Before people are sent to Mars, some basic questions need to be answered -- and they're even more difficult, in their way, than worries about loose screws or short supplies.
How do you get rid of the body of a dead astronaut on a three-year mission to Mars and back?
When should the plug be pulled on a critically ill astronaut who is using up precious oxygen and endangering the rest of the crew? Should NASA employ DNA testing to weed out astronauts who might get a disease on a long flight?
With NASA planning to land on Mars 30 years from now, and with the recent discovery of the most "Earth-like" planet ever seen outside the solar system, the space agency has begun to ponder some of the thorny practical and ethical questions posed by deep space exploration.
However, the most obvious question remains untouched: what about sex?
Sex is not mentioned in the document and has long been almost a taboo topic at NASA. Williams said the question of sex in space is not a matter of crew health but a behavioral issue that will have to be taken up by others at NASA.
The agency will have to address the matter sooner or later, said Paul Root Wolpe, a bioethicist at the University of Pennsylvania who has advised NASA since 2001.
"There is a decision that is going to have to be made about mixed-sex crews, and there is going to be a lot of debate about it," he said.
For a fictional treatment of scientific and social challenges faced by Mars settlers, check out Kim Stanely Robinson's Mars trilogy.
On Trip to Mars, NASA Must Rethink Death [Associated Press]
Image: Vanna Bonta
Note: NASA might have cold feet, but not Outside Magazine.
