ISU Space Café presentation: Are We Really Ready for Mars?
In 2012 Kris presented at an ISU Space Café in DC on the topic, "Are We Really Ready for Mars?".
““If we could build the spaceship tomorrow, could we go to Mars?” Dr. Kris Lehnhardt, asked his audience at the March International Space University (ISU) Space Café in Washington, DC. Lehnhardt, an expert in emergency and aerospace medicine at George Washington University, ticked off the challenges of sending humans on a long-duration, long-distance space flight: bone loss, kidney stones, muscle loss, orthostatic intolerance (e.g., similar to standing up too fast and blacking out), neurovestibular instability (e.g., motion sickness and dizziness), psychological factors (e.g., depression, anxiety), and, most challenging of all, radiation.
Lehnhardt readily explained each challenge, engaging with the crowd in a thoughtful discussion about each, but the topic of radiation kept coming up.”