In his book ‘A Space Traveller’s Guide to the Solar System (Bantam, £16.99)’, astronomer Mark Thompson describes what it would be like to travel through the solar system.
He revealed to Gavin Sherriff why he’d give Venus a miss and why toilet rolls could make a trip to Pluto a problem.
How did your interest in astronomy begin?
My dad took me along to our local astronomical society. For me the sight of Saturn through a telescope blew my mind as a 10-year-old.
It was like travelling to another world. I was captivated. From then on, my poor parents took me along almost every Friday evening and sat outside in the car while I spent a couple of hours discussing “space stuff”.
There’s nothing like looking at the Moon with your own telescope. Getting involved with your local astronomy society is a good idea.
What would be the biggest dangers of a journey round the solar system?
The power and volume of explosive material behind your chair makes take-off a very risky part of the flight.
Exposure to radiation would be a big problem because of the timescale but we’re a long way towards solving that with technology that can protect people.
Perhaps the biggest problem would be psychological. Imagine being cooped up inside even a decent-sized house for 10 or 15 years, unable to go outside. That’s a long time to go without feeling fresh air on your face or seeing blue sky.
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Where would you like to visit?
The Sun would be one place I’d love to get a close-up of but, if I were to pick somewhere I could go and walk about on, it would be humbling to visit Pluto.
To stand and look back at the Sun, knowing that all the planets were in that direction, would be very emotional.
How soon might such a journey be possible?
The technology is already there in some respects. We’ve sent the Voyager craft to the edge of the solar system. The issue is taking enough provisions for a human. To last 20 years, you’d need a ridiculous number of toilet rolls, as well as drinking water and food. It’ll be another 100 to 200 years before we can make the journey.
What about putting people on Mars?
Currently, there’s the idea of sending men to Mars to set up and live on their own, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.
Getting them there and back is more likely as you don’t need to send them there with everything they need to survive for ever.
I’d like to think that within the next 50 years we’ll have got men to Mars and back.
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