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Designing for Whole-Body Anatomy and Function
Published in Karen L. LaBat, Karen S. Ryan, Human Body, 2019
The Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) space suit acts as the ultimate mediating variable between the body and the environment (refer to Chapter 1, Section 1.1). A space suit serves total body survival needs in an extremely hostile environment. The astronaut’s need for healthy function of the body systems is the same in space as on Earth. The space environment, however, is very different from Earth’s environment. There are physiological hazards—no oxygen for respiration, no atmospheric pressure in the vacuum of space, dramatically reduced gravitational forces, extreme exposure to UV radiation from the sun, and vast temperature variations (Watkins, 2005). Space exploration requires Earth-like environments inside the spacecraft and inside the EVA space suit to sustain human body systems. Technical reports from the early days of space suit design describe developers’ predictions of how the human body would function in space, and detailed information on the strategies they proposed to prevent negative effects of space flight (Annis & Webb, 1971; Webb & Annis, 1967).
Why Human Enhancement is Necessary for Successful Human Deep-space Missions
Published in The New Bioethics, 2019
Konrad Szocik, Martin Braddock
The shielding wall for the ISS is a maximum of 20 g/cm2, while for spacecraft it is 5 g/cm2. 5–7 cm of shielding for walls offers only 30–35% of protection against radiation (Space Radiation). Adding extra shielding materials not only increases the mass of the spacecraft, but it does not necessarily lead to an increase in overall radioprotection (Slaba et al. 2017). One of reasons is that a higher shielding mass presents a larger target for GCR interaction and the production of secondary particles (Durante 2014). For this reason, the use of materials currently available during space missions for shielding such as water or organic waste is proposed in a wearable radiation protection space suit designed to protect the astronaut’s vital organs (Vuolo et al. 2017). However, such a space suit is currently envisaged for emergencies only and even if this shelter protects sufficiently against radiation, there are still unavoidable activities beyond shelter where an astronaut is exposed to higher radiation dose (Baiocco et al. 2018), for example astronauts will have to leave the shelter to repair and/or restart computer systems in spacecraft or to prepare habitats on the Moon and/or Mars. As some estimations show, the total mass of the space habitat would have to grow on extra 2548 kg to offer level of protection provided by specially prepared spacesuit (Vuolo et al. 2017).