Written by: m.wilson
“Uranus and Neptune remain the two unexplored planets in our solar system, each with its own exciting system of moons, rings, complex magnetosphere, and dynamic atmosphere.” Amy Simon, planetary scientist at NASA (EOS.org).
It’s looking like one day soon, humanity will spread itself all the way out to Uranus – a frighteningly inhospitable world with 28 known moons. Uranus lies between 1.6 billion to 1.98 billion miles away, depending on the alignment of the planets. The only traveler to make it there so far is Voyager 2, which launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on August 20, 1977 – reaching the area around January 28, 1986. The Uranus Orbitor and Probe (UOP) is the next ‘highest priority’ NASA mission and will launch within the next few years, or early 2030s. UOP will take about 12 or 15 years to get there and is expected to deliver all sorts of scientific information, including details about the formation of our solar system.
Colonizing Jupiter
“Humans are allowed about 1 mGy per year exposure by ARPANSA regulations. The dose on Io’s surface is 37 Gy per day, Europa is 5.4 Gy, and Ganymede is 80mGy. Only one Galilean satellite is far enough outside the magnetosphere to allow for human exposure – Callisto has earth level radiation fluxes.”
Selecting planets with the least radioactive exposure seems like a logical idea. And though people still discuss going to Europa Moon, where there’s lots of nice water under the ice to do things with as compared with Mars, which is a desert, astronauts would receive 1,000 times the lethal dose of radiation visiting there because of its magnetic field (accelerating with charged particles and gasses) and radiation belts – whereas on Mars, the magnetic field died long ago. Lately the public conversation has been shifting to Callisto because of the high level of radiation that affects all of the other moons.
“Europa’s surface is blasted by radiation from Jupiter. That’s a bad thing for life on the surface – it couldn’t survive. But the radiation may create fuel for life in an ocean below the surface.”
Uranus is at least three times farther from solar energy than Jupiter, and its magnetic field is calmer and more similar to Earth’s, but it may have yet a different type of radiation belt – made of x-rays, spewing from its 13 known rings, which could be harmful if they contain charged solar particles. Nonetheless, many experts are saying that Uranus Moons- Titania and Miranda, look like potential landing sites, having terrains resembling Earth’s moon. So then the many projects now ramping up internationally to reach Uranus start to make sense. Titania and Miranda could become, for example: a rest stop on the way to interstellar space, a natural resource, a profitable adventure resort (due to low gravity), an (UFO/alien) military base, etc. For the moment, however, the focus is discovery, and NASA employees like Kathy Mandt say that Uranus represents a huge knowledge gap “holding up major questions in planetary science.”
” We’re going back to the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and inspiration for a new generation of explorers: the Artemis Generation. While maintaining American leadership in exploration, we will build a global alliance and explore deep space for the benefit of all”, (NASA, 2022).”
Much of the research having to do with illness in or after space travel pertains to life expectancy/ultimate cause of death in regard to spaceflight hours. For example, the NASA Investigator’s Workshop 2024 report states that, “No clear relationship can be surmised between hours in spaceflight and age at death.” And accordingly, the graphs in the report show that many astronauts lived out their normal life expectancy. The paper briefly discusses the Apollo missions, such as the first astronauts on the Moon – Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong who passed away in his 80s, Michael Collins 90’s, and Buzz who is still alive and who in 2023 became an honorary brigadier general in the United States Air Force, as well as an honorary Space Force guardian – each of whom was at/on the Moon for almost a day. However, people in the report have gotten cancer as there are quite a few orange cancer-dots in the charts. The investigators also conceded that the study was limited because of a lack of access to medical data. Furthermore, these statistics are relevant to an 11% to 20% female ratio throughout NASA history, and does not show data pertaining to quality of life – vitality, potential symptoms/complications, reproductive outcomes, etc.
“Since human biology is not well suited for surviving in the lunar environment, there will be many forms of automated equipment, autonomy and robotic helpers that will minimize the amount of Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) required by the crew. This will mean that the radiation dosage received by the crew will stay within acceptable and safe career doses. Radiation shielding via the use of regolith can also mitigate radiation dangers.”
A key component of the Artemis programs is the support of private companies that supply NASA with everything they need, an arrangement which is said to be more “agile and cost-effective.” One of the main goals of Artemis is to construct a lunar landing pad – and the team must also install other critical infrastructure. There will be plenty of work for employees to do there including: Habitation Services – food production, crew health services / Crew Mobility / Waste Disposal / Power Production / Power Distribution & Storage / Cargo Delivery – handling / Logistics division / Safety & Security / Construction – Excavation / Dust mitigation / Crew Support / Scientific division, etc. Artemis will also practice methods for use on Mars and create Moon personnel diversity as part of their goal to land the first woman and first person of color.
“A bird cannot fly with one wing only. Human spaceflight cannot develop any further without the active participation of women.” – Valentina Tereshkova
The first female to work in space was Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova in 1963. It was a solo mission in a spacecraft named Vostok 6 which orbited the Earth for nearly three days. The first American astronaut was Sally Ride on the Challenger Space Shuttle in 1983. Valentina is still alive today at 87, but Sally is not. Sally died at the relatively young age of 61 after a 17-month bout with pancreatic cancer. According to the American Cancer Society, the risk of pancreatic cancer in 2024 in the United States is 1 in 60 for women. About 31,910 are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer annually and 24,480 will die each year. Valentina spent a lot less time in space, only three days – as she circled the earth 48 times, and is the last surviving crew member of the Vostok 6, while Sally Ride was in space for over 343 hours. In 2023, Christina Koch became the female with the longest amount of spaceflight and will soon be headed to the Moon for the first Artemis mission. Koch has spent 328 days in space so far as a Mission Specialist 1 and also performed a spacewalk. Meanwhile, according to the NASA website updated in September 2023, Commander Peggy Whitson – (Axiom Mission 2) is America’s most experienced astronaut. Peggy is now 64, and holds the most cumulative days in space at 628, more than Scott Kelly for example, who is famous for his 520 hours and the alarming photos showing the effects of this time on his body.
Flight crews in general are at risk of radiation and exposure has always been a concern for pregnancy, which could affect female pilots and flight attendants. Fertility problems may occur in both men and women who experience large doses of ionizing radiation, but is most damaging reproductively – causing birth defects, low birth weight, miscarriages, and many other such problems. In some studies, an older adult female who is 40 could be made 100 percent sterile if her ovaries are irradiated at a 4Gy dose, but a younger woman at 4Gy may only be made 30 percent sterile.
At the same time, a prepubescent girl whose pelvis is irradiated could damage the uterus in a way that arrests her growth and development, eventually preventing her from having children due to miscarriages and premature labor. In animal studies, radiosensitivity has been “inconclusive” for researchers who state that the findings are relative to circumstances; while still other studies show that female cells and metrics recover from radiation faster than male cell types and metrics.
For now, short space flight seems relatively safe, but we’ll have to keep a close eye on health outcomes. Space exploration will create opportunities for non-astronauts and non-scientists to live and work in space, and perhaps it will become a job market in which it could be advantageous to be a fit post-menopausal lady for a time, until inventions such as radiation vaccines, medical innovations that sustain pregnancies, protections for growing children, etc. are made available.
Such health concerns may even manifest administratively, like risk acknowledgment forms pertaining to one’s uterus, for example. Some companies could ask ovulating women to take mandatory birth control. Early life in outer space might resemble a lab mouse since scientists will need to sample, observe, and document biology and behaviors for civic/medical/professional purposes. And females may find themselves fully liable for decisions about their bodies and reproductive results.
Voyager 2 has crossed the heliopause and is now flying through interstellar space towards the Andromeda Galaxy (Messier 31 or M31), which it will reach in 40,000 years, such a long time away! Soon engineers will be figuring out how to travel to other galaxies at much faster speeds, and women may have to decide if they want to raise children who will never see the Earth – and for generations afterward.
