Originally Posted by
porciuscato
Let me give you another way to look at the "true cost" of achieving GS by miles:
intl flight radiation exposure = 0.55 mSv per 100 block hours
4,000,000/500mph avg speed = 8000 hours.
8000 hours/100 * .55mSv = 44 mSv
44 mSv/.1mSv/chest xray = 440 chest Xrays!
By the way, the typical normal background radiation exposure for a person in the US is about 3 mSv per year.
So this is 15 years' worth of radiation.