Flight to Mars is canceled – human kidneys can't handle it

Space, as we know — not the most favorable environment for humans. Even inside a spaceship, where astronauts are protected from many negative influences, the human body suffers greatly and undergoes certain changes. We have already talked about many of them, for example: blood is destroyed, DNA quickly mutates, bone mass decreases, etc. Recently, scientists have discovered another serious side effect that astronauts who fly, for example, to Mars will certainly encounter – this is “space kidney disease.” These vital organs will radically change their structure and suffer irreversible damage that will lead to kidney failure.

Flight to Mars is canceled — human kidneys cannot withstand this. Cosmic radiation quickly causes kidney failure. Image source: ferra.ru. Photo.

Space radiation quickly causes kidney failure. Image source: ferra.ru

Why kidneys are damaged in space

According to scientists, astronauts will have kidney problems for two reasons. The main one is galactic cosmic rays (GCR), or simply cosmic radiation. In addition, weightlessness, or more precisely – microgravity, has its negative impact. Scientists report this in the publication Nature Communications.

You might think of astronauts who spend long periods of time on the ISS and have no problems with their kidneys. In fact, the ISS is not fully exposed to GCRs because it is in low Earth orbit, protected by the Earth's magnetic field. But even on the ISS, an astronaut receives the same amount of radiation in a year as a nuclear power plant worker receives in five years.

Why do kidneys get damaged in space? The Earth's magnetosphere partially protects the ISS from galactic cosmic rays. Image source: maglipogoda.ru. Photo.

The Earth's magnetosphere partially protects the ISS from galactic cosmic rays. Image source:maglipogoda.ru

Currently, the only people who have been fully exposed to GCR are the astronauts who took part in NASA's Apollo missions, that is, the 24 people who walked on the Moon. But these journeys never lasted longer than 12 days. Visiting Mars will require staying in space for several years. As a result, astronauts will receive a colossal dose of radiation.

What happens to kidneys in space

As mentioned above, scientists previously found out what happens to blood in space and human DNA, as well as other body systems. For example, not long ago, researchers discovered such a phenomenon as space migraine, which is not usually discussed among astronauts. However, not much attention was paid to the kidneys. Therefore, no one suspected that these organs could be severely damaged by radiation.

In a recent study, scientists analyzed the kidney function and associated biomarkers of more than 60 astronauts. In addition, they carefully studied the kidneys of rodents that visited the ISS. They also simulated the effects of long-distance space travel by bombarding mice and rats with a dose of radiation similar to what astronauts would receive on a trip to Mars.

What happens to the kidneys in space. Astronauts will have serious kidney problems after just a month of flight to Mars. Photo source: www.iflscience.com. Photo.

Astronauts will have serious kidney problems after just a month of flight to Mars. Photo source: www.iflscience.com

As it turned out, serious changes in the kidneys can occur in astronauts in less than a month in space. They will lead to progressive and irreversible loss of kidney function. True, astronauts will feel symptoms much later.

The fact is that the kidneys are organs with which problems begin to be felt only in the final stages. For example, the kidneys may lose 75% of their function, but the person will not feel any symptoms or they will only begin to appear. Therefore, it is quite possible that astronauts will experience health problems not in space, but upon returning to Earth, but they will be irreversible. In fact, people will become disabled.

But that's not all — Another problem is the formation of kidney stones, and astronauts will face this much earlier than kidney failure. By the way, scientists have known for a long time that the risk of kidney stones increases 14 times in space. However, this problem was previously associated with bone demineralization due to microgravity. Now scientists believe that kidney failure, which, as it turned out, gradually develops in astronauts, is partly to blame for this.

What happens to kidneys in space. Flights to Mars may be in jeopardy. Photo source: dzen.ru. Photo.

Flights to Mars may be in jeopardy. Photo source: dzen.ru

People will not be able to fly to Mars?

The conclusions obtained are still only preliminary, since they are mainly based on experiments on rats in laboratory conditions. If they are confirmed, long flights in space will become impossible without solving this problem.

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It will not be possible to protect the kidneys from radiation, but it is quite possible that scientists will be able to develop drugs that will reduce its negative effects. True, solutions to other health problems, both those mentioned above and less serious ones such as peeling nails, have still not been found. Therefore, it is unlikely that a manned flight to Mars will take place in the foreseeable future.


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