Doesn't sound very "viable" to me. From my reading, they are claiming that (a) magnetic shielding is impracticable for weight reasons; and (b) heavy electrostatic shielding can't currently achieve even half the protection required for a Mars mission.
TFA is unclear about what they mean by a "Mars mission". The amount of exposure an astronaut would face would depend on the duration of the mission, and a (say) two-day holiday on Mars doesn't make a lot of sense, if the one-way trip takes several months.
I think TFA's most-useful observation is a throwaway: "but you could probably get away with just picking old men for the job." Yes - just choose astronauts that aren't expected to live very long anyway. As a bonus, that makes it less important to figure out how to get them back.
I suspect my slip is probably showing: I'm very much a sceptic of long-distance manned space travel. It's definitely a job for robots.
TFA is unclear about what they mean by a "Mars mission". The amount of exposure an astronaut would face would depend on the duration of the mission, and a (say) two-day holiday on Mars doesn't make a lot of sense, if the one-way trip takes several months.
I think TFA's most-useful observation is a throwaway: "but you could probably get away with just picking old men for the job." Yes - just choose astronauts that aren't expected to live very long anyway. As a bonus, that makes it less important to figure out how to get them back.
I suspect my slip is probably showing: I'm very much a sceptic of long-distance manned space travel. It's definitely a job for robots.