NASA: Faces Difficult Issues in the Attempt to Travel to Mars

Although many look to the day that mankind will walk on Mars, NASA has been rethinking the trip altogether. Going to the Moon is one thing, but being absent from Earth for three years presents alot of questions that NASA had previously left unanswered. For instance, how do you get rid of a dead astronaut? Do you bury him on Mars, or do you bring him back? If you decide to bring him back, how will his body last three years, or even more than a week? How would you care for a critically ill astronaut? Should you pull the plug if he is using up needed resources? Many more questions are like these: deep, ethical questions that are nearly impossible to answer, yet needing to be answered in order to travel the millions of miles to Mars.

The real stimulus for these thought-provoking questions stems from the fact that NASA plans to land on Mars within the next thirty years, as well as from the fact that the most "Earth-like" planet outside our solar system has recently been discovered. In other words, with deep space exploration on the horizon, deeper questions need to be asked of our space program. NASA scientists and doctors along with the aid of bioethicists and medical experts hope to answer these difficult questions within the next several years, giving even more promise to space exploration.

Another issue that NASA must deal with is sex, especially considering that the crew will be mixed-sex, more than likely. However, NASA feels that sex is more a behavioral pattern and less of a crew health issue, thus needing not medical consideration but rather psychological consideration. As such, they still tip-toe around that subject, focusing on more health-related issues, since those could pose more ethical and physical problems.

Other such death-related issues concern living-wills and radiation poisoning. NASA feels that their astronauts should leave living-wills behind in case of some accident. However, they also feel that they should leave sperm and egg deposits behind, in case that some unforeseen radiation mutates their ability to produce viable offspring. Although NASA says that the radiation they would encounter should really only alter their chance of getting cancer or other mutations by three percent, they still cannot be certain. NASA is also developing their policy on other more work-related issues, such as the number of hours per week that the astronauts can work, which they prescribe to be forty-eight.

Yet another topic that NASA must consider deals with genetic screening to find the most healthy crew members, or those least likely to be affected by disease. Currently, genetic screening is illegal. As such, they must also consider preventive surgery, such as appendectomies, especially since any medical emergency will be hindered by communications in space. It would take nearly thirty minutes for the crew to ask a question and get an answer, due to the millions of miles between Earth and the spacecraft.

Fortunately for NASA, the American space program has never had to abort a mission due to the health of a crew member, unlike the Soviets who have had to abort three times due to such conditions. However, because of this, perhaps NASA has not prepared adequately for previous missions. Nevertheless, with the promise of deep space exploration, they have finally begun to take the health of their crew more seriously.