Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

DNathanHilliard t1_iu9ys1p wrote

The problem is unless we can get a space station that can simulate Martian gravity, there is simply no data to back up any position on the topic. We do a lot of zero-G research, but we need a station that will allow us to simulate different gravities so we can do research in those as well

6

Spacegeek8 t1_iua0bmc wrote

1/3 gravity would be pretty fine physiologically speaking. There is pretty decent data on this. The gravity would be the least of the problems on Mars.

0

Adeldor t1_iua3lvq wrote

> 1/3 gravity would be pretty fine physiologically speaking. There is pretty decent data on this.

To my knowledge, there's no data on this. Have you a reference?

2

Spacegeek8 t1_iua655d wrote

All of the research on this concentrates on returning to the relative hypergravity environment of Mars after the 6 month micro-G transit trip.

Even bedrest studies do not replicate the real microG environment because of the transverse loading on the bones that induces iconoclasts to maintain some bone mineral density.

Small 80# people don’t have issues with gaining muscle mass in 1G if they eat enough food and exercise.

All of this points to the fact that collectively the research strongly suggests that even a little bit of gravity is enough to strongly mitigate the historical issues with space flight in microG. So much so that NASA isn’t really too concerned with 1/6 long term. 1/3 gravity is barely a concern at all, except it being too high after a long Mars transit.

0

Adeldor t1_iua8zbx wrote

Sadly, none of this is useful for determining whether or not multi-year living in constant 0.38 g has any permanent deleterious effect. And there's only one way to get such data.

The nearest real data available are from the ~year long stays in 0 g. They bode well for partial g, but given the relatively short periods that's merely intuitive extrapolation and yields no information on thresholds.

2

Spacegeek8 t1_iuaapzt wrote

Sure. But the point still stands. All the data suggests that this is a minor issue at worst compared to all the other health and engineering challenges for Mars.

0