Space Travel Health Risks And Tourism

Studying space travel health risks helps us continue space exploration and dream of living out there one day.

Unfortunately, our biology evolved to adapt to Earth's atmosphere and environment. The reason is pretty profound. Earth's atmosphere and environment shaped our biology in the first place. It trained us to utilize its resources, defend ourselves against its dangers, and interact with its seasonal changes.

For example, our skin absorbs sun rays to synthesize Vit D. On the other hand, it synthesizes melanin to block U.V rays. When it’s cold, we shiver to produce energy. When it’s hot, we sweat. Our biological clock is driven by Earth's rotation around itself, aka day and night.

So, what would happen if we left the planet that shaped us to fit its circumstances? Would we adapt to the new environment?

#1 Temporary sensory loss:

During the take-off, the gravity changes dramatically. This change drives the blood away from the brain and eyes. First, you will experience a temporary loss of vision then you might blackout.

Astronauts exercise to withstand many space travel health risks. One of them is called High-g training. It helps them get used to gravity changes during the take-off so they won’t lose their consciousness.

However, a non-experienced traveler shouldn’t worry at all. This is temporary and it will last only for a few minutes.

#2 Weightlessness and motion sickness:

Space Adaptation Syndrome (SAS) — Space Adaptation Syndrome Training

After waking up from your short syncope, you will encounter another challenge, Weightlessness.

Although we all wish to float in space, it came with some symptoms.

Space Adaptation Syndrome (SAS) is a fancy term for space motion sickness. The symptoms include nausea, vomiting, vertigo, headache, and lethargy.

Fortunately, as the name explains, this is not a permanent effect. It just happens in the first hours of your journey until your vestibular system adapts to these new conditions.

#3 Radiation:

If there is one obstacle that could prevent us from living in space, this is the one.

Radiation can cause severe cardiovascular deterioration and DNA damage, which leads to cancers and autoimmune diseases.

Earth protects us by two shields, the magnetic field of Earth and the atmosphere. However, in the space void, there is no protection. For humanity to survive out there, we have to develop a new technology to defend us or find another planet with its own shield. Unfortunately, non of these are possible at the moment.

Some types of radiation, especially galactic cosmic rays, can penetrate the body of a spacecraft and the skin of people on board. A journey to Mars would have dire effects on the DNA.

In SpaceMan, we take this health risk seriously; that’s why our space suits came with a solid magnetic shield to protect you from most space rays and reduce the effect of galactic cosmic rays.

#4 Vision health risks:

Exposure to low gravity for a long time can lead to Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome (SANS).

On Earth, gravity pulls down our body fluids. However, low gravity retains body fluids in our heads, leading to retinal and optic nerve edema.

This can lead to blurry vision in one or both eyes, changes in the eyeball size, refractive errors, and even retinal ischemia.

#5 Bone and muscle deterioration:

Other major space travel health risks of low gravity for a prolonged time are muscles atrophy and bone loss.

We have two groups of muscles. The first group maintains our posture while the other is responsible for locomotion.

In zero gravity, back and leg muscles are no longer required to keep us in a standing position. Eventually, these muscles weaken and get smaller. Astronauts have to exercise daily to maintain their muscle mass. Otherwise, they will lose nearly 20% of their muscle mass in one week.

Bone metabolism is also affected by low gravity. The bone tissue has two primary cells, one that builds the new bone and another that breaks down the old bone.

Naturally, the two processes are balanced. However, the balance falls apart in space, and the bone breaks down more rapidly, leading to bone loss and fragility.

#6 Psychological health risks:

As we mentioned before, the biological clock will be affected by the changes in day/night duration and the amount of light in space.

Therefore, sleep disturbance is a common health risk; and it can lead to stress and fatigue in the long term.

Isolation and homesickness are other psychological concerns for astronauts. However, this is not the case if you are a tourist enjoying his journey.