NASA-Stanford Model Warns 1,200-Day Mars Missions Could Cut Bone Density 36.8%
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 24
NASA-Stanford Model Warns 1,200-Day Mars Missions Could Cut Bone Density 36.8%
1 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 24
Summary
A 2020 NASA Ames-Stanford model projected that 1,000- to 1,200-day Mars missions could push all modeled cases into osteopenia and about one-third below the osteoporosis threshold.
The forecast came from femoral-neck bone-density data on 69 astronauts after 132 to 228 days in space, then extrapolated with a nonlinear decay curve rather than measured on any Mars crew.
For shorter 400- to 600-day opposition-class missions, the model estimated 15.6% to 22% bone loss, versus 32.4% to 36.8% on longer conjunction-class profiles.
Those results excluded modern countermeasures such as the ISS Advanced Resistive Exercise Device, diet and medication; NASA says most six-month crews now return within bone-loss limits, but no human countermeasure has been validated for 1,000 to 1,200 days.
The study also did not model Mars's 0.38 gravity separately or deep-space radiation, leaving mission planners without human data on whether partial gravity or compact exercise systems can protect bone over a three-year round trip.