However, the floating freedom provided by the lack of gravity presents many limitations with respect to the human body and mind.
A short trip to space from the early Mercury and Apollo missions resulted in a stay of more than six months on the International Space Station. Floating laboratories have served as an ideal background for scientists seeking to understand what is really happening to every aspect of the human body in the space environment, including radiation, lack of gravity, and more.
Christopher Mason of Weill Cornell Medicine partnered with NASA for this study, and he and Scott Kelly talked about these findings in 2022. Life It Self ConferenceA health and wellness event announced in partnership with CNN.
“What did you miss most about the Earth when you were away for a year?” Mason asked Kelly.
“Of course the weather. Rain, sun, wind,” Kelly said. “And I miss you, the people you know, your family, and the people who are important to your friends.”
NASA plans to return humanity to the Moon through the Artemis program and eventually land on Mars, so to understand the implications of long-term travel in deep space. Interest is growing.
The big question asked by some scientists is whether humans are mentally and emotionally prepared for such a big leap. In short: how do we handle it?
Reveal the study
Participants were regularly asked to complete cognitive tests designed for astronauts in relation to memory, risk-taking, emotion recognition, and spatial orientation.
Researchers wanted to test whether artificial gravity could be prevented from adverse effects by experiencing artificial gravity for 30 minutes a day, at a time or for 5 minutes of seizures. Study participants experienced the first cognitive decline in their test, which became uniform and did not last for 60 days.
However, the speed at which they perceive emotions has deteriorated overall. During the test, they tended to consider facial expressions angry rather than happy or neutral.
“Long-range astronauts, very similar to our research participants, are in a small space with few other astronauts,” said Matthias Basner, a research author at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Perelman. You will be trapped and spend a lot of time in microgravity. ” School of medicine.
“The ability of astronauts to correctly” read “each other’s emotional expressions is paramount to effective teamwork and successful missions. Our findings suggest that the ability to do this can be compromised over time. “
In this study, it was unclear whether this disorder was due to a simulated lack of gravity or due to the confinement and isolation that participants experienced for 60 days.
These two extreme environments (the edge of the universe and the world) create a lack of privacy, a changing cycle of light and darkness, confinement, isolation, monotony, and long-term separation from family and friends.
Candice Alfano, a professor of psychology at the University of Houston, and her team have designed a checklist as a self-reporting method for tracking these changes in mental health. The biggest change reported by people at the two Antarctic stations was that they had no “bounce” effect when preparing to return home, and their positive emotions diminished from the beginning to the end of their nine-month stay. ..
Participants also used less effective strategies to increase positive emotions.
“Therefore, interventions and measures aimed at raising positive emotions may be important in reducing psychological risk in extreme situations,” Alfano said.
Protect explorers from home
Researchers are actively investigating the idea of how meaningful work can connect mission crews.When astronauts work As a team, on the space station or on simulated Mars In the global environment, their collaboration is towards a common goal.
And when you’re done, you can fight the feeling of isolation by watching a movie together or enjoying recreational activities.
However, missions to Mars can take months or years, depending on the spacecraft’s design, and can lead to a sense of monotony and confinement. And mission control and frequent contact with loved ones on Earth will become more confusing as they move away from Earth.
In a 2021 interview with CNN, Alexandra Wittmia, an elemental scientist at the Human Research Program, said: “It is very important for us to understand the individual who is responsible for that mission.”
One of the amazing discoveries on the space station is how food, and crop growth, contributes to morale of the crew while maintaining a very important concrete connection to the home. about it.
Scientists in human research programs are wondering if this sense of fulfillment can be taken one step further.Astronauts like Scott Kelly or Christina Koch talked about how they couldn’t wait to return to Earth after a long space flight and feel the rain and ocean waves again.
Source: www.cnn.com
