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Although Dr Chris Benton chose medicine as a career, he has been fascinated by space ever since he saw the first moon landing when he was eight years old.
He began studying towards a Masters degree in astronomy in 2014, when semi-retired from his GP practice at Manly Medical Centre (where he was one of the founding doctors).
His Masters thesis was on technical aspects, such as telescope optics, but a major project he undertook into what happens to the body on long haul space flights brought together his medical knowledge and passion for space flight.
In particular, he was looking at flights to Mars, which currently take around nine months each way.
Chris says the main hurdles for astronauts’ bodies on long flights are prolonged weightlessness, which affects every organ in the body, and exposure to radiation.
He notes that with more private, commercial flights into space in the coming decades, the physical hazards of the journey become more interesting to the general public.
“It could be your relatives or friends travelling on these pioneering missions,” he says. “Those physical hurdles are real, and significant but nothing we can’t overcome. Research and counter measures to those problems are well advanced.”
Asked whether he would like to take a space flight himself, Chris says a definite ‘yes’.
“Hypothetically, because of the cost, if I had the opportunity for space tourism I’d be at the front of the queue,” he says. “This is humanity’s next big adventure.”
He says after his talks, people often ask him – ‘why go to Mars? Why not sort out our own planet first?’
“It’s human nature to keep moving forward,” he says. “But anyway, we can’t afford to be a one planet species. Finding other options is like an insurance policy. It will take hundreds of years, but we have to start. We also learn a lot about the body, Earth and science in general – those are big spinoffs,” he says.
To share what he has learned, Chris, representing the Hibiscus Coast Astronomical Society, is giving a talk at Whangaparāoa Library on Wednesday, April 12.
The talk is free, but bookings are essential.
