Mars is doable, but how?

[smartcooky]

This item got me thinking....

http://www.rttnews.com/2105528/human-journey-to-mars-looking-like-possibility.aspx?type=gn&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=sitemap

I'm sure they can get some explorers onto Mars, but the burning question for me is "Given that Mars has virtually no atmosphere, and no magnetic field, how are NASA intending to protect their explorers and their electronics from a CME".

Although their occurrences are clustered around the times of Solar maximum, they can happen at any time and without warning and the travel time to Mars for the particle cloud would be around 7 hours. What would have happened to the Apollo astronauts had a CME occured while they were outside the Earths protective geomagnetic field

[RAF]

What would have happened to the Apollo astronauts had a CME occured while they were outside the Earths protective geomagnetic field.

Such an event occurred in August, 1972, after A16, and before A17.

I always thought if Apollo astronauts had been "caught" in that, that they would have in fact died from radiation exposure, but according to this page, they "might" have just gotten very sick.

Either way...it would have been very bad.

edit to add...oops...the event of August, 72, was a Solar Flare not a CME...although different, both are "bad news" to an unprotected Astronaut...

...apologies.

[smartcooky]

So the idea of sending human explorers to Mars is being taken seriously. The trips to and from the moon were just a few days, but for a Mars return trip we're talking many months; typically 450 days travel time for the round trip plus at least another 180 days on the ground to make the trip worthwhile. Thats 20 months, and a much higher risk factor. Surely they must have a plan for protecting them from a CME or Solar Flare, but what?

Could it be as "simple" as having a special lander that they can all get into and literally fly themselves around to the night side of the planet until it was safe. I imagine the call coming in from NASA that a CME has been detected, and the particle cloud is on its way. The crew completely shuts down everything at Mars Base to protect the electronics, then they all get into the lifeboat and head for the night side to wait out the storm. I would think the cost of such a system in fuel would be enormous!

[Trebor]

Surely the easiest way to protect themselves would be to use a small underground shelter, a few metres of Marsian regolith would make an excellent radiation shield.

[smartcooky]

Surely the easiest way to protect themselves would be to use a small underground shelter, a few metres of Marsian regolith would make an excellent radiation shield.

Would just a few metres be enough?

[cjameshuff]

Would just a few metres be enough?

More than enough. 1-2 meters would do the job even without considering the additional shielding of the atmosphere and reduction in intensity due to distance from the sun. Less might be entirely acceptable given a sufficiently low probability of such an event occurring more than once or twice in a mission.