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Has anyone considered the effects of long term weightlessness on the long journey to mars? Are there any solutions to this problem? Can there be artificial gravity?
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Spinning the capsule will work, but that adds complication to the mission. A Mars mission is only a few months and as Mars has 1/3 of the gravity of Earth, if we flew there weighless,the effects won't be as bad as if they had've stayed on the Internation Space Station for the same time then returned to Earth. As there is like no research happening on the flight out (or is there?), astronauts could dedicate more time to exercise.
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I gather that one of the women astronauts at Mir or ISS--I think it was Resnick--insisted on sticking to a very rigorous exercise regimen and had relatively little trouble when she returned to Earth after six months or so. She said the biggest problem was that no one wanted to exercise enough (two hours a day or so). So exercise can greatly reduce the deterioration, especially of the flight is six months or so. A one year flight has other problems (cosmonauts have flown in space that long); people can't sleep well, for example. They're working on medications to reduce the effects of weightlessness and haven't had much success yet.
-- RobS
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