Health Would Be Concern on Flight to Mars
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: NASA's got some pretty ambitious plans someday to send a crew to the planet Mars. So CNN decided to literally go to the ends of the Earth, to figure out whether humans can actually survive that type of journey. CNN's space correspondent Miles O'Brien is on the videophone, at Canada's Devon Island, where some research is being done on this very question -- Miles.</s>MILES O'BRIEN, CNN SPACE CORRESPONDENT: Carol, I guess you could say we're the first TV crew to go to Mars, in a sense. This is Devon Island. We're about 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle. Each summer for the past five summers, dozens of world-renowned scientists who are interested in the planets, and in particular, Mars, have come here to test out new robots and new experiments and to look for very small signs of life. And over the past couple of years, as few hearty souls have been living inside a simulated spaceship, venturing out with space suits on, conducting simulated Mars missions. Now, it took us three solid days to get up here. As you might suspect, there are no nonstop flights from Atlanta. But that pales in comparison to the trip to the real thing, of course, and that has many doctors, scientists, and experts thinking and wondering how humans can make that trip safely.</s>O'BRIEN (voice-over): A real mission to Mars might last 2 1/2 years: six months out, six months back, and 1 1/2 years on the ground. It's a long time and an awfully long way, and there is one thing certain: Somewhere, sometime, someone will be sick or injured.</s>DR. JOHN CHARLES, NASA PHYSICIAN: When you figure a six-person crew on a 2 1/2 year mission, there's about an even chance of one person per flight requiring an emergency-room-visit kind of treatment.</s>O'BRIEN: John Charles is a NASA physician who studies the human risks of such an audacious odyssey.</s>CHARLES: Right now, we have a list of about 55 risks that have been identified as the risks to resolve before one can move on to Mars and our exploration missions confidently.</s>O'BRIEN: Dr. Charles was the NASA physician assigned to help astronauts who visited the Russian Space Station Mir. That experience makes him most concerned about the ill effects of weightlessness, which weaken the bones and the heart. He is also worried about protecting a crew from exposure to radiation. And then there are the psychological issues: close quarters, a small crew, and a 40-minute round-trip lag time for all communication; the isolation could lead to trouble. Given all this, should a physician be a mandatory member of a Mars expedition? NASA's astronauts held an informal poll on who they believe would be most essential.</s>CHARLES: The first choice of almost everybody was a fix-it man, handyman, or an auto mechanic, or somebody that knows how to fix things that break, because that may turn out to be the most important person on a long-duration mission.</s>O'BRIEN: The fix-it man, the handyman on this on this camp had been very busy keeping things running. Meanwhile, the camp physician has been walking around like the Maytag repairman, asking anybody if they have an ache or a pain -- Carol.</s>LIN: Well, Miles, I can't imagine there's much business for a Holiday Inn up there. Where are you staying?</s>O'BRIEN: Well, we are in tents, and conditions are as you can imagine for tents. But nevertheless, this compound, if you will, comes with some amenities. There's running water. I'm told it gets hot every now and then, although I can't attest to that fact firsthand. A plane comes every other day and brings in some fresh items, including fresh eggs. So simulating Mars is brought only to a limit. I don't know if you can see over my shoulder here, though. I'll give you an idea of the neighborhood we have been put in. That is an incinerator for items which are necessary, and I will not go further than that, but suffice it to say we're where we belong up here on the hill.</s>LIN: You're in your element.</s>O'BRIEN: ... beside the incinerator.</s>LIN: All right.</s>O'BRIEN: I guess this is where all we journalists belong, right?</s>LIN: Right. The life of a network correspondent. Miles O'Brien, near the Arctic Circle, thanks for sharing. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com