The Physiological And Psychological Effects Of Interplanetary Colonization

Planet Earth is not going to last forever. Sooner or later the human race will have to look for somewhere else to call home. Whether it is from overpopulation, global warming, or even the sun exploding, one day humans will need a new home. Of course, this probably will not be the case for a large amount of time; nevertheless, scientists have already started to examine various options for possible space colonization. Sending a colony into space is no small task, so there are loads of problems and obstacles that humanity will need to hurdle to do this successfully. In order for humanity to permanently create settlements outside of Earth’s atmosphere, there needs to be advancements in many different

The idea of colonizing the Moon sparks controversy and while there are plenty of downsides, the benefit will be far superior and eliminate any degrading it may cause. Of course, the Moon is a dead, inactive planet as of now, but we can spark light on the satellite. After getting past the debt of colonizing the moon, we will have the potential for building a fueling station and we should have a backup plan for when nuclear war does inevitably happen.

It’s cold up there. Cold and inhospitable. It is not easy, and it will take time. These are things the first humans in Africa must have thought of journeys northward. And yet, people still went. They colonized the globe in all its varied environments. When humans first bred dogs and horses, they did not do so to send them into unexplored land in our steed. We did not build crow’s nests on ships to observe and not go. Why is even a question whether humans should go to space? Space is the final frontier that the universe has to offer, and humanity would be remiss not to explore it with their own hands. It’s important to frame the debate. Succinctly, should

During the Apollo space missions, as well as later missions, American astronauts encountered a new phenomenon, space motion sickness. American scientists wanted to know what was causing this sickness, and looked to Russian research for answers, as Russian cosmonauts had encountered this phenomenon before. Historically, Russian scientists attributed the sickness to fluid shift, a process where decreased gravity allows fluids in the body to move headward. This can cause imbalances in hormones or neurotransmitters. It can also increase intracranial pressure, including in the inner ear, causing difficulties in the vestibular area of the ear. A more recent theory attributes the problem to sensory conflict. Through research and experimentation, scientists

The plane steadied as we flew above the clouds. My once jaw dropping view is reduced to a monotonous screen of white like a piece of printer paper. I closed the blinds and was now struck with proliferating boredom. My mind started to wander. When this happens my surrounding becomes distant and I am fully immersed in thought. I imagined landing in sunny San Diego, feeling the sun’s rays warm my body. Eating all the delicious food from the mess hall or buying my favorite ice cream, homemade pistachio almond drizzled with hot fudge and caramel.

This descriptive section reminded me of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster as this was about the time when the Challenger broke apart in mid air. This lets me relate to the feeling the astronauts may be feeling at the time, anticipation with a mix of fear.

For my original, scientifically-correct science fiction article that I will be writing later on this quarter, I plan to describe the dangers that astronauts face when traveling to outer space. Not only are there numerous unknowns that may arise as challenges, but there are very real health risks that must be addressed. Among those risks are the effects of long term space travel, and the lack of adaptation by the human body, as well as the high amounts of radiation that are present outside of the protection that the Earth provides. To better understand the radiation exposure that astronauts must deal with in space, I will define the risks of exposure to

While this is a deeply rooted concern for NASA, the organization plans to make progress in making human space travel safe and productive. In 2016, Former President Barack Obama wrote an article on CNN’s wire service with gargantuan hopes for the future generations of space travel to develop in the future. In the article entitled, “ America Will Take the Giant Leap to Mars”, Obama proposes that the United States will be capable of sending astronauts to Mars by the year 2030. To support his statement, he comments, “I’m excited to announce that we are working with our commercial partners to build new habitats that can sustain and transport astronauts on long-duration missions in deep space”(Obama 1). Here, Obama is acknowledging the fact that astronauts have been, and are, affected by radiation and loss of gravity when exposed to “deep space” for long periods of time. He is also revealing that through years of research and development, the government is prepared to safely send America’s astronauts to other planets for the purpose of exploration and advances in many technological fields. Yes, astronauts’ health

It has become such an iconic idea, that most if not all children in the last 60 years have thought that they would be alive to see the expedition, if not be part of it themselves. Of course, space travel is not a simple there and back scenario. As seen in the American Apollo program, there are many places throughout a mission where things can and most defiantly will go wrong with technology. In addition, there are inevitably even more challenging obstacles for a mission to face once they get into space. These challenges include loss of muscle, bone, and suppression of the human immune systems and over time we have found that these bodily effects seem to become progressively worse the longer an astronaut travels through space. Before we even begin discussing when we should attempt land manned space missions on other planets, we need a better understanding of the effect of long term space travel and occur in the first place and find ways to combat them so that prolonged space travel is not destructive to the human

Turbulence violently jolted the Boeing 777-300ER to and fro thrusting my petite frame into my stodgy neighbors, as I apologized to no avail. Internally, my heart was trembling as I yearned for my family, friends, and everything once familiar to me. Gazing around hopelessly, I cringed at the stares from strangers who already seemed to single me out as an intruder. This uneasy feeling that I thought would never be resolved vanished a grueling twelve and a half hours later as the plane touched down at Narita International Airport. Exiting the tarmac I felt anew; stepping into the crisp Japanese air I felt an intoxicating level of euphoria. The previous dread I had experienced surprisingly turned into a swelling curiosity. Unbeknownst to me at

How long would a “long term” space flight be? According to our records, the longest that human has been off Earth is almost 438 days, and it is the mission operated by Russian space station Mir. (Beings not Made for Space, Kenneth Chang, 2014) Long-term space flight requests that astronauts have to be exposed to the real space environment, which includes microgravity, the significant increase in radiation, variation in temperature and space view. The major impacts that I will be talking about are microgravity and space radiation. Due to these changes of space environment from that of the Earth, astronauts will face the changes on their body and health, some of the changes would be negative. For example, astronauts will see the significant changes in their body; their whole bodies will expand, the mass of their bones and muscles would lose, and some of them might have farsighted eyes. There will also be increase in risk of Alzheimer’s disease, damage in immune system and destroys of microbiomes. To build a better space environment, scientists have been working hard to find out what is causing the health issues and ways to solve them. They have done well-known researches such as “Twins Study” between Mark and Kelly Scott. The latest technology that involved is called artificial gravity; it is considered desirable for long-term space flight as well as human habitat in space.

Ancient astronauts did not let humans look at them or near them, the only humans that were allowed to be near them and speak to them, priests because they were the closest to God. Priests, though could not just walk up to the ancient astronauts, they had to cover and cleanse themselves with a certain germicide because the ancient astronauts did not want to get any earthly diseases. They traveled around the world using chemical fuel and only landed on mountain tops or rocky outcroppings to reduce dust and have the most protection of humans. When the astronauts would land the priests would already be waiting for them, but in caves where they were safe from their transportation. (Randle

With the verge of space travel the majority of time will be spent on the ship itself without contact coming for a while. I would expect tight quarters as there would be many crewmembers on board so it is nice I am not claustrophobic. While in space it might be exceedingly dangerous with navigating arounds cosmic

One of the biggest concerns is definitely the increased levels of radiation. The deep space contains energized particles from deep-space cosmic rays and solar flares which can potentially harm people during the voyage.

The fascination with space is as old, if not older, than the human species itself. Humans have developed the capacity to begin to explore this realm in the twentieth century which represents a flash in the course of human evolution. Furthermore, through the process of natural selection, homo sapiens have evolved under a specific set of physiological constraints. These constraints have shaped the process of human development however they are not present in the same composition in space. Therefore there are many implications for the physical aspects of space travel. There will need to be many developments in the science of physiology in this frontier before long duration flights, such as a trip to Mars, becomes feasible. This analysis will provide a literature review of some of the issues regarding human physiology in this realm as well as one of the more fascinating microorganisms who have shown to be able to withstand some of the adverse effects that space can inflict upon them.