New research confirms long term bone loss during long missions in weightlessness
According to new research done on ISS, scientists have confirmed what Soviet-era scientists had learned back in the 20th century, that long term bone loss during long missions in weightlessness can take many months to recover once back on Earth.
The bone density lost by astronauts was equivalent to how much they would shed in several decades if they were back on Earth, said study co-author Dr Steven Boyd, of Canada’s University of Calgary and director of the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health.
The researchers found that the shinbone density of nine of the astronauts had not fully recovered after a year on Earth – and they were still lacking about a decade’s worth of bone mass. The astronauts who went on the longest missions, which ranged from four to seven months on the ISS, were the slowest to recover. “The longer you spend in space, the more bone you lose,” Boyd said.
The study also confirmed that some exercises in space helped to mitigate the bone loss, which ranged from 1% to 2% per month. No exercises prevented it however.
For missions to Mars, the bone loss appears less of an issue than the loss of muscle strength. Even with extensive bone loss after six months to a year in space astronauts do not notice this loss when returning to Earth gravity. They will certainly not notice it on Mars, with a gravity field 39% that of Earth’s.
More concerning is the loss of muscle strength during long missions in weightlessness. After six months to a year in weightlessness astronauts struggle on Earth to walk after first landing. This is why they are helped immediately placed to chairs upon return. On Mars no such help will be available.
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According to new research done on ISS, scientists have confirmed what Soviet-era scientists had learned back in the 20th century, that long term bone loss during long missions in weightlessness can take many months to recover once back on Earth.
The bone density lost by astronauts was equivalent to how much they would shed in several decades if they were back on Earth, said study co-author Dr Steven Boyd, of Canada’s University of Calgary and director of the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health.
The researchers found that the shinbone density of nine of the astronauts had not fully recovered after a year on Earth – and they were still lacking about a decade’s worth of bone mass. The astronauts who went on the longest missions, which ranged from four to seven months on the ISS, were the slowest to recover. “The longer you spend in space, the more bone you lose,” Boyd said.
The study also confirmed that some exercises in space helped to mitigate the bone loss, which ranged from 1% to 2% per month. No exercises prevented it however.
For missions to Mars, the bone loss appears less of an issue than the loss of muscle strength. Even with extensive bone loss after six months to a year in space astronauts do not notice this loss when returning to Earth gravity. They will certainly not notice it on Mars, with a gravity field 39% that of Earth’s.
More concerning is the loss of muscle strength during long missions in weightlessness. After six months to a year in weightlessness astronauts struggle on Earth to walk after first landing. This is why they are helped immediately placed to chairs upon return. On Mars no such help will be available.
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.
Typo alert (minor): 1st paragraph: should be “can take” rather than “can takes”
Michael McNeil: Thank you. Fixed.
Wheel stations please.
Spinning stations will be a must eventually.
How are they going to compromise with the the apparent desire for microgravity R&D for manufacturing.
Will be interesting to watch.
That microgravity R&D could still be done in the hub of a spinning station., couldn’t it?
Andi,
I thought of that. There would be limits.
Any small relative motion as the hub itself rotates would have to be accounted for.
Non-spinning hubs, with rotating spokes and wheels is a bigger tech problem. And “commuting” from the spinning stations to a non-spinning station for work would be expensive.
Andi asked: “That microgravity R&D could still be done in the hub of a spinning station., couldn’t it?”
Why?
If you need microgravity, you set up for that. Don’t need a legacy ‘Do Everything Installation’. Many functional ways to do R &D in NEO, and many ways to get there.
Andi asked: “That microgravity R&D could still be done in the hub of a spinning station., couldn’t it?”
It isn’t so hard to have a despun section. Plenty of early spinning satellites had these, so it isn’t just science fiction.