To reach Mars, need to be out of space longer

A French astronaut said people also need to perform extra-terrestrial missions for longer periods of time before actually preparing for a flight to Mars.

To prepare for the journey to Mars, astronauts are performing increasingly longer missions outside the universe. As of March 2, American astronaut Scott Kelly ended the 340-day period on the International Space Station (ISS).

Living a long time away from the Earth has a lot of harmful effects on the human body, according to the space astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy of the European Space Agency (ESA). In an interview with Pourquoi Docteur, the French astronaut said: "In a zero gravity environment, almost all body functions are affected".

"At that time, bone density will decrease, as will the muscle atrophy. Blood will be distributed differently in the body, leading to changes in the cardiovascular conditions of adaptation and weakening the heart." The body's immunity is also impaired, but these changes do not affect the health of the space astronaut, but it will be a problem once they come back to adapt to Earth's living conditions. " .

Artwork in the movie "People from Mars" (2016).

When performing space missions, the crew always includes health care members, trained to deal with emergency health situations, as well as every astronaut with a doctor. Assigned at the Earth can be contacted anytime during the trip. However, extra-terrestrial trips always leave 3 permanent effects on the human body that are changes in bone density, vision loss and cosmic radiation backlog in the body.

According to statistics, after performing an extra-terrestrial mission, a quarter of the astronauts will have to wear lifelong glasses, although the previous eyesight is still good. Clervoy also said many astronauts were unable to continue flying because the body had reached the maximum level of cosmic radiation backlog."In space, we are exposed to more radiation than on Earth , " he said.

The long journey out of space to reach Mars poses many health problems, the largest of which is radioactivity. According to Clervoy astronaut, "we still do not understand the harmful effects of cosmic radiation when doing long journeys across the planet. Meanwhile, the first missions to Mars will not immediately fall. set down here after the journey, which the crew will have to stay on orbit around the planet for 1.5 to 2 years, we have never been out of space for so long. longer outer space missions before getting ready for a trip to Mars ".