Can your kidneys make it to Mars and back?

Illustration of astronaut walking on Mars towards Earth - Scientists at UCL will examine what impact spaceflight has on the health of kidneys, as part of a unique collaboration with researchers at KBR and NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, California, supported by funding from the UK Space Agency. In returning astronauts there have been more than 30 reports of kidney stones, a painful and debilitating condition, though until now there has been little research into why this occurs. With speculation that years-long passenger flights to Mars are just five years away, it is becoming increasingly important to improve our understanding of how sustained exposure to weightlessness and cosmic radiation, affects health, and in particular organ function. Lead researcher Dr Stephen B Walsh, Associate Professor in the Department of Renal Medicine, UCL Division of Medicine, said: "Should humans travel to Mars, they will be exposed to far greater and more intense levels of Galactic Cosmic Radiation, subjecting every cell in the body to a mixture of hard gamma radiation and exotic particles. "The effects could be devasting: while many organs can withstand some radiation, the kidney is one of the most sensitive to radiation, therefore the impact of an almost two-year long mission into deep space could be catastrophic, leading to a dramatic decline in function.