A New Age of Exploration: From Earth to Mars Dava Newman, Sm
'89, PhD '92, Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics and
Engineering Systems Description: Happily for human spaceflight,
Dava Newman and her students enjoy working in such laboratories
as NASA's "Vomit Comet." Newman's work aims to provide a better
understanding of how humans can withstand the rigors of space
missions. Her decades studying human physiology and performance
in extreme environments may prove key not just to the success of
reaching Mars this century, but to improving the quality of life
for people disabled by disease or accident on Earth. Studies of
astronauts in flight, training on Earth, and on long engagements
at the International Space Station, reveal "significant
physiological deconditioning," Newman says. Microgravity
produces musculo"skeletal loss, especially in the vertebrae and
leg bones, as bipeds become "more like snakes, using a swimming
type of motion." Muscles also atrophy from 20"30%. It's possible
some of this loss co