Long-duration space missions and establishment of permanently manned bases on the Moon and Mars are currently being planned. The weightless environment of space and the low-gravity environments of the Moon and Mars pose an unknown challenge to human habitability and survivability. Of particular concern in the medical research community today is the effect of less than Earth gravity on the human skeleton, since the limits, if any, of human endurance in low-gravity environments are unknown. This paper provides theoretical predictions on bone loss and skeletal adaptation to lunar and other nonterrestrial-gravity environments based upon the experimentally derived relationship, density approximately (mass x gravity)(exp 1/8). The predictions are compared to skeletal changes reported during bed rest, immobilization, certrifugation, and spaceflight. Countermeasures to reduce bone losses in fractional gravity are also discussed.
Bone Loss and Human Adaptation to Lunar Gravity
1992
8 pages
Report
Keine Angabe
Englisch
Physiology , Space Technology , Adaptation , Bone demineralization , Gravitational effects , Gravitational physiology , Lunar gravitation , Musculoskeletal system , Reduced gravity , Weightlessness , Bed rest , Habitability , Human tolerances , Long duration space flight , Medical science , Physiological responses
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