- Of 24 astronauts who’ve travelled to the moon, most suffered kidney changes
- Astronauts going to Mars could develop kidney stones and even need dialysis
Houston, we have a kidney problem.
Missions to Mars could cause permanent kidney damage for astronauts, a new study has warned.
Analysis of the health impacts of space travel on 66 astronauts who have travelled on the International Space Station, and experiments on mice has found that kidneys are damaged by radiation and zero gravity.
Previous research has also found that astronauts frequently report kidney problems on their return to earth – with NASA reporting more than 30 astronauts having suffered kidney stones on their return to earth.
The researchers simulated galactic radiation doses equivalent to 1.5-year and 2.5-year Mars Missions on rodents, mimicking space flight beyond Earth’s magnetic field.
Most astronauts on lunar trips only spent between 6-12 days in space. But a round trip flight to mars would be even longer -with plans ranging from 3 to 5 years -which would expose astronauts to even more radiation.
Astronauts would develop painful kidney stones and could even need dialysis, according to the study.
Missions to Mars could cause permanent kidney damage for astronauts, a new study has warned (artist’s impression)
The US space agency NASA and the electric car tycoon Elon Musk have both set as a goal a manned mission to Mars.
Unless new drugs to protect astronauts’ kidneys are developed the health risk ‘would jeopardise’ any future 66 million-mile round trip to the Red Planet.
Such drugs could have benefits on Earth too – a protective medication could prevent cancer patients suffering harm to their kidneys from radiotherapy.
A study of potential health impacts on space travellers by University College London scientists found they are likely to suffer from kidney stones and probably need dialysis on the return flight, the research suggests.
The study, published in Nature Communications, is the largest analysis of kidney health in space flight to date.
Astronauts would develop painful kidney stones (artist’s impression) and could even need dialysis, according to the study
Researchers have known that space flight causes certain health issues since the 1970s, in the years after humans first travelled beyond Earth’s magnetic field, most famously during the first moon landing in 1969.
These issues include loss of bone mass, weakening of the heart and eyesight, and development of kidney stones.
It is thought that many of these issues stem from exposure to space radiation, such as solar winds from the Sun and Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR) from deep space, that the Earth’s magnetic field protects us from on Earth.
As most manned space flights take place in Low Earth orbit and receive partial protection from Earth’s magnetic field, only the 24 people who have travelled to the moon have been exposed to unmitigated GCR and only for a short time (6-12 days).
Nobody has studied what changes might be happening in the kidneys and other organs as a result of conditions that would be experienced during space travel beyond Earth’s magnetic field over longer periods.
A UCL-led team of researchers from over 40 institutions across five continents conducted a range of experiments and analyses to investigate how the kidneys respond to space flight.
The authors said ‘the most alarming finding, at least for any astronaut considering a three-year round trip to Mars, is that the kidneys of mice exposed to radiation simulating GCR for 2.5 years experienced permanent damage and loss of function’.
Dr Keith Siew, first author of the study from the London Tubular Centre, based at the UCL Department of Renal Medicine, said: ‘If we don’t develop new ways to protect the kidneys, I’d say that while an astronaut could make it to Mars they might need dialysis on the way back.
‘We know that the kidneys are late to show signs of radiation damage; by the time this becomes apparent it’s probably too late to prevent failure, which would be catastrophic for the mission’s chances of success.’