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Space anemia is tied to being in the void and can stick around awhile
Space isn’t easy on humans. Some aspects are avoidable—the vacuum, of course, and the cold, as well as some of the radiation. Astronauts can also lose bone density, thanks to a lack of gravity. NASA has even created a fun acronym for the issues: RIDGE, which stands for space radiation, isolation and confinement, distance from Earth, gravity fields, and hostile and closed environments.
New research adds to the worries by describing how being in space destroys your blood. Or rather, something about space—and we don’t know what just yet—causes the human body to perform hemolysis at a higher rate than back on Earth. //
The team’s results showed that in space, the astronauts’ bodies destroyed around 3 million red blood cells every second. This is 54 percent higher than what happens in human bodies on Earth, where the rate is 2 million every second. //
It’s also uncertain how long a person in space can continue to destroy 54 percent more red blood cells than their Earth-bound kin. “We don’t have data beyond six months. There’s a knowledge gap for longer missions, for one-year missions, or missions to the Moon or Mars or other bodies,” he said.
Considering the looming possibility (or reality, if you’re a billionaire or aging Star Trek actor) of space tourism, Trudel’s research could pose a warning for some would-be space-farers. People with heart problems, angina, abnormal hemoglobin levels, or a propensity for blood clots might be at risk for complications out in the void, he said. The work may also help us learn about space injuries—a body’s ability to heal a cut might be affected by this shift in red blood cells.