A new research has found that exercise along with artificial gravity may significantly reduce the negative impacts of weightlessness in space.
While astronauts who are stationed at the International Space Station (ISS) have several options to engage in exercise at the orbiting laboratory, spending a portion of their day working out to avoid the unwanted long-term effects of weightless, many still experience muscle atrophy, bone loss, balance issues and problems with the cardiovascular system.
Now, engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have come up with a machine that can simulate the effects of the gravity on Earth and reduce the problems associated with weightlessness in space.
The compact human centrifuge has a cycle ergometer, an exercise component that can be pedaled by a person while the centrifuge spins. Its size is just right to fit inside the ISS module and it comes with sensors that can measure heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate, foot forces and muscle activity.
Using this special type of centrifuge, the problems associated with weightlessness in space can be reduced. It could also help ensure that the astronauts who will be part of the planned manned mission to Mars will arrive on the Red Planet fit and healthy after about eight months of traveling from Earth.
"With exploration-class missions like Mars, you could run the risk of having astronauts not sufficiently conditioned to perform effectively, and also to not be in good health when they finally get to the surface of Mars," said Laurence Young from the department of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT.
Young added that having a human centrifuge onboard the spacecraft to Mars can keep astronauts healthy for months.
By seeing the effects of the setup on healthy participants, Young and colleagues concluded that combining exercise and artificial gravity could significantly reduce the unwanted effects of extended weightlessness in space, and the effects are far better compared with the effects of exercise alone. The findings of their study were published in the journal Acta Astronautica.
"Preliminary results indicate that ergometer exercise on a centrifuge may be effective in improving musculoskeletal function," the researchers wrote. "The MIT CRC is a novel platform for future studies of exercise combined with artificial gravity. This combination may be effective as a countermeasure to space physiological deconditioning."
