Quote:
Originally Posted by tyreay  The 1485 flares mentioned REACHED earth during the moon landing.
I think I'll take the word of a physicist working for NASA. |
ROFLMAO!!!
And just where did you get that quote?
Solar events occur every few days. The mistake is to assume that all these events are potentially lethal, or even of any serious concern. The astronauts would only be harmed by the most energetic solar events, the kind that occur only once in ten years or so. And although the results would be harmful, they would probably not be fatal.
In 1972 there was a series of enormously powerful solar events. These would have disrupted an Apollo mission and probably made the astronauts sick or damaged their equipment. The next such event occurred in 1989, damaging several communications satellites. The next occurred in 1997. The chances of a first-magnitude solar event happening during any given Apollo mission were astronomically small.
The use of the given statistic is highly misleading. We know that some traffic accidents are fatal, but the vast majority of them are not even injurious and produce only minor property damage. Reporting the total number of accidents as if they were all fatal would be dishonest. A complete discussion of solar radiation and its effect on Apollo missions is here.
Dr. Mauldin apparently worked on the early planning of the Voyager missions, but otherwise is a college professor. The statement in question comes from Mauldin's Prospects for Interstellar Travel, not from any work he did for NASA. And it applies only to long-term interstellar travel, not travel to the moon and back -- very different problems. Ralph Rene naively seems to believe that space is space.
The hypothetical spaceships Mauldin describes in Rene's quote are those in which several generations live their lives during the long interstellar journey. Thus the ship must provide a much higher level of protection than simply for two weeks relatively close to Earth. The interstellar radiation environment is much harsher; in the Solar System the pressure of the solar wind keeps out the interstellar radiation. And finally, Mauldin's shielding must shield not only against radiation but also the impacts of debris such as dust, through which the ship is moving at near relativistic speeds -- not the comparatively sedate speeds of travel between Earth and Moon. This whole line of reasoning seems to treat radiation as a homogeneous "boogey man" with straightforward effects and remedies. While huge thicknesses of dense material such as lead and concrete must be used to stop wave radiation (e.g., gamma rays), wave radiation is not the chief concern in space.
A more complete explanation on radiation and it's effect can be found here:
Clavius: Bibliography - the Milne article
Or if you would like to remain ignorant on the subject, be my guest.
Oh, and as for the 'expert'?
Here is the guy you've been quoting:
As with the Collier article, the basis for this article is the arguments of the supposedly brilliant Ralph Rene, who has no qualifications or credentials in any kind of science or engineering. When a self-taught "engineer" says something is impossible, but a host of fully-qualified professional engineers claim to have accomplished it, it's more parsimonious to attribute the discrepancy to the deficiency of the self-guided education.