Astronaut's Health Risks Essay Example

📌Category: Health, Science, Space
📌Words: 450
📌Pages: 2
📌Published: 19 April 2022

Did you know that staying in space for a long period can result in serious risks? Astronauts in space are more exposed to diverse and higher doses of radiation than those on earth. When NASA plans a mission, the agency uses a radiation exposure cap to determine how long astronauts can stay in space (Rao,2021). Every day a low level of radiation is being exposed to the earth. Therefore, I will start to discuss the problem of space radiation and how harmful it is. Secondly, I will begin to tell what the effects are. Lastly, I will provide the solution. 

Radiation is a form of energy that is produced or transferred in the form of rays, electromagnetic waves, and particles. Space radiation is made up of 3 kinds of radiation: particles trapped in the earth's magnetic field; particles shot into space during solar flares (solar particle events) galactic cosmic rays (Perez,2019). Space radiation is consists of low levels of heavy charged particles. Protons and charged particles with high energies can harm both shielding materials and biological systems. 

Space radiation is one of the prime health threats to space travel. It has sufficient energy to change or break DNA molecules, which can damage or kill a cell. It can lead to health problems ranging from low to long-term effects (Government of Canada,2006). The consequences of Space Radiation on the human body are changes in the blood, cancer, damage in the heart, Central nervous system damage, or death.  

Researchers have investigated potential ways to protect astronauts. Antioxidant diet, including dairy products, green vegetables such as spinach. New research methods, such as organ-on-a-chip testing technologies. We need to develop human-based tissue platforms, such as heart-on-a-chip systems, that can simulate human disease outside of the human body. Unravel the mechanisms at play in space radiation-induced cardiovascular condition, said Hjortnaes (Dijkstra, 2021). Consequently, the total amount of radiation experienced and associated health risks may increase. NASA is developing new radiation detectors to monitor and characterize the radiation environment, which will provide better estimates of the dose and type of radiation to which the crews are exposed (2021). 

NASA is developing new radiation detectors to monitor and characterize the radiation environment, which will provide better estimates of the dose and type of radiation to which the crews are exposed. Scientists and engineers are optimizing and implementing operational procedures that use available vehicle stowage and materials to reduce radiation exposure effectively. To investigate the health risks of space radiation exposure beyond low-Earth orbit, NASA supports research that analyzes the biological effects of simulated cosmic rays at ground-based research facilities. Research at these facilities helps NASA understand and reduce the risk of space radiation, ensure proper measurement of the doses that astronauts receive on the space station and in future spacecraft, and develop advanced materials that improve radiation shielding for future missions. Studies of radiation-exposed human cohorts are also being conducted to estimate the health risks in populations relevant to astronauts.

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