Australian scientists told how a flight to Mars will change the human body

Space medicine experts from the Australian National University developedComputational modeling of orthostatic intolerance for travel to Mars / npj Microgravitya mathematical model to identify the difficulties that the human body will face when flying to Mars. The algorithm made it possible to calculate the key changes in the cardiovascular system that can occur during a long flight of six to seven months.

As a result of the study, scientists found that the main harm to the body will cause a long stay in microgravity. During a six-month flight, the structure of blood vessels and the cardiac system run the risk of significantly reorganizing under the new conditions of artificial attraction.

In such an environment, blood is not attracted to the limbs, as in the conditions of Earth's gravity. The astronaut's heart slows down because it doesn't have to pump as much blood as it does on Earth. But the rest of the body does not expect this, and the brain thinks that too much water has accumulated in the body, because the fluid is retained in the upper body. Protective mechanisms come into play against excess fluid, due to which dehydration occurs. At the same time, the expedition member himself may not even notice this.

However, not everything is so scary. The authors of the study believe that such changes will not cause great damage to health, and astronauts will be able to maintain working capacity without problems even after six months of space flight.

It is noted that the model calculated the consequences of the flight for completely healthy young people. In the future, they want to change the introductory and test how a long stay in space will affect the health of chronically ill and elderly "astronauts".