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Gravity, Hazard of Alteration
A human journey to Mars, at first glance, offers an inexhaustible amount of complexities. To bring a mission to the Red Planet from fiction to fact, NASA’s Human Research Program has organized some of the hazards astronauts will encounter on a continual basis into five classifications.
The variance of gravity fields that astronauts will encounter on a mission to Mars is the fourth hazard.
On Mars, astronauts would need to live and work in three-eighths of Earth’s gravitational pull for up to two years. Additionally, on the six-month trek between the planets, explorers will experience total weightlessness.
Besides Mars and deep space there is a third gravity field that must be considered. When astronauts finally return home they will need to readapt many of the systems in their bodies to Earth’s gravity.
To further complicate the problem, when astronauts transition from one gravity field to another, it’s usually quite an intense experience. Blasting off from the surface of a planet or a hurdling descent through an atmosphere is many times the force of gravity.
Research is being conducted to ensure that astronauts stay healthy before, during and after their mission. Specifically researchers study astronauts’ vision, fine motor skills, fluid distribution, exercise protocols and response to pharmaceuticals.
Exploration to the Moon and Mars will expose astronauts to five known hazards of spaceflight, including gravity. To learn more, and find out what NASA’s Human Research Program is doing to protect humans in space, check out the "Hazards of Human Spaceflight" website. Or, check out this week’s episode of “Houston We Have a Podcast,” in which host Gary Jordan further dives into the threat of gravity with Peter Norsk, Senior Research Director/ Element Scientist at the Johnson Space Center.
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