The dreams of long journeys into space and space colonization will remain only dreams

U.S. President Barack Obama adopted a program of a manned flight to Mars in 2030. Stephen Hawking supports the program. However, many scientists believe that the dreams of long journeys into space and even space colonization will remain only dreams. According to Tenis Pirsma, a professor at the University of Groningen (The Netherlands), a long stay in a state of zero gravity is contrary to the biological entity of man. A human being is tightly connected with the ground.

Hawking and other proponents of space travel underestimate the biological constraints of long space flights. For example, flying to Mars will take a few years, but a human being simply can not leave their home planet for such a long time - human physiology and biology are closely connected with the Earth. Human body can function properly only under the conditions of gravity. The devastating effects of weightlessness can be seen by looking at astronauts returning to Earth after a long stay in space. These bodies are so weak and exhausted that they can not even move without assistance.

All this pales in comparison with negative changes that may occur after the flight of man to Mars. Astronauts suffer from heart diseases. After one week in weightlessness, the human heart becomes significantly smaller in size, which reduces the volume of the engine of our body and increases blood pressure.

After several months of life on the ISS, astronauts, when back on Earth, suffer from persistent dizziness and even temporary blindness. The blood circulation to the brain is not sufficient enough in space. Space explorers also have problems with the muscle tissue, especially with leg muscles. Negative changes occur in metabolism as well.

The level of fat oxidation decreases, which may eventually result in the replacement of muscle tissue with fat tissue. Weightlessness is a great danger to bone tissue. In weightlessness, a human being loses up to two percent of bone tissue a month. Thus, during a three-year journey to Mars, astronauts may lose about half of their bones.





Source