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Long-Term Effects of Weightlessness

Posted by Hemos on from the elongated-spines dept.

MartinBartinFargo writes "The Age has an article detailing the long-term effects of weightlessness on the human body. Stage 1 of the European Space Agency study involved 14 male volunteers spending 3 months carrying out all activities whilst lying on their backs, Stage 2 is currently underway. "

7 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. So why aren't space stations being planned by ch-chuck · · Score: 3, Interesting

    like in the 2001 movie and countless SciFi stories, as rotating wheels which make their own artificial gravity? Jogging around the endless loop / track would be great exercise.

    --
    try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
    1. Re:So why aren't space stations being planned by kin_korn_karn · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Easy: have the portions of the station that need to stay upright/pointing at the sun/dockable stabilized and mounted on a race bearing so that the rotating part rotates around it, while it stays stationary.

  2. heinlein's take on near-weightlessness... by rapid+prototype · · Score: 3, Interesting

    at least as described in "the moon is a harsh mistress" is that reduced weight environs, such as the moon, prolong life indefinitely. although my gut feeling is that prolonged weightlessness would be very bad for you -- atrophied muscles and the like -- perhaps the benefits of your organs not cramming into one another constantly, and your back not being hunched down, and the ease of pressure on the joints... maybe it's not too far fetched?

    -rp

  3. Uh, that ain't weightlessness. by blair1q · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It ain't even microgravity.

    We've been sending astronauts into space for extended periods. I'm sure NASA and the Russians are studying them.

    Who funded this nonsense?

  4. Strange... by medcalf · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Did it not occur to them that there are platforms on which they could test the effects of prolonged weightlessness? Or that studies have been done, including similar lab studies. Oh, well.

    --
    -- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
  5. sounds like the focus should shift by sckeener · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nevertheless, organisers believe that, as well as helping astronauts, there should also be benefits for long-term hospital patients confined to their beds.

    Since there is still gravity in play, I'd say hospital patients are the real targets for this research....

    --
    "Only one thing, is impossible for god: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." Mark Twain
  6. Re:Why are they wasting time? by tie_guy_matt · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It said in the article that they were applying counter measures to help the body adapt. They may have lots of data to see what happens in space (maybe enough to tell that lying on your back is a good substitute) but if the counter measures are new they probably don't have much data on them. Paying $20,000 a pop to get some untrained volunteers to stay in bed for three months is a heck of a lot cheaper than sticking them in a space station.