Humans taking the 40 million mile trip to Mars may age faster than people remaining on Earth, according to scientists, who are hunting for a way to stop it happening.
Experts from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, will study the first all civilian crew to visit the International Space Station next month, before and after their trip.
They are looking for early signs of senescence, a process where a cell ages and stops dividing, but doesn’t die, so builds up in tissue throughout the body.
While the crew’s 10-day jaunt to the International Space Station won’t pose a serious threat of senescence, it is hoped that spotting early signs could help in longer haul trips.
The Axiom Mission 1 will send former NASA astronaut and Axiom vice president Michael López-Alegría to space as commander, alongside three others
Experts from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, will study the first all civilian crew to visit the International Space Station next month, before and after their trip (Stock image)
‘If we see senescence under these conditions, we would want to do some work in preparation for a longer mission,’ study lead Dr James Kirkland told The Telegraph.
NASA and China hope to send astronauts on the 40 million mile journey to Mars in the 2030s, and Elon Musk is confident of reaching the Red Planet this decade.
At the end of February, Axiom space will take a crew of four civilian astronauts to the International Space Station in a chartered SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
The Axiom Mission 1 will send former NASA astronaut and Axiom vice president Michael López-Alegría to space as commander, alongside three others.
They are US-based entrepreneur and non-profit activist investor Larry Connor as pilot, alongside Canadian investor and philanthropist Mark Pathy, and impact investor and philanthropist Eytan Stibbe of Israel.
The Mayo Clinic team will take blood and urine samples from the four members of the civilian crew, and hunt for signs of senescence.
The goal is to find out whether routine spaceflight is linked to cell senescence, and if it is, that would require further intervention before anyone launches for Mars.
The ISS sits within the Van Allen belt, a protective magnetic bubble surrounding the Earth, that reduces the impact of solar radiation.
This means that travellers to the ISS should be protected from the worst impact of spaceflight, in a way a crew going to Mars may not be.
‘This flight will give us an idea of whether routine spaceflight, without even going beyond the Van Allen belt, is associated with cell senescence,’ Dr Kirkland said.
‘If we see senescence even under these conditions, we would certainly want to do some work in preparation for a longer mission. Something will have to be worked out before or longer before interplanetary flights are really feasible.’
Earlier studies revealed that those travelling to the Moon were five times more likely to die from heart disease, than astronauts only going to the ISS in low Earth orbit.
When humans get older, cells inside the body enter a state known as senescence, which makes them neither alive nor dead, according to the Mayo Clinic team.
This state stops the body from replacing non-functioning cells, with them building up over time, pumping out chemicals that increase inflammation.
The Mayo Clinic team will take blood and urine samples from the four members of the civilian crew, and hunt for signs of senescence
While the crew’s ten day jaunt to the International Space Station won’t pose a serious threat of senescence, its hoped spotting early signs can help in longer haul trips
They’re important in youth as they cluster around injuries to signal to the immune system where damage needs repairing. They are cleared away after youth when someone is still young, but as people age the ability to sweep them away is lost.
When cells are under stress, they deform, which causes senescence – this includes conditions of high levels of radiation or zero gravity.
According to the team, low gravity conditions changes the shape of a cell, and high G-forces, including during take off, add to DNA cellular senescence.
‘The crew on the ISS will be inside the Van Allen belt but the real worry is what’s going to happen if there is a Mars mission, and if there is a solar flare, because then you’re dealing with atomic radiation,’ Dr Kirkland told The Telegraph.
‘We’ve found in preliminary studies very low doses of atomic radiation can drive a cell into senescence at much lower levels than x-rays or gamma rays.
‘And, with atomic radiation, it could pass right through the spacecraft: it’s hard to stop. So if there’s a Mars mission this could really be a major problem.
‘I’m a physician, not a space scientist, so my view is biased, but I’d say the health problem is pretty darn bad, and I’m very worried after what I’ve seen.’
As well as testing on the crew themselves, Mayo Clinic experts are sending isolated human cells in a pre-senescent state in incubators – designed to see if the ISS conditions push them into early dormancy.
NASA and China hope to send astronauts on the 40 million mile journey to Mars in the 2030s, and Elon Musk is confident of reaching the Red Planet this decade. NASA Artemis astronauts, pictured, one of whom may visit Mars in the future
‘The cells are on the verge of senescence, and we want to see if zero gravity, plus G forces and a high carbon dioxide atmosphere in the capsule plus the radiation will drive human cultured cells that are pre-senescent into a state of senescence. We’ll have similar control cells back on Earth,’ the team explained.
If they do find spaceflight causes cellular ageing, it isn’t the end of the road for Mars trips, according to the authors, who say there are multiple clinical trials under way in drugs that may fight the process.
These drugs, known as senolytics, can improve the physical function in people suffering from diseases caused by cell senescence.