Antonio Paris

The Physiological and Psychological Aspects of Sending Humans to Mars

Abstract The body is an extraordinary and complicated system that automatically detects, and responds to, dramatic environmental changes around it, particularly in an environment of weightlessness. The entire body is involved in the complex and rapid response to micro- or zero gravity, and space science is just beginning to form a picture of what is happening inside the body under these conditions. When an astronaut goes into space, as will be the case during an eventual mission to Mars, his or her body will immediately begin to experience a multitude of changes, causing the astronaut to feel and look slightly different. The crew would succumb to massive bone and muscle loss as a direct result of long-term exposure to micro- or zero gravity, and would suffer cell damage from ionizing cosmic radiation, potential permanent vision problems, and psychological and sociological deterioration due to isolation. Nonetheless, past space flight experiences from crews in the United States and the former Soviet Union have demonstrated that humans can survive space flights of several months, or even up to a year in duration. This study identifies the psychological and physiological aspects of a manned mission to Mars and will recommend countermeasures and prevention strategies designed to combat many of the problems associated with long-term exposures in space. The International Space Station (ISS), moreover, has an enormously vital role in assessing the health dangers of sending humans to Mars. Thus, a recommendation to place a crew on the ISS to simulate a flight to Mars is addressed.