Astronauts' Hearts Change Shape In Space

sciencehabit (1205606) writes "Astronauts who go into space come back with rounder hearts. Scientists who had astronauts regularly take images of their hearts with ultrasound machines found that the organ becomes more spherical in space by a factor of 9.4%. The researchers believe the change in shape, which is temporary, indicates that the heart is performing less efficiently in zero gravity."

Comments

Before I buy that Virgin Galactic ticket, tell me:

[QilessQi]

...do any other, ahem, organs become more spherical? Because that could be a deal breaker.

I astronaut-heart you

[buchner.johannes]

I O U

Re:I astronaut-heart you

[bobbied]

I O U

Well, I guess space flight makes the world go round...

Spinning Space stations

[SternisheFan]

So, we will need to have a spinning station that will create an artificial gravity. (As seen in '2001 A Space Oddessy')

Re:Spinning Space stations

[FireFury03]

Spinning stations need to be large in diameter: the smaller the diameter, the faster you have to spin it, and the coriolis force starts to really screw with the people inside it. Great if you want the astronauts throwing up all the time. So spinning stations have to be big, which means expensive.

The alternative is to tether two stations together, but NASA have a history of serious problems with tethers.

Re:Spinning Space stations

[Lumpy]

All ofthe NASA designs from the 60's were 10KM across at the smallest. building a tiny one at 1Mile across would be silly 10Km will be a rotational speed of 0.02 Radians per second. or 1 revolution every 6 minutes (Appx)

Spinning is not the hard part, building it so that it can withstand the 1G of pulling force across the spokes that will have to exist is the hard part. you need to have a safety factor of at LEAST 2 to 1 of the spokes in case of failure.

Plus you will want the torus to be at least 10km across otherwise you will get a significant difference of gravity from the feet to head and a tiny 1 mile across torus will actually make is so you can feel the spinning in your inner ear.

This is all off the cuff calculations, I cant be bothered to grab my calculator. but it does not have to be a solid ring, you can start by building a double ended counterweight of two identical sections connected by a single spoke to a hub.

Re:Spinning Space stations

[khallow]

The alternative is to tether two stations together, but NASA have a history of serious problems with tethers.

It doesn't have much of a history with tethers. And the only one where they actually tried to generate a small amount artificial gravity (on the Gemini 11 mission in 1966), they did get to work after some tribulation.

Gordon's first EVA, planned to last for two hours, involved fastening a 100-foot (30 m) tether, stored in the Agena's docking collar, to the Gemini's docking bar for the passive stabilization experiment. Gordon achieved this, but as with previous Gemini EVAs, trying to do work for an extended period proved more fatiguing than in ground simulation, and the EVA had to be terminated after only half an hour.

The passive stabilization experiment proved to be a bit troublesome. Conrad and Gordon separated the craft in a nose-(Agena-)down position, but found that the tether would not be kept taut simply by the Earth's gravity gradient as expected. But they were able to generate a small amount of artificial gravity, about 0.00015 g, by firing their side thrusters to slowly rotate the combined craft like a slow-motion pair of bolas.

Re:Spinning Space stations

[camperdave]

Instead of generating a 1G equivalent force, generate 1/6, or 1/4.

On a trip to Mars you could start at 1G and gradually reduce the spin until you reach 0.38G (Mars surface gravity). On the way back you increase the spin gradually until you reach 1G again. Over the 8 month trip, this would be imperceptible. Astronauts would be acclimated to the gravity of the destination planet by the time they got there.

Re:It's a miracle it even works at all

[Kaenneth]

Will Samuel L. Jackson be in it?

Re:It's a miracle it even works at all

[JustOK]

They'll use millenialpedes. Everything is centered and drawn towards them.

But do they need it?

[wjcofkc]

I would be curious to know if the heart even has to be as efficient in micro gravity.

Re:Before I buy that Virgin Galactic ticket, tell

[chuckugly]

We need to put Lucie Wilde into space for further, um, experiments. Science experiments, that is.

Re:How about the gallbladder?

[swb]

It's fairly galling no matter what shape it is.

Re:Before I buy that Virgin Galactic ticket, tell

[BitZtream]

The effects on the penis are documented.

You will be happy with the results, the penis becomes engorged far easier and a bunch of other things resulting in a pleasant surprise to the kind of guy who thinks having his member be a little larger is going to resolve his performance issues.

Likewise the woman's sex organs also fill with blood easier, making them more sensitive.

This is all documented by NASA and other space agencies.

The only thing I question is who they know some of the things they've documented without having a couple astronauts come back and say 'yea, we spanked it in space' or the married couple that went up on one of the shuttle missions really did have sex ... probably while the crew members watched since there really isn't anywhere to be alone. They insist its never happened though ...

Re:Before I buy that Virgin Galactic ticket, tell

[niftydude]

...do any other, ahem, organs become more spherical? Because that could be a deal breaker.

How so? I thought the general consensus was that girth is always preferable to length.

Less efficient?

[docwatson223]

...or just efficient for zero g?