Forbes | Is This Buzz Aldrin-Inspired Locomotive The Future Of Space Travel? Forbes Last summer Charles Bombardier unveiled the Solar Expressan imagined vehicle that would ferry cargo and passengers from Earth to Mars in less than two days. The radical notion drew a great deal of buzzmost notably from Buzz Aldrin, who praised the ... |
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Is This Buzz Aldrin-Inspired Locomotive The Future Of Space Travel? - Forbes
Science Daily | Space travel visionaries solve the problem of interstellar slowdown ... Science Daily In April last year, billionaire Yuri Milner announced the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative. He plans to invest 100 million US dollars in the development of an ... |
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Space travel visionaries solve the problem of interstellar slowdown ... - Science Daily
Space travel can do more than make you weightless - it can change your DNA.
The first results of a study delving into the impact space travel has on a person's body were released this week.
Appropriately named the Twins Study, the research looks deep into the effect galaxy travel had on astronaut Scott Kelly compared to his identical twin brother and former astronaut Mark. The brothers shared biological samples before during and after Scott's nearly year-long foray into space last year. The entire time, Mark was earth-bound.
Scott, when he returned to Earth, was a full two inches taller. But the preliminary results went far deeper. Here's what was found:
- Scott's telomeres on the ends of his chromosomes in his white blood cells lengthened while in space. Researchers said it could be attributed to increased exercise and his reduced calorie intake during flight. The telomeres shortened when he returned. Talomeres typically decrease in length as a person ages.
- The study found the level of chemical DNA modification slowed while in space but then returned ot normal when returning to Earth.
- Scott's cognitive abilities in speed and accuracy slowed just slightly after the mission.
- Scott's bone formation slowed during the second half of his trip. Also, there was a spike in inflammation right after landing, which could be because of the stresses of re-entry.
- The study determined a stress hormone was "low normal" throughout the trip but increased over the course of the expedition. The study said the hormone, linked to bone and muscle health, was, "likely impacted by heavy exercise countermeasures during flight."
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The new pods will see space travellers hibernate, bringing science fiction movies such as Interstellar and the recent Passengers movie, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt, to reality.
As humanity gears up to colonise other planets the sleeper pods will help with the extremely long journeys.
Mars, which is the closest planet to Earth and the top of the interplanetary travel destinations, will take six months to travel to with current technology.
Pluto, on the edge of the solar system, took nine and a half years to reach in the fastest, unmanned, spacecraft.
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By lowering the average body temperature (37 degrees celsius) to around 32 degrees celsius, the heart rate and blood pressure are also lowered, inducing a state of sleep.
Medical professionals already use the tactic to treat sufferers of cardiac arrest and heart failure so that they have more time to asses the damage.
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The patients usually stay in a comatose state for up to four days, but Spaceworks the firm developing the pods using a method it calls therapeutic hypothermia believes that it could make the state last for months.
John A. Bradford, president of Spaceworks, told Quartz: Our goal is to get from days and weeks to months.
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Describing the pods, he said: There would be some robotic arms and monitoring systems taking care of [the passengers].
Theyd have small transnasal tubes for the cooling and some warming systems as well, to bring them back from stasis.
Spaceworks says that it will begin testing the pods on animals as early as next year with human testing to follow in space and aboard the International Space Station.
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Spaceflight changes astronauts brains, according to a new study that analyzed scans of people who traveled to space and back.
Researchers looked at MRI scans from 27 astronauts. Thirteen had flown on the Space Shuttle for a couple weeks, and 14 had spent about six months on the International Space Station. What they found was that the volume of grey matter in the astronaut brains actually decreased.
"We found large regions of gray matter volume decreases, which could be related to redistribution of cerebrospinal fluid in space," Rachael Seidler, a professor of kinesiology and psychology at the University of Michigan, said in astatement. "Gravity is not available to pull fluids down in the body, resulting in so-called puffy face in space. This may result in a shift of brain position or compression."
But thats not the full story.
They also detected increases in grey matter in the space travelers brains in the regions that are tied to leg movement and sensation. Astronauts, of course, use their legs differently in microgravity than they do down on Earth.
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The results are evidence of the brains plasticity that it changes in response to a persons environment or actions, like learning something new. And not surprisingly, the researchers saw the biggest changes in the space station astronauts brains, compared to Shuttle crew members, because they had spent the most time in space.
"In space, it's an extreme example of neuroplasticity in the brain because you're in a microgravity environment 24 hours a day," Seidler said in the statement.
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This study, published in the journal Nature Microgravity, is certainly not the only one to look at how space travel affects the human body. NASAs famous twin study in which astronaut Scott Kelly spent about a year in space while his identical twin brother spent that time back on Earth is just now producing some initial results, the space agencyannouncedMonday.
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Space flight changes astronauts' brains, research reveals - Fox News
Therapeutic Hypothermia
Manned, long-term, deep space missions are an exciting prospect, but one that remains in the realm of distant possibilitiesparticularly because we dont have all the technological innovations needed to make it happen.
One major consideration is the time it takes to reach the destination. Mars, which is at the top of various space programs go-to destinations for manned missions, is about six months if travel time away from Earth. If we wanted to explore even further, keep in mind that New Horizons, the fastest spacecraft to leave Earth, took nine and a half years to reach Pluto.
Science fiction conveniently sidesteps this challenge by putting the space explorers into deep sleepa state of suspended animation. But slowing the human metabolism down while ensuring that a person will stay alive for extended periods is a lot easier said than done.
Spaceworks however, led by John A. Bradford, is proposing to use a method they refer to as therapeutic hypothermia. The process involves cooling the body a little below the normal body temperature (37 C), to slow down heart rate and blood pressure. This process is already being used in the medical world. By bringing the body temperature of patients undergoing treatment for cardiac arrest or traumatic brain injuriesdown to 32 and 34 degrees Celsius, doctors have more time to address the issues.
The method normally allows patients to stay in stasis for about 2-4 days, but has worked for as long as two weeks. Spaceworks not only believes they can extend this for months, but also that they can create the technology needed to automate the process and apply it for deep-space missions.
Unlike the cryo-chambers depicted in films however, where row upon row of space travelers are left in suspended animation in individual pods, Spaceworks is conceptualizing an open chamber that allows the crew to go into stasis in shifts.
There would be some robotic arms and monitoring systems taking care of [the passengers]. Theyd have small transnasal tubes for the cooling and some warming systems as well, to bring them back from stasis, Bradford describes an interview with Quartz.
This not only addresses concerns of adding too much weight to a spacecraft, but also ensures that there will be people awake to manage possible emergencies and conduct standard monitoring.
As for the long-term health effects of space travel, Spaceworks is trying to find ways of incorporating exercise into stasis. The team is looking into using electrical stimulation, which is already used to aid physical therapy. Having this technology in place also solves a lot of logistical issues for manned space missions. With crew members awake, you have to factor in the volume of food, water, and air needed to keep them alive for months and years at a time. It could also help manage the psychological impact of long-term space travel and hopefully lower the risk of space crews succumbing to depression, claustrophobia, or anxiety.
According to Spaceworks, they are due to begin animal testing next year, with human testing set to follow after in space and on the International Space Station.
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A Real Life Hibernation Chamber is Being Made For Deep Space Travel - Futurism