriculture. Microbes have already been developed to transform Martian soil into an arable form.

Back to the radiation question, after some quick research it's clear that as long as the living quarters are shielded (as above), a few hours of exposure a day are very low risk. The average dose rate at the Martian surface is well under 220 micrograys per day, and the levels only very rarely exceed that value. If one were out on the surface for five hours a day, the yearly dose would be less than that allowed for radiation workers in the USA. That level is considered negligible for increased cancers and other health problems.

Given that survival is assured, what's there is a new world, virtually unlimited resources, and unlimited potential.

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