Spending time in space comes with many challenges. Not only are there the logistical challenges of getting people and equipment into space, but there are also challenges of overcoming the physical hazards of living and working in space. The human body can change significantly during long-term spaceflight, and precautions should be taken to ensure that permanent health problems don’t arise.
If you were to travel in space for a long time, or live in a reduced gravity environment (such as in a space station), these are just a few of the problems you would encounter;
Spine stretching.
Muscle atrophy.
Reduced bone density.
Immune system impairment.
Risk of encountering cosmic radiation.
This list is by no means complete, but it does a good job of illustrating some of the most worrying health risks of travelling and living in space. Because of this, NASA has recently announced a program that will help to develop new ways of reducing the health risks that are involved in space travel.
With the help of Baylor College, NASA hopes to increase the speed of translating research into practical experiments and application. This will be partially achieved by putting theoretical research into practice, without intermediary studies that could slow the process down. This could mean that astronauts in the International Space Station would test some of the innovations that arise from the new program.
Read the complete NASA press release on the official website.
Original article at: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-establishes-institute-to-explore-new-ways-to-protect-astronauts
Leave a Reply