Muscle Atrophy: The Possibility Of Survival On Planet Mars

Tina Cai

Sci-Fi Paper Synopsis As resources and habitability quickly dwindles from the planet Earth’s clutches, humans all over the globe look for the possibility of living in space. Desperate to avoid what they have caused to their animal counterparts, nations previously in competition work together to fashion technology capable of keeping the human race alive and thriving on a planet other than Earth. The countless successful robotic launches to Mars have provided enough information about the planet that scientists are fairly confident in human survival on planet Mars. In order to successfully transport as many people and resources to Mars as possible, aerospace engineers face problems such as physical space, resource storage, travel efficiency,

Humans begin to rapidly lose muscle mass due to the fact that space has zero gravity. Muscle loss in space is incredibly dangerous because it also means a reduction in physical strength, which may be necessary during dire emergencies. Humans are able to maintain muscle strength on Earth because they are constantly forced to withstand Earth’s gravitational pull, keeping muscles strong and intact. In a zero-gravity environment, the muscles no longer have to resist gravity (because there is none!). The result is loss in muscle mass. Humans can lose up to a fifth of their muscle mass in just a week in a zero-gravity environment such as space. The best solution to preventing this situation is intense and constant exercise. This means that people must be exercising for the majority of the time. For a large population space shuttle that may be traveling for a year, this would mean tens of thousands of exercise equipment to accommodate for the massive amount of people: the already gigantic space shuttle must be even larger. However, a new exercise technology can be made that conserves space and can be shared to prevent space shuttles from being larger than they already