Flights to Mars may harm your spine, according to Five Thirty Eight.
Here are four things to know:
1. Lumbar spine fractures are one of the most likely conditions to occur during spaceflight to Mars.
2. Permanent vision problems such as visual impairment and intracranial pressure impact humans who have been in space for longer than six months. NASA is currently investigating whether cerebrospinal fluid plays a role in vision degeneration in space.
3. A recent study published in Spine found that astronauts' paraspinal lean muscle mass decreased from 86 percent of the total paraspinal muscle cross-sectional area to 72 percent right after the mission.
4. Elon Musk's SpaceX hopes to send people to Mars by 2024, according to Fortune. NASA, on the other hand, hopes to put humans on Mars in the 2030s, according to Five Thirty Eight.
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