TPO 42 Integrated Writing Task

Both the passage and the lecture discuss the possibility of sending astronauts to Mars. The article suggests several problems for it. On the other hand, The lecturer categorically denies whatever mentioned in the reading and proposes three solutions.

First, the passage claims that this trip will take two years, and spaceships have limited capacity to carry the necessities for such a long time. Nevertheless, the professor rejects the author's view and illustrates that astronauts can use hydroponic method and cultivate food crops there. She explains that they can recycle that water into drinking water and use it. Moreover, crops use carbon dioxide and generate oxygen. Therefore, astronauts have fresh air.

Second, the reading states that because astronauts will be in the zero-gravity environment for a long time, their bodies will be severely damaged. Nonetheless, the lecturer supports a contradictory view as compared to that presented in the reading. She describes that nowadays, astronauts have spent many months on space stations, where there is zero-gravity there, and they are used to it. Furthermore, by exerting calcium pills and exercising regularly, they can maintain their body health.

Finally, the author mentions that astronauts will be exposed to high levels of space radiations that mostly come from the sun. Also, making a shield to protect the space ship will make it very heavy. As a result, this idea is impossible. However, the speaker refutes it, saying that those radiations do not occur all the time. She explains that they happen when the sun is active, and astronauts can monitor them. She mentions that they can only shield a specific part of the spaceship and use it only when the radiation is dangerous.