NASA study says deep space will cause cancer and destroy stomachs
We’re all gonna die! A NASA study on rats using simulated space radiation suggests that long duration space missions beyond Earth orbit will cause cancer as well as significant harm to human intestines.
The study, published by cancer researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center, used mice to test exposure to heavy ion radiation, which mimics the galactic cosmic radiation found in deep space. If that sounds complicated, essentially researchers compared “space” radiation to X-ray radiation and found its effects to be much more dangerous.
After long exposures to a low dose of galactic radiation, mice had permanent damage to their gastrointestinal tracts and could no longer absorb nutrients in food. The mice also developed cancerous growths in their intestines — raising concerns that astronauts who venture far into space would face the same deadly health issues. “While short trips, like the times astronauts traveled to the moon, may not expose them to this level of damage, the real concern is lasting injury from a long trip,” said Kamal Datta, head of Georgetown’s NASA Specialized Center of Research, in a press release.
More here.
Must I point out the uncertainties and weaknesses of this study? They did the test on rats. They simulated the radiation. And it appears they simulated the radiation dosages assuming the spacecraft would have little or no shielding, an absurd approach.
Space is dangerous, but there is no reason to exaggerate the dangers wildly, unless you wish to generate fake reasons for additional funding, as NASA is prone to do.
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We’re all gonna die! A NASA study on rats using simulated space radiation suggests that long duration space missions beyond Earth orbit will cause cancer as well as significant harm to human intestines.
The study, published by cancer researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center, used mice to test exposure to heavy ion radiation, which mimics the galactic cosmic radiation found in deep space. If that sounds complicated, essentially researchers compared “space” radiation to X-ray radiation and found its effects to be much more dangerous.
After long exposures to a low dose of galactic radiation, mice had permanent damage to their gastrointestinal tracts and could no longer absorb nutrients in food. The mice also developed cancerous growths in their intestines — raising concerns that astronauts who venture far into space would face the same deadly health issues. “While short trips, like the times astronauts traveled to the moon, may not expose them to this level of damage, the real concern is lasting injury from a long trip,” said Kamal Datta, head of Georgetown’s NASA Specialized Center of Research, in a press release.
More here.
Must I point out the uncertainties and weaknesses of this study? They did the test on rats. They simulated the radiation. And it appears they simulated the radiation dosages assuming the spacecraft would have little or no shielding, an absurd approach.
Space is dangerous, but there is no reason to exaggerate the dangers wildly, unless you wish to generate fake reasons for additional funding, as NASA is prone to do.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Several previous studies on the effects of simulated GCR have induced the expected dose from an extended mission, but at a much higher rate over a much shorter period of time, assuming that as long as the total dose matched, that was good enough.
The linked article says a very low dose [of iron ion radiation] was delivered over the equivalent of a months-long period in deep space but doesn’t give specifics. Is the paper publicly available?
Found it: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/09/26/1807522115
Space radiation triggers persistent stress response, increases senescent signaling, and decreases cell migration in mouse intestine
Under: Materials and Methods / Mouse Irradiation
Wild-type mice (C57BL/6J; male, 6 to 8 wk old; n = 10) were irradiated (dose: 0.5 Gy) using a simulated space radiation source at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL), Brookhaven National Laboratory for iron (56Fe; energy: 1,000 MeV per nucleon; LET: 148 keV/μm) irradiation, and a 137Cs source was used for γ-ray (LET: 0.8 keV/μm) whole-body irradiation of mice. Mice were euthanized either 7 d, 60 d, or 12 mo after radiation exposure.
So while not explicitly stated, it appears that the entire dose (0.5 Gy = 50 rad, for those still used to cgs units) likely was given in a single short exposure.
I think the reason they do it this way is that it’s cheaper to get access to a high rate source for a short period than to have continuous access to a lower rate source for a much longer period of time. I would think that rate would be as important as total dose in these tests, but I’ve not read any scholarly arguments on the subject.
It seems that the main researcher is more upset that a drug based cure for this damage has not been found than anything else. Like prevention.
I have been following the development of Ex-Rad or ON 01210.Na for many years now.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ex-Rad
Its not a wonder drug to fight cancer or radiation damage but it does work very well against specific damage. Mainly hematologic cancers and gastric cancers.
Its main problem is its not a cure but a only a preventative. So the person must continually take the drug and it only lasts about a week in the body.
This is the kind of drug that could benefit from a moon based research lab. A years worth of study of pigs taking the drug on the surface of the moon in an unshielded dome. The humans could live in shielded domes.
I don’t think caring for pigs in a zero G environment like fLOP-G would work out well.
I never did like these studies where they administered huge doses of something over a short period of time to “simulate” exposure. They almost never directly relate to real life.
NASA Talk –
“Spacecraft, Habitats and Radiation Protection”
2015 Langley Research Center
https://youtu.be/GIYdF7YlX3o?t=1005
cued to the relevant section:
“Risk of exposure induced death must be kept below 3%, at a 95% confidence interval.”