SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Extended periods in space have long been known to cause vision problems in astronauts. Now a new study in the journal Radiology suggests that the impact of long-duration space travel is more far-reaching, potentially causing brain volume changes and pituitary gland deformation.
More than half of the crew members on the International Space Station (ISS) have reported changes to their vision following long-duration exposure to the microgravity of space. Postflight evaluation has revealed swelling of the optic nerve, retinal hemorrhage and other ocular structural changes.
Scientists have hypothesized that chronic exposure to elevated intracranial pressure, or pressure inside the head, during spaceflight is a contributing factor to these changes. On Earth, the gravitational field creates a hydrostatic gradient, a pressure of fluid that progressively increases from your head down to your feet while standing or sitting. This pressure gradient is not present in space.
"When you're in microgravity, fluid such as your venous blood no longer pools toward your lower extremities but redistributes headward," said study lead author Larry A. Kramer, M.D., from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Dr. Kramer further explained, "That movement of fluid toward your head may be one of the mechanisms causing changes we are observing in the eye and intracranial compartment."
To find out more, Dr. Kramer and colleagues performed brain MRI on 11 astronauts, including 10 men and one woman, before they traveled to the ISS. The researchers followed up with MRI studies a day after the astronauts returned, and then at several intervals throughout the ensuing year.
-- submitted from IRC
Journal Reference
Larry A. Kramer, et. al. Intracranial Effects of Microgravity: A Prospective Longitudinal MRI Study, Radiology (DOI: 10.1148/radiol.2020191413)
(Score: 5, Interesting) by takyon on Tuesday April 21 2020, @03:59PM (4 children)
Use artificial (rotational) gravity for habitation modules. Maybe actually test rotational gravity on the next space station and design interplanetary spacecraft around it.
You could also shorten the travel time to reduce the damage, or just treat astronauts as disposable.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday April 21 2020, @04:34PM (1 child)
Don't we really need to scale up some, to make a proper centrifugal space station, or spaceship? Coriolis effect is going to be a bitch even if the space station has a diameter of a kilometer, and we're nowhere near that yet.
(Score: 5, Informative) by anotherblackhat on Tuesday April 21 2020, @09:38PM
I suppose it depends on what you mean by "proper" — but half a klick is plenty, even for 1 g.
If you're willing to do 0.3 g and 4rpm (which isn't great, but still loads better than 0g) then 35 meters will do.
If you'd like to play with the numbers, I recommend SpinCalc [artificial-gravity.com]
Spin Calc uses our current, best guesses, but it would be nice to do an actual experiment — say by orbiting two modules linked with a cable that can extend/retract.
You know, that stuff that NASA used do . . . I think it was called science.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by turgid on Tuesday April 21 2020, @09:29PM (1 child)
Someone needs to build a rotating module for the ISS.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday April 21 2020, @11:55PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautilus-X#ISS_centrifuge_demonstration [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifuge_Accommodations_Module [wikipedia.org]
I didn't specify ISS because for all we know, it will be completely decommissioned after 2028 or 2030. It's looking like a dead end.
Two obvious candidates would be Lunar Gateway and China's (unnamed) space station [wikipedia.org].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]