SPACE NEWS: Could Mars-bound Astronauts Face Serious Health Risks?

Big questions: Could Mars-bound Astronauts Face Serious Health Risks?

Scientists have been collecting data for years concerning people who have spent time up in space. Over the years, they have determined that during short-term stays of about six months have a definite physiological effect.

The immune system suffers when a person is isolated over time. This can cause astronauts to be more prone to infection by viruses, bacteria, and fungi. Allergy symptoms may also increase. Because of this, astronauts headed to Mars will need to bring along heavy duty drugs that they would not mix together until they had arrived. (Sounds like a job for a good chemist?)

And it’s not just infections they’ll need those drugs for. Other aches and pains may also abound.

A common, early occurrence in 40 percent of all astronauts is space sickness — a form of motion sickness that is only experienced in space. The symptoms include nausea and vomiting, headaches, dizziness, and general weakness and discomfort. Usually this condition lasts only a few days as the astronaut adapts to the change in his environment.

The blood circulation during life in space begins to get used to flowing much more easily because gravity is not affecting its function. The heart beats faster and the blood pressure rises, causing astronauts to experience puffy faces, nasal congestion, and headaches. This also causes their legs to get thin, and as we now know may even lead to a stiffening of their arteries

A bit odder change occurs to the shape of red blood cells themselves. The shape becomes more spherical, and fewer cells remain within the bone marrow. The cell shape returns to normal once the astronaut returns to Earth. However, no studies of missions over a year long have been made, nor do we yet know how Martian gravity, which is less intense than Earth’s, will affect them.

The change in circulation and subsequent muscle loss, as well as bone loss over time, can be a cause for concern when considering a longer mission. The Mars-bound astronauts may need a ship that could somehow lessen the burden by producing artificial gravity, and be equipped with exercise gear meant to keep the limbs and body in shape. But that’s not the most pressing problem.

Without a shield to keep radiation bombardment from getting inside, any spacecraft sent to Mars might as well be considered a microwave oven considering how cooked the crew would be by the time they arrived. They will be likely to experience flashes of white-hot light behind their eyes along the way thanks to such unhealthy visitors as solar flares and cosmic rays. If they did manage to survive thanks to shielding, they might still be bombarded enough to eventually develop cancer, heart disease, and nerve or brain damage

Here is a video of NASA discussing the MAVEN mission and their thoughts on reaching Mars

Benjamin Ekpenyong

Read more ...

SPACE NEWS: NASA Unveils New ‘Tron’-Inspired Spacesuit

NASA has revealed its new Z-2 spacesuit design, and the futuristic-looking garb appears to be something straight out of the sci-fi classic Tron.

As MailOnline reports, each spacesuit is set to be 3D printed for the astronaut it will belong to and is designed to allow wearers to walk on the martian surface more easily. According to Phil Stampinato of ILC Dover, the company that constructed the suit, “Everything that’s done to develop this suit is headed for a Mars mission, even if there is an asteroid mission or a lunar mission prior to that.”

The Z-2 spacesuit is intended to give astronauts far greater flexibility and mobility than the spacesuits currently worn aboard the International Space Station and will be built to withstand and absorb impacts, particularly in the torso region.

Most interestingly, the spacesuits will also be compatible with something called a “suitport,” which takes the place of an airlock, according to Yahoo News. Basically, instead of entering a habitat wearing the suit, astronauts simply use a built-in hatch on the back of the suit to “dock” it outside.

The luminescent design of the Z-2 spacesuit is reminiscent of the sci-fi classic Tron

The aesthetic design of the Z-2 spacesuit was chosen by a public vote from a total of three possible designs. Of the other two, NASA said that the Biomimicry spacesuit was designed to mimic the bio-luminescent qualities of aquatic creatures. The Trends in Society spacesuit, meanwhile, reflects the look of wearable tech and is meant to be “reflective of what every day clothes may look like in the not too distant future.”

Z-2 spacesuits will be individually 3D printed for each astronaut, ensuring a perfect fit.

The winning spacesuit design is officially called the Technology suit, and NASA says it “pays homage to spacesuit achievements of the past while incorporating subtle elements of the future.” The suit’s sci-fi look comes from luminescent patches and luminex wire fastened to its exterior, which will help to illuminate the environment around the suit, while simultaneously making it easy to identify individual astronauts during spacewalks.he Z-2 spacesuit will replace NASA’s Z-1 design, which was named one of Time’s inventions of the year in 2012. As The Inquisitr reported, the Z-1 spacesuit garnered much attention for its resemblance to the spacesuit worn by the Pixar’s character Buzz Lightyear. After the “positive response” that the Z-1 spacesuit’s exterior design received, NASA says they “wanted to take the opportunity to provide this new suit with an equally memorable appearance.”

[Images via Yahoo and MailOnline]
Benjamin Ekpenyong

Read more ...

SPACE NEWS: Saturn’s Moon, Titan, Spark’s NASA’s Desire for a Closer Look

NASA has a strong interest in continued exploration of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. The unusual satellite holds many possibilities in the search for life on other worlds, in the possibilities for colonization, and in understanding how Earth itself formed.

Titan’s surface is terrestrial, made mostly of rocks and water-ice, and large pools of stabilized liquid dominate its surface. These lakes have been assumed to be comprised of hydrocarbons, probably methane, which is a great source of fuel here on Earth.

The gravitational pull of Titan is sufficient to retain its atmosphere over time, as evidenced by its continued presence. The atmosphere itself is comprised mostly of nitrogen, and filled with ethane and methane clouds. It even has wind and rain, and a type of organic smog. The methane cycle of Titan has been compared to our own water-based cycle here on Earth.

Cassini’s most recent flyby on Wednesday has helped NASA to understand Titan much better. Because they had discovered Ligeia Mare’s lake to be as flat as the surface of a mirror, probably due to a lack of wind when they examined it, NASA decided to use that surface to their advantage.

Cassini bounced radio signals off the mirror-like surface on Wednesday using a technique called bistatic scattering and aimed the data back to Earth, where we were able to observe and interpret it. Along with previous data we’ve gathered in the past, we have compiled enough information to get a good idea what Titan’s surface would be like. We now know that its surface is very much like that of Earth’s, with dunes and deserts, mountains and valleys. Using another technique called radio occultation, we learned the temperatures vary by altitude, and we also know the world experiences seasons.

Scientists believe that Titan is an excellent model of how primitive Earth must have looked. The main reason Earth developed life and Titan theoretically has not is the lack of oxygen and water there.

NASA and others are still convinced that the building blocks for life, or life itself, may be present on Titan. They hope to send a drone there to gather even more data to confirm or deny this.

Mysterious Titan: Caltech]

Benjamin Ekpenyong

Read more ...

SPACE NEWS: SpaceX Rocket Launch Fails Today, Falcon 9 Reset Once Again Due To Technical Problems

The planned SpaceX rocket launch has failed once again today, with the SpaceX Falcon 9 being scrubbed due to technical problems. It is intended to carry six commercial satellites into orbit.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, the recent SpaceX Dragon re-entry splashdown was caught on video after leaving the International Space Station. Unfortunately, the U.S. is now in danger of being forced out of the ISS because Russia is making threats in response to the Ukraine crisis. In fact, one Russian leader even jokingly suggested the U.S. should send its astronauts to the ISS with the help of a trampoline. This is no idle threat since NASA and the U.S. military rely on Russian Soyuz rocket flights and also Russian made R-180 engines in order to keep us in the space race at all. Fortunately, private space companies like SpaceX are taking up the slack and their designs do not rely on Russian technology. The SpaceX Dragon V2 spacecraft is being designed to shuttle up to seven astronauts up to the ISS and it’s hoped it can be put into use by 2017.

The bad news is that a SpaceX rocket launch is having problems even after three days. The Falcon 9 rocket that was set to launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Sunday but officials scrubbed the launch during pre-flight checks:

“Today’s ORBCOMM launch attempt has been scrubbed to address a potential concern identified during pre-flight checks. The vehicle and payload are in good condition, and engineering teams will take the extra time to ensure the highest possible level of mission assurance prior to flight.”

The first launch window during Friday evening was also scrubbed due to technical problems but the second attempt on Saturday was cancelled over bad weather. The weather in Brevard County was just as bad this afternoon but apparently that had nothing to do with the SpaceX rocket launch cancellation. This probably means that a Monday launch may not happen since thunderstorms are predicted to hit the area in the afternoon, although for Tuesday the weather predictions are calling for partly sunny weather.

Space fans who may have hoped to watch videos of the SpaceX rocket launch will also be disappointed. SpaceX is saying the launch will not be broadcast to the media or the public because launches have become “too routine” and they no longer believe providing a full webcast is necessary.
Benjamin Ekpenyong

Read more ...

SPACE NEWS: Lunar Palace Space Colony: Giving ‘New Meaning To Chinese Takeout’

China’s Lunar Palace is no mere space station. Once launched into orbit and beyond in six years, this celestial biosphere will be the most sophisticated (and elbow-roomy) pad in space.

By human’s standards, of course.

Maybe they’ve only been launching astronauts into space for a decade, but that’s been long enough for China to know that their own Lunar Palace space station would definitely come complete with a living room in addition to the living quarters, a research laboratory, bathroom, organic recycling station, and all the insects and produce that two aquaponic grow operations can churn out.

Already, Lunar Palace 1 has gotten a full test drive. On Earth, of course, at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Three volunteers just emerged from the 1,700-square-foot (160-square-meter) mock-up after 105 days locked inside. They ate and drank nothing but the fruits and mealworms of their own making, while performing various research functions in preparation for when a lack of gravity is someday thrown into the mix.

Leftover food was aged into compost. Toilet waste was zapped via biofermentation.

That’s the kind of self-sufficiency required of what is known as a closed-loop life-support system, or biosphere. And it’s the kind of environment required for a station that China hopes will finally bring it some space-age bragging rights.

“Lunar Palace 1 is the first bio-regenerative life support base developed in China and the third in the world,” the China Manned Space Engineering Office brags in a press release. “The success of Lunar Palace 1 research indicates that China has been among the most advanced in the field of bio-regenerative life support research, which will play a significant role in China’s future missions like manned moon landing, lunar base establishment (and) Mars exploration.”

That’s right: China has aims to plant a base on the moon. And having an established bio-regenerative space station is a solid step toward a Lunar Palace being on the actual lunar surface. Liu Hong, the program’s top designer, said, “I think the biggest significance of this system is the ability to provide the necessary theoretical basis and technical support for a lunar base.”

And since the designer space destination of the day is Mars, such a moon base will only give China an opportunity to work out more kinks before the Red Planet gets a franchise, said Professor Larry Young, an astronautics life-support expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“China’s Lunar Palace 1 gives an entirely new meaning to ‘Chinese takeout‘,” Young toldSPACE. “We still have a long way to go before space crews can live entirely on food raised in their on-board gardens, but this long journey has, as Confucius might have said, started with the first step.”

This, he said, was China’s first big step. Getting to Mars, however, might take something more akin to a giant leap by all of mankind.

[Image courtesy of the China Manned Space Engineering Office]

Read more ...

SPACE NEWS: Russia: The U.S. Should Deliver Its Astronauts To The International Space Station ‘With The Help Of A Trampoline’

The Ukraine crisis is causing Russia to ban the United States from using the International Space Station (ISS) in response to threats from President Obama over imposing sanctions.

In a related report by The Inquisitr, the recent SpaceX Dragon re-entry splashdown was caught on video after leaving the International Space Station. But if you are looking for something even more spectacular, I would suggest checking out NASA’s global selfie projector their Tron-inspired space suit.

In the past we reported on the threats by Russia:

“Russia deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin went to Twitter to announce that American sanctions imposed on Russia would “boomerang” back at the United States. They say they will be pulling out completely by 2020 and that Russian rocket engines normally shipped to the US would be in jeopardy. Rogozin also said that the Russian segment of the International Space Station ‘can exist independently of the American one, but the American segment cannot exist on its own without the Russian one.’ Although NASA says they have not been contacted by Russia about any changes, Rogozin claims the money that used to go to the ISS will instead be put into other unnamed Russian space projects.”

As of this writing, there still is not anything official, but Rogozin did joke about the situation, saying:

“I propose that the United States delivers its astronauts to the ISS with the help of a trampoline.”

NASA currently sends U.S. astronauts to the ISS on Russian Soyuz rockets at a cost of $70 million per flight per astronaut. This might sound expensive, but the average cost of each space shuttle flight hovered around $1 billion over the course of the entire program. But without Russia’s help, NASA has no one to turn to in the short term, although officially the U.S. has a contract with Russia that extends through 2016.

In addition, Russia is threatening to cut off the supply of RD-180 rocket engines that are used in Atlast V rockets by the U.S. military to launch satellites into space. We only have enough RD-180 stockpiles left to last another 22 months and a project to replace the RD-180 by the United Launch Alliance probably will not have anything usable until 2019.

The good news is that the SpaceX Dragon V2 spacecraft is being designed to shuttle up to seven astronauts up to the ISS and it’s hoped it can be put into use by 2017. This is actually quite an improvement over the Russian Soyuz capsules, which are limited to three astronauts per flight. The Dragon V2 even has a special escape pod mechanism that allows the capsule to detach from the main rocket in the event of an emergency.

To put this all in perspective, the original plan for the International Space Station was to have it de-orbited in 2020 but the White House allowed NASA to re-appropriate federal funds in order to keep the ISS in orbit for an extra four years. But if the Ukraine crisis leads to a long term Cold War 2 between the United States and Russia, it’s possible that the lifespan of the ISS may be curtailed and result in an earlier death by burning up in Earth’s atmosphere.

Benjamin Ekpenyong

Read more ...