This week, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk revealed that the mysterious tourist going for a Moon flyby on board the Big Falcon Rocket will be Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, and a number of artists.
The question is, can their bodies handle it?
The BFR that will take tourists around the Moon - SpaceX
In a recent piece by The Verge, aerospace medicine specialist Dr Petra Illig describes the sort of stress a person can undergo on travelling to space for the first time, especially flying around the Moon. These can include anything from a heart attack, to nausea, to even emotional and mental stress.?
The only good thing is that, given the trip will be so short, the Maezawa and his ilk won¡¯t have to worry about some of the long-term effects of space travel that astronauts on board the ISS suffer from, like bone density loss and muscle degradation from living in microgravity. However, that doesn¡¯t mean their few days in space will be anything other than uncomfortable at the very least.
In fact, the problems will start as soon as the rocket begins taking off. As it zooms away from Earth, the passengers will experience incredible G forces, upto three times the gravity they¡¯re accustomed to. That puts a strain on the heart as it attempts to still push blood to the head. If precautions like proper seat placements aren¡¯t taken, the passengers could have their blood flowing downwards to their feet, causing them to pass out and even risking heart failure. That¡¯s why they¡¯ll all have to be stringently tested to confirm they¡¯re healthy enough to make the trip. After all, even if there were a doctor on board, they¡¯d get no medical condition until they escape the Earth¡¯s gravity full minutes later.
Maezawa, the first official space tourist
Once microgravity sets in above Earth, the passengers will then have to deal with the feeling of weightlessness. Unfortunately, that has the side effect of causing motion sickness, as your sense of direction gets completely confused. Astronauts receive plenty of training, yet the closest simulation of this they can get on Earth is climbing aboard a plane capable of parabolic flight, where you experience a short 20 to 30 seconds of weightlessness between climbing and falling. Despite that, there¡¯s a reason these planes are called ¡°vomit comets¡±.
At the very least, for astronauts this feeling of nausea tends to pass within a few days. Unfortunately for the BFR fliers, their trip is expected to take only 4-5 days, so some of them might be nauseous for the entirety of the journey. The one saving grace is they can take anti-nausea medication, which astronauts responsible for critical operations aren¡¯t allowed as they can cause drowsiness.
Another hazard to worry about is cosmic radiation, something the astronauts on board the ISS are protected from because they remain within the Earth¡¯s magnetic field (as well as because of the station¡¯s structure). Flying around the Moon on the other hand, Maezawa and friends would be exposed to a higher daily dose of radiation than the astronauts, though for a shorter time. All in all, it would amount to as much radiation you get from a CT scan, except distributed all over the body. Nothing to worry about unless a freak incident like a solar ejection.?
If the Sun does spit out charged particle radiation (called a solar particle event), it could bombard the passengers with up to six months¡¯ worth cosmic radiation in just a day or two. The likelihood of that happening within the few days¡¯ span of their trip is low, but it¡¯s not impossible. At best, that would mean nausea and fatigue cause by radiation sickness. But it could conceivably get much worse. And so far, Musk hasn¡¯t discussed the presence of any radiation shelters or early warning systems on board the BFR.
Lastly, there¡¯s the psychological toll a trip like this could take on passengers. After all, they¡¯re going to be sealed in what¡¯s essentially a big metal container with a handful of other people, with nowhere to go and little privacy. And it¡¯s not like a party you can leave midway; once you get on the rocket you¡¯re stuck there till the trip is done.
One way experts believe they can minimise any issues here is to have the passengers train together in isolation before the actual flight. Just like astronauts, they have to work out roles and responsibilities, as well as learn how to get along with each other with no other sentient creature for miles around. And if there¡¯s some sort of emergency, they have to be prepared enough to not panic and cause havoc for everyone.
¡°This will require a lot of training,¡± Musk agreed at his announcement. ¡°When you¡¯re pushing the frontier, it¡¯s not a sure thing.¡± At the very least, the space tourists will have plenty of time to train. The flight isn¡¯t planned until 2023, which is a tentative deadline Musk isn¡¯t even sure SpaceX will hit. But whenever they do, let¡¯s hope they¡¯re all ready.