Mars voyage would wither the muscles of the astronauts
August 20th, 2010 - 8:27 pm ICT by Aishwarya BhattNew York, Aug 20 (THAINDIAN NEWS) New studies indicate that a Mars voyage could create havoc in the muscle strength of the astronauts.
When the cells of astronauts who had been in space for 6 months were studied, it was revealed that they had lost about 40 percent of the strength of their muscles, even though they regularly exercised in space shuttles.
Even super-fit astronauts returned from space with weakened muscles similar to 80 year old people. The fittest of astronauts returned with the most weakened muscles.
Reports by NASA indicate it will take about three years for astronauts to make a round trip journey from Earth to Mars i.e. ten months to go to space, a year’s stay and a 10-month journey back to the earth. Even at the rate astronauts’ exercise at the moment, they will find it very difficult to crawl when they return to earth after making that journey.
Robert Fitts of the Marquette University said the lack of pressure on the muscles of astronauts as a result of the lack of gravity, which would cause muscle fibers to be unloaded. “The lack of load” — pressure on muscles — “is the main problem. There is no gravity and so any fibers within those muscles are unloaded. The load normally maintains protein synthesis and the size,” according to biologist Robert Fitts of Marquette University.
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Tags: astronauts, biologist, cells, earth to mars, havoc, journey, lack of gravity, marquette university, mars voyage, muscle fibers, muscle strength, muscles, nasa, protein synthesis, robert fitts, space shuttles