As shown, the long stay in weightlessness affects muscle mass. And despite the fact that astronauts in orbit are daily engaged on special simulators, even after half a year in space they still need to undergo a long rehabilitation. But the most important thing is that if in 2030 planned flight to Mars, flown astronauts just won’t be able to walk on the planet. Therefore, NASA experts are developing a special implant that will not give the muscle tissue to break down.
Now the drug, preventing the destruction of muscle ready and even passed the first tests on rodents, which had recently returned from the ISS. 40 rodents were divided into 2 groups, and each individual was implanted under the skin with a special implant, which is automatically injected into the bloodstream medicine. Both groups were sent to the ISS in December 2017. Group 1 returned to Earth in January, and the second earlier this month. As it turned out, despite the fact that the mouse has not been any special physical exercise in space, their muscle tissue are fully retained their functions, and they even without the rehabilitation were able to move on arrival to the Ground. According to the head of the project Alessandro Grattoni,
“Given the initial success in the test implant, we hope to test this method on the astronauts will be in a few years, when the FDA will give approval. But we plan to have time to prepare it before the start of the flight to Mars”.
It should be noted that the implant can be useful and on Earth. For example, due to the presence of Bluetooth receivers and Wi-Fi, a drug can be entered remotely. It may be useful in the case when the patient is away from the doctor and may forget to take medicine on their own. Also the device can be used in the treatment of diabetes, as it allows to inject into the blood medicines smoothly and without sudden peaks. And “recharging” the implant will need 1 every few months (depending on frequency of use).
NASA is developing an implant that prevents muscle atrophy in cosmonauts
Vladimir Kuznetsov