Despite the masculine mythological associations with Mars, when it comes to actually going there, it might make sense to send an all-female crew. Research dating back over 50 years suggests various reasons why women would be better suited for such long-distance voyages: they have generally stronger hearts, can better withstand vibrations and radiation exposure, and can cope better than men in prolonged isolation. But the best evidence comes from more recent terrestrial simulations of a Mars mission: women expend—and therefore need—far fewer calories than men. What’s so out-of-this-world about that? Simple: fewer calories needed for an all-female crew would mean less food in the payload, equaling huge savings in the mission budget. We’re talking a grocery budget reduction of millions of dollars. So an all-female mission to the red planet may be a hard sell, but it’s really just hard science and savings.
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