Cosmos Magazine recently published an article discussing the "reality" of human spaceflight. That is, physical (rocket technology) and chemical (the frail human body) make it nearly insurmountable to practically roam into the vast stretches of deep space successfully. Sadly, this is true, no matter what the Star Trek enthusiasts want to think (and I'm one of them!)
Are we doomed to remain bound to earth-- or, at best-- to continue to make the equivalent of sortis into LEO and maybe... if we're lucky.... to a NEO or the moon? Is human exploration of Mars simply impossible (sorry Bob Zubrin)?
I have to admit, when you consider the limitations of the human body, space radiation (for starters) and the fact that we simply don't know the dose of the "gravity prescription" (as one colleague has noted on several occasions), you have to wonder. Is it all a pipe dream?
What do you think?
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