NEW YORK: NASA scientists are developing training tools that would help astronauts on a mission to Mars transition back to gravity smoothly and land their spacecraft safely on the red planet.
The longer an astronaut spends in space, the more difficult it is for their brain to readapt to gravity.
Astronauts returning to Earth after living aboard the International Space Station for that amount of time have exhibited balance control problems, muscle weakness and cardiovascular deconditioning.
It could take about six months to get to Mars, and when the crew suddenly returns to gravity on the red planet, they will have to land their spacecraft safely while possibly experiencing physical performance problems.
Researchers are working to solve this problem so crew members can land and then stand.
A study analysing the balance control disturbances caused by gravity transitions was recently completed by Jacob Bloomberg, a senior research scientist at NASA.
Bloomberg and his team evaluated test subjects who have undergone body unloading, or not carrying one’s own weight, after returning from space shuttle missions, space station expeditions or from bed rest studies of up to 70 days.
To test just how much body unloading affects balance and stability, researchers developed the Functional Task Test (FTT), which consists of seven functional and physiological tests.
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