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Zero-G
Sept 7, 2010 19:23:29 GMT 1
Post by abacus9900 on Sept 7, 2010 19:23:29 GMT 1
What are the deleterious effects on the human body when kept at zero-g for long periods of time?
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Zero-G
Sept 7, 2010 20:54:05 GMT 1
Post by kiteman on Sept 7, 2010 20:54:05 GMT 1
Muscle wastage, bone de-calcification, motion sickness.
Plus, since zero-g usually means "in orbit", there are the increased risks of cancers from cosmic radiation.
Having said that, I'd be up there like a shot, given the chance.
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Zero-G
Sept 7, 2010 21:05:50 GMT 1
Post by abacus9900 on Sept 7, 2010 21:05:50 GMT 1
Muscle wastage, bone de-calcification, motion sickness. Plus, since zero-g usually means "in orbit", there are the increased risks of cancers from cosmic radiation. Having said that, I'd be up there like a shot, given the chance. Aren't they going to have to use some kind of artificial gravity in future missions to Mars (assuming that happens)?
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Zero-G
Sept 7, 2010 22:08:13 GMT 1
Post by kiteman on Sept 7, 2010 22:08:13 GMT 1
Aren't they going to have to use some kind of artificial gravity in future missions to Mars (assuming that happens)? I'd hope so, but i don't expect so. I do not have a great deal of respect for the planners at NASA. For instance, when hunting for a replacement for the shuttle, they had a chance to go with McDonnel-Douglas' Delta-Clipper programme: a proven, flying vehicle, based on a combination of proven mechanicals and new materials. It could flew and land on autopilot, be prepped for another flight within 24 hours, and all with a ground crew of less than twenty, with a mission control consisting of a few PCs in the back of a truck. Each vehicle cost the same as a Shuttle toilet. Instead, they went with the VentureStar and an aerospike motor; a ship which only existed on paper, with a motor that had never flown. It was so bad, they palmed it off on the military, and it has yet to fly. ------------------------ NASA had a viable plan to get to Mars for an extended stay in the 80s ("Mars Direct"). It would have gotten them to Mars about ten years from programme inception, enabling a stay of years, using slightly-modified Saturn technology, for the same price as the ISS. Micro-gravity would have been compensated for by extending crew quarters from engines and reactors on a long tether and rotating the two, just like swinging a bucket on a rope. Instead, they decided to go to Mars via ISS and then the Moon, and only stay on Mars for a week or two. Apparently they plan to test craft and vehicles on the Moon as part of getting ready for Mars, even though they two are such wildly different environments that wholly-different technologies are required to land and exist on either. [/rant] (Edited to correct bad grammar)
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Zero-G
Sept 7, 2010 22:14:56 GMT 1
Post by abacus9900 on Sept 7, 2010 22:14:56 GMT 1
They don't seem to know whether they're coming or going Kiteman. (Forgive the pun).
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Zero-G
Sept 7, 2010 22:23:01 GMT 1
Post by kiteman on Sept 7, 2010 22:23:01 GMT 1
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Zero-G
Sept 8, 2010 0:47:49 GMT 1
Post by lazarus on Sept 8, 2010 0:47:49 GMT 1
I was really disappointed with the ISS. I had visions of a 'real' space station, a spinning wheel that created it's own centrifugal 'gravity' just like A. C. Clark and so many scifi stories envisioned.
Astronauts do train in space to keep their muscles up by attaching bungee cords to their limbs to create resistance.
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Zero-G
Sept 9, 2010 12:39:47 GMT 1
Post by eamonnshute on Sept 9, 2010 12:39:47 GMT 1
Apparently Zero-g also has beneficial effects too. In men, the morning-glory effect is enhanced strongly. In women their legs become slimmer but their breasts become bigger.
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Zero-G
Sept 9, 2010 14:30:19 GMT 1
Post by StuartG on Sept 9, 2010 14:30:19 GMT 1
"I'd hope so, but i don't expect so. I do not have a great deal of respect for the planners at NASA." --------- Houston, we have a stiff problem Someone wrote the H&S Risk Assessment, frightened themselves to death and now nobody wants to take the 'hit' if something goes fatally wrong. They've lost their edge they had initially. See where it's got(ten)... 'This committee was chartered by NASA in February 2007 to conduct a review of the medical and behavioral health care provided to astronauts and to provide opinions as to what, if any, procedures or testing could be put in place to predict disordered conduct or acts of passion.' .pdf of report [scans ok for bugs, Avast!] legislative.nasa.gov/hearings/2007%20hearings/9-6-07%20bachmann_testimony.pdfSurprise, surprise, put male and female together and look what happens. 'Twere ever thus. I expect the Chinese and Indians will have similar problems, they may have a menu....#69 with sauce. StuartG
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