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I think a lot of it will ultimately depend on whether Mars has enough gravity to avoid the health issues that we see in orbital microgravity environments. Do w

I think a lot of it will ultimately depend on whether Mars has enough gravity to avoid the health issues that we see in orbital microgravity environments. Do we have any idea, based on our experiences with space stations & lunar landings? Genuine question, I'd really like to know.

rbanffy 5y ago
Mars has about a third of the Earth's, so it's not microgravity and is about twice as powerful as the Moon's. There are not many reasons to expect it will create huge health issues for earthlings but if you spend too much time on Mars without exercising on a centrifuge, adapting back to Earth could be a problem. There will be some loss of muscular mass, at least.
- Baeocystin 5y ago
  I suppose the core of my question is just wondering what the shape of the g-dose response curve is. 1g is nominal. 0g has significant long-term problems, even with countermeasures like daily exercise. Is the physiologic response between the two extremes linear? My intuition says no, but I don't have real data to check.
  - mncharity 5y ago
    > what the shape of the g-dose response curve is And to make matters more complex, that dose could be spectrum, rather than a constant value. Eg, spend X hours doing Y in the compact ~2 meter centrifuge at Z g, plus ... and ... .
  - babesh 5y ago
    Just one data point. The astronauts on the ISS spend 2 hours a day exercising. That apparently works in that once they get back on Earth after 6 months, they don’t have issues with weakened musculature. ISS is a microgravity environment.
mncharity 5y ago
> Do we have any idea IIRC, largely no - it's a very open research question. > I'd really like to know I fuzzily recall seeing an applicable NASA space medicine slide deck last year, but I'm not quickly finding it - sorry. > depend on whether Mars has enough gravity While it's common to oversimplify and exaggerate minimum-size constraints on rotational gravity, even if greater than Mars gravity is needed almost continuously, it might perhaps turn out easier engineering to maintain that on Mars (with mounted spinning things, or maybe pods in curving tunnels) than in space (spinning habitats). You still have vacuum at hand, but also support and workspace - things are more easily stopped, stood next to, and kicked.
Supermancho 5y ago
> Do we have any idea https://rendia.com/resources/insights/vision-problems-in-space/#:~:text=A%20study%20found%20that%20the,people%20are%20sleeping%20on%20Earth https://rendia.com/resources/insights/vision-problems-in-spa.... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_spaceflight_on_the_human_body https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_spaceflight_on_the_h...

rbanffy 5y ago

Mars has about a third of the Earth's, so it's not microgravity and is about twice as powerful as the Moon's. There are not many reasons to expect it will create huge health issues for earthlings but if you spend too much time on Mars without exercising on a centrifuge, adapting back to Earth could be a problem. There will be some loss of muscular mass, at least.

Baeocystin 5y ago
I suppose the core of my question is just wondering what the shape of the g-dose response curve is. 1g is nominal. 0g has significant long-term problems, even with countermeasures like daily exercise. Is the physiologic response between the two extremes linear? My intuition says no, but I don't have real data to check.
- mncharity 5y ago
  > what the shape of the g-dose response curve is And to make matters more complex, that dose could be spectrum, rather than a constant value. Eg, spend X hours doing Y in the compact ~2 meter centrifuge at Z g, plus ... and ... .
- babesh 5y ago
  Just one data point. The astronauts on the ISS spend 2 hours a day exercising. That apparently works in that once they get back on Earth after 6 months, they don’t have issues with weakened musculature. ISS is a microgravity environment.

mncharity 5y ago

> Do we have any idea IIRC, largely no - it's a very open research question. > I'd really like to know I fuzzily recall seeing an applicable NASA space medicine slide deck last year, but I'm not quickly finding it - sorry. > depend on whether Mars has enough gravity While it's common to oversimplify and exaggerate minimum-size constraints on rotational gravity, even if greater than Mars gravity is needed almost continuously, it might perhaps turn out easier engineering to maintain that on Mars (with mounted spinning things, or maybe pods in curving tunnels) than in space (spinning habitats). You still have vacuum at hand, but also support and workspace - things are more easily stopped, stood next to, and kicked.

Supermancho 5y ago

> Do we have any idea https://rendia.com/resources/insights/vision-problems-in-space/#:~:text=A%20study%20found%20that%20the,people%20are%20sleeping%20on%20Earth https://rendia.com/resources/insights/vision-problems-in-spa.... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_spaceflight_on_the_human_body https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effect_of_spaceflight_on_the_h...