Without gravity to pull fluids like blood down the legs, fluids shift
toward the upper body, says Jennifer Fogarty, the head of NASA's Space Life
Sciences Innovation. The heart still pumps enough blood to the lower limbs
so that they can function, but the legs don't get nearly the same amount of
blood as they do on Earth. That means blood vessels in the legs don't have
to work as hard to send blood back to the heart. "They essentially get
'lazy,'" said Fogarty. "They don't have to contract as much, so they kind
of lose the ability to do so a little bit."

That poses a problem for return. When astronauts experience gravity again,
their blood rushes to the legs but the weak, lazy blood vessels have
trouble sending it back to the upper body. This can cause extreme
dizziness, and even fainting. Normally, returning astronauts are met by a
team of experts that help keep the crew members from passing out. But
astronauts landing on Mars won't have a welcoming committee; theyll have
to adjust to the Red Planet's gravity all on their own.

One of the experiments Kelly participated in space addresses the fluid
problem directly. Kelly and his fellow crew members have been using a
Russian-built
device known as the Chibis

on board the ISS. The machine works like a large pair of rubber pants that
sucks blood and other fluids from the upper part of the body down towards
the legs. NASA hopes to find out if the Chibis has been effective at
balancing out Kelly's bodily fluids while in space.

http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/1/11138102/scott-kelly-year-in-space-health-effects-return-to-earth

...............

It would be interesting to construct a rotating space hab next to ISS,
providing say 0.1g, to find out whether there is substantial improvement in
the health of astronauts, even with small move away from zero g.

Selvaraj

That poses a problem for return. When astronauts experience gravity again, their blood rushes to the legs but the weak, lazy blood vessels have trouble sending it back to the upper body. This can cause extreme dizziness, and even fainting. Normally, returning astronauts are met by a team of experts that help keep the crew members from passing out. But astronauts landing on Mars won't have a welcoming committee; theyll have to adjust to the Red Planet's gravity all on their own.
One of the experiments Kelly participated in space addresses the fluid problem directly. Kelly and his fellow crew members have been using a
Russian-built device known as the Chibis
on board the ISS. The machine works like a large pair of rubber pants that sucks blood and other fluids from the upper part of the body down towards the legs. NASA hopes to find out if the Chibis has been effective at balancing out Kelly's bodily fluids while in space.
http://www.theverge.com/2016/3/1/11138102/scott-kelly-year-in-space-health-effects-return-to-earth
...............
It would be interesting to construct a rotating space hab next to ISS, providing say 0.1g, to find out whether there is substantial improvement in the health of astronauts, even with small move away from zero g.
Selvaraj

It would be interesting to construct a rotating space hab next to ISS, providing say 0.1g, to find out whether there is substantial improvement in the health of astronauts, even with small move away from zero g.
Selvaraj

The Space Studies Institute (SSI) has been pushing this idea, which they call G-Lab.

Theyd also like to experiment with 1/6 G and 1/3 G. And you can investigate different levels on the same structure at the same time, by running your experiments at different distances from the spin-axis.
Regards,
Mike Combs

When I was studying engineering, in our Industrial Engineering text book
there was a cartoon which showed a plumber high up, fixing the pipes, when
the structure had not reached that level, with the caption 'Aren't you
jumping the gun Schultz?'

We seem to have a similar problem with getting humans into space. Perhaps
putting a team of ten people on the Moon as early as possible, would help
to obtain invaluable experience in a short time. (It would also help focus
attention of earthlings on something positive.)

Regards,
Selvaraj

On 1 March 2016 at 22:37, 'Combs, Mike' mikecombs@... [spacesettlers] <
spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

>
> It would be interesting to construct a rotating space hab next to ISS,
> providing say 0.1g, to find out whether there is substantial improvement in
> the health of astronauts, even with small move away from zero g.
>
> Selvaraj
>
> The Space Studies Institute (SSI) has been pushing this idea, which they
> call G-Lab.
>
> Theyd also like to experiment with 1/6 G and 1/3 G. And you can
> investigate different levels on the same structure at the same time, by
> running your experiments at different distances from the spin-axis.
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike Combs
>

We seem to have a similar problem with getting humans into space. Perhaps putting a team of ten people on the Moon as early as possible, would help to obtain invaluable experience in a short time. (It would also help focus attention of earthlings on something positive.)
Regards,
Selvaraj
On 1 March 2016 at 22:37, 'Combs, Mike'
mikecombs@...
[spacesettlers]
<
spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com
>

It would be interesting to construct a rotating space hab next to ISS, providing say 0.1g, to find out whether there is substantial improvement in the health of astronauts, even with small move away from zero g.
Selvaraj

The Space Studies Institute (SSI) has been pushing this idea, which they call G-Lab.

Theyd also like to experiment with 1/6 G and 1/3 G. And you can investigate different levels on the same structure at the same time, by running your experiments at different distances from the spin-axis.
Regards,
Mike Combs

This is a good point. It might be premature to talk about manned missions to Mars when we only have data on 1-G, a bit of data on 0-G, a tiny smattering of (short-term) data on 1/6 G, and no data at all on 1/3.

It would be sensible to return to the moon and leave some humans there at least as long as you anticipate having to leave humans on Mars in a typical mission. Having some long-term data points at both 0-G and 1/6-G might help you extrapolate better to 1/3 G. Right now, its all guess work.

If NASA was really serious about sending humans to Mars, then there would be white mice in a 1/3-G centrifuge up on the ISS right now, and they would have already been up there continuously for a few years.

But the centrifuge was one of the first things dropped when the cost-cutting began.

It shows that NASA is more committed to having a big rocket to build than they are to sending humans to Mars. The promise of the latter is just to get you to approve of the former.

Regards,
Mike Combs

From:
spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com [mailto:spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com]
Sent:
Thursday, March 03, 2016 12:40 AM
To:
spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com
Subject:
Re: [spacesettlers] : How Scott Kelly's year in space may have changed his body

When I was studying engineering, in our Industrial Engineering text book there was a cartoon which showed a plumber high up, fixing the pipes, when the structure had not reached that level, with the caption 'Aren't you jumping the gun Schultz?'
We seem to have a similar problem with getting humans into space. Perhaps putting a team of ten people on the Moon as early as possible, would help to obtain invaluable experience in a short time. (It would also help focus attention of earthlings on something positive.)
Regards,
Selvaraj

'Combs, Mike' mikecombs@... [ssi_list] wrote:

> This is a good point. It might be premature to talk about manned
> missions to Mars when we only have data on 1-G, a bit of data on 0-G, a
> tiny smattering of (short-term) data on 1/6 G, and no data at all on 1/3.

"Might" seems a little conservative here. :)

> It would be sensible to return to the moon and leave some humans there
> at least as long as you anticipate having to leave humans on Mars in a
> typical mission. Having some long-term data points at both 0-G and 1/6-G
> might help you extrapolate better to 1/3 G. Right now, its all guess
> work.

That's true, though I also support a variable-G research facility in
orbit. A few generations of mice or rats, raised at various levels of
gravity, would advance our understanding tremendously.

> If NASA was really serious about sending humans to Mars, then there
> would be white mice in a 1/3-G centrifuge up on the ISS right now, and
> they would have already been up there continuously for a few years.

Um, yeah, what you said. :)

> But the centrifuge was one of the first things dropped when the
> cost-cutting began.
>
> It shows that NASA is more committed to having a big rocket to build
> than they are to sending humans to Mars. The promise of the latter is
> just to get you to approve of the former.

True. I recall arguments that a centrifuge would have caused vibrations
that would disrupt other research. But I haven't seen or heard ANY
research done on station that is nearly as valuable or as important to
our future as variable-G research would have been.

Best,
- Joe