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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. "

19 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. Hmmmm... by SubMissionary · · Score: 3, Funny

    So lying on your back conducting all activities makes one weightless? Guess I should tell her to get on top more often...

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    --Look behind you.
  2. Whee! by zulux · · Score: 5, Funny

    the European Space Agency study involved 14 male volunteers spending 3 months carrying out all activities whilst lying on their backs,

    Well, when the female volunteers start up, I'll be willing to help the poor things with whatever they need.

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    Moneyed corporations, non-working 'poor' and criminal prisoners are turning productive citizens into tax-slaves.

  3. Long Live the Unbreakable Soviet Union by RAMMS+EIN · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would suspect that the Russians know a thing or two about this, as they tend to keep their kosmonauts in space much longer than anyone else dares to. However, I can imagine a couple of reasons why they wouldn't be inclined to share their information; long-term weightlessness seems not to be very healthy, and the fact that they have exposed their people to those may not be good for their image.

    ---
    Due to circumstances beyond your control, you are master of your fate
    and captain of your soul.

    --
    Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
  4. Results of preliminary stages: by Little+Dave · · Score: 3, Funny


    Boffin: Lets run through those results...

    Egghead: Test 1 - Watching TV while lying on back. No adverse physical side-effects.

    Boffin: Test 2 - Drinking beer while lying on back. No adverse physical side-effects.

    Egghead: Test 3 - Disposing of body's waste gases while lying on back. No adverse physical side-effects.

    Boffin: We conclude that these human males are perfectly suited to weightlessness.

    --
    http://www.davetansley.com - you proba
  5. The money by Violet+Null · · Score: 3, Informative

    $20,000 for three months? Wow. That sure beats those cheapskates at NASA; they only spent $100 / day, or ~$9,000 for the three months.

    1. Re:The money by Sapien__ · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I suspect that since the article was in an Australian newspaper, the amount is in Australian dollars.

      Currently, $20000 AU is approximately $11500 AU

  6. 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 BlowCat · · Score: 3, Informative
      It would be hard to dock to the rotating station. The solar batteries would have to rotate all the time to point to the Sun. It would be hard to point scientific instruments to the Earth. Some experiments require microgravity.

      Rotating station may be a better place to live, but it would be a less interesting and useful place to work.

    2. 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.

    3. Re:So why aren't space stations being planned by mav[LAG] · · Score: 3, Funny

      It would be hard to dock to the rotating station.

      Bah - I could do this all the time in Elite. Screwed up a few times to begin with and destroyed my ship and crew but...OK I see your point.

      --
      --- Hot Shot City is particularly good.
    4. Re:So why aren't space stations being planned by Thagg · · Score: 3, Informative

      The only reason to be in space is microgravity; so there'd be no point in rotating the whole space station. As far as rotating just the habitat portion of the station, it's difficult to imagine how you could do that -- what kind of seal you could make between the two compartments that would hold air perfectly but have very little friction. Perhaps more importantly, it's hard to see how you could rotate a part of the station at a few RPM and not transmit vibration back to the the other part, this vibration destroying the very microgravity that is the only reason for being there.

      For long duration space flights to somewhere, it makes perfect sense to rotate the ship; I can't imagine not doing that. But for a LEO space station I don't think it will happen, unless that space station is used for something other than microgravity research (tourism, maybe?)

      thad

      --
      I love Mondays. On a Monday, anything is possible.
  7. 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

  8. This doesn't seem like a well designed study by SuperCal · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I know that having the subjects lie on their backs is the best simulation of weightlessness over time, but it seems like a poor substitute. Their bodies are being stressed by gravity that would not be present in space. That difference could lead to either more of less 'health' over the long term. In low muscle exertion environments (I made that term up:), a little stress may increase bone degeneration or may be a catalyst for bone growth. I think the only way to get true results may be study people on the space station, which I believe is being done...

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  9. 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?

  10. Re:What will stage 1 prove? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    They replicate weightlessness by having the subjects lie on slightly tilted beds, head down (6 degrees IIRC). This causes blood to flow away from the legs and to pool in the brain replicating the blood flow that happens to astronauts in real weightlessness (stronger muscles used to pumping against gravity's pull mean that more blood goes to the top half of the body)

    For this reason hospital records are of limited use.

  11. 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.

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    -- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
  12. 3 Months Lying on Their Backs? by eaeolian · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...well, now we know what happend to all the laid-off dotcom programmers.

  13. 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
  14. Why are they wasting time? by Lumpy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The Russians have the largest, most accurate database on such information.. The tests were done with real subjects in real microgravity, not some lame attempt with the slight possibility of simulating something.

    Come on, the Mir program is still full of wonderful data.. and couple that with the old data from Skylab and you have a pretty darn good basis for sending up 3 people for a 5 month stay. (with a control group of 3 here on the ground... hell let them lie around for 5 months..)

    it amazes me at how stupidity and quackery get's passed off as science and research nowdays..

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.