01
Decompression Sickness
Causes injuries because of a rapid decrease in the pressure that surrounds you.
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Caused by Nitrogen bubbles locking in your joints
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Symptoms and Effects: Numbness, Tingling, Joint pain, Death
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Chances of decompression sickness can be reduced by two hours of daily exercise
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"Astronauts performing EVA from the space shuttle must undergo a 12-hour decompression protocol to minimize their risk of developing decompression sickness (DCS)."-CSA
Heartbeat with:
02
Atrophy
Loss of muscles due to no gravity force.
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Due to absence of gravity acting upon our muscles, their strength decreases and we lose an unhealthy amount.
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Two and a half hours of exercise in required to reduce chances of atrophy.
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"In order to reduce the amount of time that must be spent exercising on space missions, studies have been done on the use of electrical muscle stimulation to maintain muscle strength and mass."-CSA
Rat Muscles on Earth Rat Muscles in Space
03
Osteoporosis
Due to lack of gravity, we lose our bone calcium.
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Bones are made of calcium, which reshapes according to pressure levels, which are zero in space.
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Exercise: Basketball, Volleyball, Jogging, Walking
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"By analyzing how the body changes in weightlessness and after returning to Earth’s gravity, NASA is developing protective measures against these changes for a Mars mission."-NASA
Normal Bone Osteoporotic Bone
04
Radiation
Radiation is the spread of energy through space or matter in the form of waves or particles.
There are three kinds of space radiation:
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Galactic cosmic rays (GCR) originating outside the solar system;
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Solar particles emitted by the sun during solar flares (solar particle events);
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Radiation trapped by the Earth's magnetic field.
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"The current strategy to reduce the health risks of space radiation exposure is to implement shielding, radiation monitoring, and specific operational procedures."-NASA
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Solar Flare
05
Other
There are not just physical issues.
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Hostile/closed environments: "NASA is using technology to monitor the air quality of the space station to ensure the atmosphere is safe to breathe and not contaminated with gases, such as formaldehyde, ammonia, and carbon monoxide."-NASA
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Distance from Earth: "NASA is using its human spaceflight experience on the space station to figure out what types of medical events happen in space over time and what types of skills, procedures, equipment, and supplies are needed so that they will have a good idea of what to pack for future missions to the Moon and Mars."-NASA
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Isolation and confinement: "NASA scientists are using devices, such as actigraphy, that help assess and improve sleep and alertness by recording how much people move and how much ambient light is around them."-NASA
