Experiments Show 'Artificial Gravity' Can Prevent Muscle Loss In Space
Thursday, July 23, 2009 - 01:14
in Physics & Chemistry
Researchers have conducted the first human experiments using a device intended to counteract the muscle-wasting effect of long periods in weightlessness -- a NASA centrifuge that spins a test subject with feet outward to create a force two and a half times that of gravity. Working with volunteers kept in bed for three weeks to simulate zero-gravity conditions, they found that just one hour a day on the centrifuge was sufficient to restore muscle synthesis.