Would astronauts’ kidneys survive a roundtrip to Mars?
The structure and function of the kidneys is altered by space flight, with galactic radiation causing permanent damage that would jeopardise any mission to Mars, according to a new study led by researchers from UCL. moar picrel
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2024/jun/would-astronauts-kidneys-survive-roundtrip-mars
Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR) is a dominant source of radiation that must be dealt with aboard current spacecraft and future space missions within our solar system. GCR comes from outside the solar system but primarily from within our Milky Way galaxy. GCR is composed of the nuclei of atoms that have had their surrounding electrons stripped away and are traveling at nearly the speed of light. Another way to think of GCR would be to imagine the nucleus of any element in the periodic table from hydrogen to uranium. Now imagine that same nucleus moving at an incredibly high speed. The high-speed nucleus you are imagining is GCR. These particles were probably accelerated within the last few million years by magnetic fields of supernova remnants.
In summary, GCR are heavy, high-energy ions of elements that have had all their electrons stripped away as they journeyed through the galaxy at nearly the speed of light. They can cause atoms they pass through to ionize. They can pass practically unimpeded through a typical spacecraft or the skin of an astronaut.
There are three main factors that determine the amount of radiation that astronauts receive or how radiation affects astronauts.
They include:
• Altitude above the Earth – at higher altitudes the Earth’s atmospheric protection is no longer present and the magnetic field is weaker, so there is less protection against ionizing particles, and spacecraft pass through the trapped radiation belts more often.
• Solar cycle – the Sun has an 11-year cycle, which culminates in a dramatic increase in the number and intensity of solar flares, especially during periods when there are numerous sunspots.
• Individual’s susceptibility – researchers are still working to determine what makes one person more susceptible to the effects of space radiation than another person. This is an area of active investigation.
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