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General Discussion => Q&A Section => Topic started by: DarkFighter on 08/08/2018 06:09 pm

Title: What is the consensus on health impact of Martian gravity for colonists Q&A?
Post by: DarkFighter on 08/08/2018 06:09 pm

Hello,
I have noticed that the subject of living in reduced gravity for a long time (years and decades) is rarely, if ever mentioned in media when discussing space colonization of Moon and Mars.

So, what is the opinion in the space industry community? Should we just sent the people to Mars and hope for the best? Or do investigation of the subject and develop countermeasures, as in "construct an artificial gravity laboratory in low Earth orbit"? Is there a definite path that most people here consider a better choice?

Title: Re: What is the consensus on health impact of Martian gravity for colonists Q&A?
Post by: RonM on 08/08/2018 06:47 pm

We only have medical data for on Earth and microgravity in orbit. Nothing in between. I think the best course of action would be an AG station in LEO to gather data on partial gravity, such as Lunar and Martian gravity.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any funding for it other than some small experiments on ISS. None with humans. So, I guess we'll get data from the first SpaceX crew on Mars.

NSF already has some threads on AG stations:

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=34036.0

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=46118.0

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=43520.0

Title: Re: What is the consensus on health impact of Martian gravity for colonists Q&A?
Post by: DarkFighter on 08/09/2018 04:15 pm

Thank you. Those threads are very informative.