What is the difference between the twin astronauts who spent the universe and the ground for one year?

By NASA

SpaceX, a space venture company led by Mr. Eulon MaskPresented plans to send people to Mars in interplanetary transportation system in the 2020sWe are finally seeing the era when human beings 'traveling the universe', such as doing. However, in the universe, many missions have been done so far, but it is not yet known what influence will be exerted on the human body when it comes to space travel. For this reason, NASA takes experimental data with twin astronauts on how the difference in life between the universe and the earth has on the human body.

First Look at Findings of NASA Twins Study | NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/how-stressful-will-a-trip-to-mars-be-on-the-human-body-we-now-have-a-peek-into-what-the-nasa


Twins Study | NASA
https://www.nasa.gov/twins-study

NASA'sHuman Research Program (HRP)What is being done in the astronautScott KellyMr. and former astronautMark · KellyIt is an experiment using a human body by Mr. twins. Mr. Scott spent one year in space from March 2015 to March 2016, during which Mr. Mark spent on the ground, submitting blood samples etc. respectively. The result of the preliminary survey was announced at the HRP workshop on January 23, 2017. By the way, as an apparent change, Mr. ScottHeight was extended by 5 cm at the time of returning to the earth, and it returned to the original in less than 2 daysIt is revealed that.

· Telomere & Telomerase
When a person gets older, the telomere at the end of the chromosome becomes shorter. However, it turned out that the length of the chromosome in the leukocyte collected from the blood of Scott was long as it was in the universe. Mr. Susan Bailey who did the research thinks that it is related to an increase in momentum and a decrease in caloric intake during the mission. However, it seems that the longer telomere has been shortened for returning to the earth.

Both Scott and Mr. in NovemberTelomerase activityThere was an interesting link that there was an increase that it increased.

· Biochemistry
When the gravity is in a microscopic environment like outer spaceBone mass decreasesIt is known to be. According to Mr. Scott Smith's investigation, Scott Kelly also saw a decline in bone formation in the second half of the mission.

In addition, the level of C-reactive protein known as a biochemical marker of the inflammatory response temporarily jumped right after landing, and it is thought that stress was applied during re-entry and landing.

The value of cortisol, a hormone produced in response to stress, was low throughout the year's mission. However, an increase in insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) was observed. IGF-1 is a hormone related to bones and muscles and is considered to be an influence of hard work of the mission.

· Microbiome (microbial phase of human body)
According to Mr. Fred · Turec, microbiome changes greatly in "different meals" and "different environments". As a result of investigating, Mr. Scott got up from the ground to outer space,FILMICTESWhenBacteroidesIt turned out that the proportion of the change was greatly changed. Moreover, when returning to the ground, this proportion returned to the original.

·gene
According to Mr. Chris Mason who investigated the DNA and RNA contained in leukocytes, there were hundreds of unique changes in the two genomic sequences due to normal mutation. RNA seems to have more than 200,000 different sequences. It is said that the "space gene" might be activated by Mr. Scott staying in space.

Andy Feinberg, who investigated how the environment coordinates our gene expression, is Scott's DNA in white blood cells,MethylationI confirmed that the level is decreasing. Although the gene which adjusts telomere is also included here, as mentioned above, Mr. Scott 's telomere has been lengthened in outer space, but it is restored after returning to the ground.

Mr. Mark 's methylation level on the ground increased at the midpoint of the study and returned at the end.

Based on these results of preliminary survey, NASA is going to conduct research so that astronauts can conduct future space exploration missions safely and efficiently.

By NASA