It is nearly 50 years since Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. The historic moments were captured on camera and beamed live into an estimated 600 million homes around the world, the largest TV audience ever at the time.
The distorted audio of his first faltering words – “that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” – have become one of the best-known quotes in history.
The landing marked the pinnacle of the space race, which began on 2 August 1955, when the Soviet Union responded to a US announcement that it intended to launch artificial satellites by declaring they would also launch a satellite “in the near future”.
While a latter-day rerun of the space race seems far-fetched, recent months have ushered in a renewed interest in exploring the universe. Donald Trump announced he would like to see US astronauts walk on Mars in his presidency, while Vladimir Putin has confirmed that work in Russia is underway to develop reusable rockets for space travel.
However, while the public focus of launching rockets into space is often a distant moon or planet, some of the most ground-breaking work done on these missions looks not to outer space, but to the inside of our bodies.
“It is a really big focus for us. We have four main types of research – human (or medical), biology, physics and technology. The medical projects take up most of the time, because for the other areas of research they tend to just have to press ‘start’ on the experiment and it will run its course,” says Professor Jennifer Ngo-Anh, Head of Human Research Office at the European Space Agency (ESA). “However, for the human research, we ask the astronauts to experiment on themselves. They get in-depth training and know exactly what to do, but it still takes a lot more time than other areas of research.”
Medical experiments
She explains that on a trip to the International Space Station – which is 400km high and takes 90 minutes to orbit the earth – an astronaut may take part in up to 50 medical research experiments.
“With our research in space we want to advance knowledge on earth,” says Professor Ngo-Anh. “The astronauts are fully aware of what to do and get a detailed explanation. They don’t have to participate in everything we ask them to do; however, we do ask them to participate in as much as they can.
They also perform the experiments on the ground to get baseline data, before carrying out the experiment in space.”
With so many different medical research projects being undertaken, which does Professor Ngo-Anh think could have the biggest impact? “We don’t have a particular experiment that we are expecting to get the Nobel prize, but all the experiments have provided us with interesting results.”
She cites an example of research carried out in space having a tangible impact on the ground. “Years ago, there was an experiment which used laser technology to look at certain parts of the eye. That experiment ran for five years and afterwards and it led to the technology being developed and is now used for eye refractive surgery.”
Logistics in space
Five years may seem like a long time for an experiment to run, but the logistics of carrying out research in space throw up unique challenges. “It takes a lot of time for research projects to be completed – it can easily take a decade until enough astronauts have taken part in an experiment for the research to have a large enough sample size,” says Professor Ngo-Anh. “Before scientists start an experiment with us, we make very clear that it is not like a normal lab experiment where they can have it all finished in one or two years.”
However, they don’t always take a decade. For example, at present ESA astronauts are taking part in the Airway Monitoring experiment, which looks at inflammation in lungs. The experiment began with ESA astronaut Samantha Cristofretti’s 2015 mission and measurements have since been gathered by six astronauts, including the UK’s Tim Peake (pictured right). Four more astronauts are due to conduct the experiment this year and data collection should be concluded by February 2018.
Among the main areas of human and medical research are muscle and cardiovascular health. Two areas of particular interest at present are the impact of long periods of bed rest (“when patients are in bed on earth, they are undergoing the same processes as astronauts in space with their muscles underutilised”) and analysing the ageing process (“astronauts age much faster due to microgravity, so that’s something very interesting for us”).
Budgets and funding
This vast array of research does not come cheap, with the ESA’s space science budget for this year totalling more than €500m for 2017. This is almost half the amount budgeted for launches, and four times more than the agency will spend on technology support.
Across the Atlantic, the expense of the research could be a major barrier for progress, with President Donald Trump slashing research budgets – the Environmental Protection Agency’s has already been cut by 31% and the National Institutes for Health has lost 20%. Also, a proposed cut of 18% for biomedical research is currently making its way through Congress.
However, NASA has only shaved 1% off its budget, and speaking about his ambitions to send a crewed mission to Mars, President Trump said: “Well, we want to try and do it during my first term or, at worst, during my second term.”
Professor Jeffrey P Sutton, President of the US National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) tells The Biomedical Scientist he thinks the President’s proposed timeframe is optimistic. “How about 2040?” he says. “It is very difficult to predict when this may take place. Much of the rocket science and technical expertise exists right now, although there is clearly limited experience of sending humans beyond low-Earth orbit. It will be risky and collectively the international community is relatively risk averse at this time.”
He adds: “It will also be costly and require strong national leadership, vision and commitment to truly support and sustain such a bold endeavour. International collaboration will be a definite asset, and geopolitical factors are inherently unpredictable.”
Earth-based benefits
However, for a human to set foot on Mars is not the NSBRI’s primary aim.
“The most important aim is to lead a national effort for accomplishing the biomedical research necessary to support the long-term human presence, development and exploration of space,” says Professor Sutton.
“In this regard, NSBRI plays a key pathfinder role for NASA in leveraging America’s investment in biomedical research and bringing exceptional new investigators, institutions, resources and approaches toward mitigating high-priority risks associated with human space exploration. Another important aim of NSBRI is to apply the resultant advances in knowledge and technology to enhance life on Earth.”
He goes on to explain that the vast majority of projects supported by NSBRI have “Earth-based benefit”, in particular the Space Medical and Related Technologies Commercialisation Assistance Programme. “This focuses on small companies that develop and deliver products that have dual uses for health in space and on Earth.”
Current work includes the testing of radiation protectants, which is hoped to benefit astronauts in space and oncology patients on earth. It involves creating uniquely formulated isoflavone – derived from soy – as a genomic stabiliser of healthy tissues exposed to medical radiation received during cancer therapy or from diagnostic procedures such at computed tomography scans.
As well as mitigating the debilitating gastrointestinal side-effects of commonly used oncology treatments, it could also be a countermeasure against radiation astronauts are exposed to – the number one health risk facing humans travelling in deep space.
Make the impossible possible
On the most exciting areas of biomedical research being conducted in space, Professor Sutton says there are “many areas that are exciting and require new innovative approaches to address some of the most interesting scientific and technical challenges of our time”. Alongside radiation countermeasures, he lists optimisation of cognitive and behavioural conditions, ensuring long-term storage and stability of medications, understanding the microgravity-associated ocular syndrome, and advances in human-system interaction design, among others.
“Space travel, whether robotic or crewed, is part of our collective destiny,” he says. “It has and will continue to span multiple administrations of leadership and typically garners support across party lines. It is hard to know ahead of time what a particular administration might emphasise. However, there is no shortage of work that must be done if we are to push the frontier of what is possible.”
While we may not be ready to send a manned mission to Mars yet, Professor Sutton believes these major milestones are important: “A human landing on Mars – that makes the seemingly impossible possible.” Along the way, a raft of biomedical research will aim at both keeping astronauts safe in space and improving the health of people hundreds of miles below on Earth.