Nasa warns Mars colonists risk silent killer, kidney damage, disease breakouts

Deadly space radiation and rapid outbreaks of disease are just a few of the official Nasa dangers that visitors to Mars will face.The space agency holds a list of “five hazards of human spaceflight” that puts astronauts traveling to the space station, the Moon and even the red planet at risk.Nasa is already working on returning humans to the surface of the Moon – and Mars is the obvious next stop.But Nasa’s Human Research Program has warned that these space-faring pioneers will face dangerous and potentially deadly threats.Worse still, Nasa warns these dangers “can feed off one another and exacerbate effects on the human body”.”Recognizing these hazards allows NASA to seek ways that overcome the challenges of sending humans to the space station, the Moon, Mars, and beyond,” NASA said.Space radiation is a serious risk to anyone spending a long time away from Earth.”Invisible to the human eye, space radiation is not only stealthy but considered one of the most hazardous aspects of spaceflight,” Nasa warns.When you’re on Earth, you’re protected by its magnetic field and atmosphere.But when you go into space, you’re at risk from ionizing radiation – and are no longer shielded like you would be on Earth.You can’t see or feel it, but Nasa warns that the effects of this “silent hazard” are very real.If you spend around six months in space, Nasa says your body will be exposed to roughly the same amount of radiation as having 1,000 chest X-rays.This puts you at increased risk of developing cancer, but Nasa warns that it can also lead to “central nervous system damage, bone loss, and some cardiovascular diseases”.While you’re being blasted with space radiation, you’ll have to take on another difficulty: being a human.For a start, you’ll be isolated from everyone back home.On the space station, you can communicate with Earth – but you’ll be away from loved ones for a long time. If you head to the red planet, it’s far worse.”On Earth, we have the luxury of picking up our cell phones and instantly being connected with almost everything and everyone around us,” Nasa explained.”On a trip to Mars, astronauts will be more isolated and confined than we can imagine.”Sleep loss, circadian desynchronization, and work overload compound this issue and may lead to decreased performance, adverse health outcomes, and compromised mission objectives.”Distance from Earth isn’t just bad in terms of isolation – but also in mission planning.It takes a very long time to get humans over to and back from Mars. Communications will also take a very long time.If you’ve ever played an online game with high latency or been on a Zoom call with a delay, know that visiting Mars would be so much worse.Unless you’re a scientist or apples are regularly falling on your head, you probably rarely think about gravity.But astronauts will have to face not one but three different gravitational challenges on their Martian trip.Firstly, they’ll have to adjust to weightlessness on the long space-trek to Mars, which could take around six months.When you’re on a spacecraft, Nasa will do its best to keep it closed off from the hostile outside world.That’s very handy, as there are many things in space (and on Mars) that could kill you.But by keeping astronauts confined in small and closed-off spaces, there are other risks that can appear.