Ever since the the first rover landed on Mars decades ago, people have been wondering: what’s next? What else are we going to send to this planet? Could humans go on vacation on Mars, or maybe even live there for years at a time?
These questions have come up again in recent years, when three astronauts landed in Kazakhstan after spending six months aboard the International Space Station. These astronauts, and many others who have gone on previous missions, had experienced similar health issues: their eyeballs were squashed, resulting in farsightedness; they tended to eat and sleep less while in space; and the vestibular fluid in their inner ears, which gives people their sense of direction, made the astronauts extremely disoriented once they returned to gravity. Scientists think these are results of the lack of gravity in space. Fluid would build up in the top of the body, increasing the pressure in the brain, eyes, and chest.
The tricky thing is, it’s very difficult to predict these kinds of effects without sending people into space first. Even now, many decades after the first space mission, scientists have trouble explaining some of the “side effects” that astronauts have developed. And these are definitely major concerns if we want to spend more time in the ISS, or travel to Mars.
An astronaut is strapped to a treadmill aboard the ISS. In an environment with no gravity, exercising is required to keep bones from weakening and being broken down by the body. (Photo courtesy of innova-pain.com)
Even though farsightedness wouldn’t have a huge effect on someone’s life, and vertigo would probably go away after a few days, NASA is worried about other less obvious, more dangerous, effects that astronauts might suffer. The massive amount of radiation that is normally absorbed by earth’s atmosphere could make astronauts more likely to die of cancer. And what are the long-term effects of having a lot of fluid in your head for a long time?
As Dr. Barratt (a physician who stayed at the International Space Station for six months) put it, “What are the long-term implications? That’s the $64 million question.”
Right now, studies are being done (with mice, and with astronauts who have spent time in space) to find out just what these implications are. Researchers are making solid progress and developing new technologies, like the treadmill-harness, to protect against the effects of space travel. It might be decades before we have learned enough to attempt a mission to Mars, but a program that would send healthy astronauts to Mars, and bring them back in the same condition, is definitely an awesome thing to work toward.
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/science/bodies-not-made-for-space.html?ref=science
I knew space travel could have really bad effects on the body, but I didn’t know there were so many! I’m not someone who has ever been very interested in traveling into space. The idea of it kind of scares me. I like living on the Earth. But, it’s really cool that research is going into taking more people into space for longer periods of time. That would be quite an experience! It’s crazy to think that in our own lifetime there may be colonies of people on Mars. So cool! I hope their research is successful!
Everything about space travel is hard because there’s only so much we know. It makes sense that not being in gravity can really affect the body. Are there ways they can simulate gravity, as to lessen the effects? For example, could the astronauts sleep in rooms where gravity is simulated, to try and undo the effects from the daytime? Do you think that space exploration is important? Like, is it necessary to go to Mars? What could we benefit from it? It sounds like the effects of being in space can be pretty harmful to the body, and those are just the ones we know about. If eyeballs are being squished, maybe vital organs are being squished. Also the project is very expensive. What price are we putting on space exploration, that’s the main question.
Jo, I am so happy to be following your blog! Even just this first post is extremely interesting. I had no idea we were attempting to send astronauts to Mars. When it comes to space, there are so many discoveries to still be made. But at what cost to human life? As you mentioned, we will not know the effects of Mars’ atmosphere on our bodies until we actually send a human there. This is extremely scary and brings into question how much we should we willing to risk in the name of science. Do you think we should wait until we are 100% sure that humans can tolerate the environment before we send astronauts there? This sounds like a harsh question, but the only way to really know is to test it. We can spend millions of dollars simulating the environment, but I do not feel that we can ever reach 100% certainty. I am excited to continue following your blog this semester!