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from the just-stay-horizontal-and-wear-tight-spandex dept.
New research brings more bad news to astronauts thinking about long-haul space flights as spinal muscles shrink after months in space, scientists have found.
Floating around in space in an environment with little or no gravity is not good for the human body. Along with decreased bone density, nausea, a puffy face, possible cognitive deterioration, an astronaut's back starts to weaken too.
The research is part of NASA's wider project to study the physical effects space has on the body to prepare for long-haul flights to Mars.
Results from the NASA-funded research have been published in Spine, and show spinal damage persists months after the astronauts return to Earth.
Six NASA crew members were subjected to MRI scans before and after spending four to seven months floating around the microgravity conditions of the International Space Station.
NASA should send the astronauts into space with one of those inversion tables so they can hang upside down.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday October 28 2016, @05:56PM
Should I go over keeping panels facing the sun on a completely rotating craft, or keeping seals vacuum-tight on a partially rotating craft?
1) You can't keep the panels facing the sun on much of the surface of Mars either and people still seem to think Mars is such a great destination.
2) Firstly you don't need vacuum tight seals if the interfacing parts involved don't have to contain air. Secondly if you use tethers and counterweights the craft only needs the same seals as a non-rotating one.