Gaby
NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is gearing up to send its first crewed mission to Mars as early as 2029. Billionaire engineer and entrepreneur Elon Musk is one of the figures pushing the dream of reaching the Red Planet.
Meanwhile, scientists are sounding the alarm. They warn that missions to Mars could cause irreversible kidney damage in astronauts, a risk highlighted in reporting by the Daily Mail. The study’s authors are researchers from 40 institutions worldwide, led by University College London (UCL).
What Researchers Discovered
First, the team examined the health impacts of space travel on 24 astronauts who had been to the Moon. The results showed that many of them experienced significant changes to their kidneys. Some astronauts developed kidney stones and may have needed dialysis after returning.
Scientists have known since the 1960s that spaceflight can cause certain health problems for astronauts—ever since humans first ventured beyond Earth’s magnetic field. The most famous milestone from that era was the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969.
Researchers already knew that space travelers regularly face bone loss, heart and vision problems, and the development of kidney stones.
Many of these problems are thought to come from exposure to cosmic radiation, including solar particle events and galactic cosmic radiation (GCR), from which Earth’s magnetic field normally offers protection.
Because most crewed flights occur in low Earth orbit and get partial shielding from Earth’s magnetic field, only 24 people who traveled to the Moon experienced full exposure to GCR for short periods (about 6–12 days). No one has yet studied how kidneys and other organs respond to extended periods beyond Earth’s magnetic field.
Now, a large research team has run experiments and analyses to see how kidneys respond to that kind of spaceflight.
Ultimately, the study’s authors wrote, “The most concerning finding, at least for any astronaut planning a trip to Mars, is that after 2.5 years of radiation exposure simulating GCR, the kidneys of mice suffered irreversible damage and loss of function.”
But most astronauts spent only 6 to 12 days on their Moon missions. By contrast, eight years of exposure to galactic radiation during a Mars mission (four years for each leg of the journey) could produce far worse kidney problems.
Without new drugs to protect astronauts’ kidneys, a mission to the Red Planet could pose serious health risks for the crew.
Dr. Keith Siu, the study’s lead author, said, “If we don’t develop new ways to protect the kidneys, astronauts on the return journey may require dialysis.”
“We know that kidneys do not immediately show signs of radiation damage; by the time it becomes apparent, it may already be too late,” he added.
The results of the study were published in the journal Nature Communications.
