Cover by Elizabeth Gilfeather

We are Not Star Stuff

By James Keller

Carl Sagan once famously said “We are star stuff”,  but I disagree, for it seems that we are more Earth stuff than Star stuff. The moment one steps outside of Earth, the moment one leaves even the atmosphere, everything about us seems to fail, as the universe seems to make space as inhuman as possible.  

The moment one travels far enough from earth, the immediate danger becomes Radiation. The problem with Radiation in space is that it's constant, meaning unless one is inside a protecting magnetosphere, like Earth, they will be hit with a constant dosage of radiation. This constant stream of Space radiation is composed of either Solar Particular Events (SPEs), sporadic outbursts of massive amounts of radiation from the sun, or random highly energized particles (photons, electrons, ions etc) spewed from a place in the universe, Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR)(Dobynde et al). These two types of radiation makes long term spaceflight/extraterrestrial dwelling nearly impossible, since without sufficient radiation shielding, or even just an hour too long outside, the radiation dosage will approach levels that will kill, or seriously injure a person. This will happen not because of the exposure, or the rate at which radiation attacks a person, it’s the effective dose, in Sieverts, that's the most dangerous (EPA). The effective dose measures how much absorbed radiation is needed to cause harm, which means a certain amount of radiation over any time is always harmful(EPA). The dosage of radiation needed to harm someone isn't very much, as it could be just one ionized particle, or  it could be 20 sieverts over some time (U.S.N.R.C). For a 3 year trip to Mars, the dosage is about 1 sievert, and while this isn’t deadly, it could still induce sickness. Anything longer would result in a larger dose, thus increasing the chance of a serious injury.  

The majority of radiation damage happens as it slices through cells in the body and breaks them down, specifically DNA. The mass breakdown of DNA and its repair mechanisms can lead to autophagy and radiation burns, both of which imply necrosis (mass death of tissue), as well as  cancers---specifically lymphomas--- since the white blood cells are some of the first to die (Chancellor, Jeffery C et al). Other, though also major, health issues are damage to quiescent neurons, which affects CNS functionality and neuroplasticity, as well as damage to the cardiovascular system (Furukawa, Satoshi, et al).  These effects could be minimized with radiation shielding, but over a long period of time it would make no difference, as the radiation passing through the shielding will still be enough to cause harm. One day it might be possible for one to use CRISPR, to gene edit themselves into becoming radiation resistant, much like a D. radiodurans. However, unlike bacteria, we never developed gene editing, which means nobody knows what will happen to the body if such a marco change occurred, such as radiation proofing all parts of the body. Moreover, the reason why we are not radiation resistant is because Earth does that for us, as it provides this protective wall that keeps all life safe. But even if one could swap genes like pokemon cards, the problem of space travel wouldn’t end with radiation.  

Our musculoskeletal system largely depends on mechanical loading, or the amount of physical stress placed upon the musculoskeletal system.  For everyone on Earth, the constant downward pull of gravity is the mechanical loading, as it places a near constant stress on the body. However, once the Gravity becomes really weak, or within microgravity, the mechanical loading of the musculoskeletal system decreases, and as a result Bone loss and muscle atrophy occur, since the body no longer needs all that mass to survive (Juhl, O.J., Buettmann, E.G., Friedman, M.A. et al). This atrophy is decently quick, outpacing the bone loss and muscle atrophy of age, or about 1-2% bone loss a month (ESA). In addition 10-20% muscle loss has been witnessed on a short space mission (ESA). For long-term space flight, or even staying for extended time on the Moon or Mars, astronauts will experience extensive muscle atrophy, some experiencing up to 50% muscle atrophy (ESA). This will affect their ability to perform tasks, such as undergoing spacewalks and fixing equipment, while increasing their chances of injury, as they won’t have the same mechanical capacity anymore (Juhl, O.J., Buettmann, E.G., Friedman, M.A. et a). However, even upon return to earth, these effects don’t immediately turn around, as seen with the NASA twin experiment with Scott Kelly. For this experiment, NASA took twin astronauts Scott Kelly and his brother, and left Scott in space for a year, while his brother remained as the control on earth. During which, NASA found a myriad of effects  associated with being in space for a long time, some more severe than others. Most severely, due to the microgravity and space radiation---which was minimized during the experiment---- were significant genetic abnormalities,  significant changes to vascular physiology, and ocular structure, in addition to the body mass depletion. These effects persisted on Earth, and took him months to fully recover and  feel normal again.   These results mean space travel will always pose a risk to any astronaut trying to land near or on a large gravitational body, as the body might atrophy too much on the flight there, since it may not be able to handle the g-forces anymore  (TLöbrich, Markus, and Penny A. Jeggo). However, there are possible countermeasures, such as bone loss medication and anabolics for muscles, or possibly even artificial gravity, which would negate the effects of microgravity, as they would counteract the deterioration of muscle/bone in space .However, even if one could be in space all juiced up, both radiation and microgravity resistant, the problems would not not end here.   

Space is very large, uncomprehendingly large. A trip from Earth to Mars is about 6-8 months depending on the relative distance of Earth and Mars. A Trip to Jupiter or Saturn, or beyond,  would then be about 6-8 years, to decades, assuming no constant acceleration. This means, for a deep space mission, or even spending extended time on a planet with no habitable atmosphere, people will spend much of their time confined within a small space. This doesn't mean that space is inherently bad for our mental health, but what does mean is that “Earthbound issues”, the mental health affects every person in the world, may become amplified in space. Such behavior has been seen in various ways, such as when the Soviets had to bring some astronauts back to Earth early because they smelled a smell which didn’t exist, or per Harry Hatfield Junior when they had to lock the hatch, because one astronaut became obsessed with it (Löbrich, Markus, and Penny A. Jeggo)  The mental health effects of space is still an emerging discipline, because people haven’t interacted with space long enough to see what happens.  No-one has ever been millions of miles from the nearest settlement or person before, and no-one has had to spend extended time in an inescapable container where if something goes wrong it's over, as there is no resurfacing. Moreover, Astronauts may encounter new mental health issues no-one knew existed before, perhaps even amplify known ones. In all, Space is very large, which implies the travel will be very long and, due to the conditions, the question of whether people can handle such boredom and tediousness, something people are not evolved to do, is still unanswered, and may not be answered the way people expect.  

Clearly, any long term travel in space will propose a momentous challenge for anyone who embarks on that adventure; whether it be from Radiation, microgravity, or our own minds, the journey will break people down. However, despite these challenges,  interest in space is skyrocketing, whether it be from SpaceX, some other billionaire’s “life goal”, or NASA’s Mars missions, forging an inevitable path into long term space travel. Partly this is due to the potential of generating massive amounts of wealth from space, currently 350 billion, possibly 1 trillion by 2040 (Space: Investing in the Final Frontier). Though, those numbers are mostly composed of satellite and broadband profits; however  If one could find a way to mine the asteroid belts, or make colonies, their wealth/power could increase exponentially, as they would have access to limitless money/resources. Elon Musk for example wants to land humans on Mars by 2026, 2024 if lucky (CNBC). The trip to Mars is possible, but it is still pushing the limit of what people can handle in space . Even upon arriving on Mars Astronauts will still have to deal with the same problems as on the journey, as Mars has no radiation barrier like Earth, and its gravity is decently less than Earth’s, which means microgravity problems will still persist. But the question remains; why must we go to Mars?  Even for Researchers, what can be done on Mars that can’t be done on Earth. Earth is the perfect place for humans to live and flourish, as it’s where we were evolved to live. We can’t survive the Radiation in outer space, or keep our muscles from atrophying, because our bones and cells are Earth stuff, designed to handle most of what Earth could throw at us. Yet, we’re destroying the only place where people can live naturally, as physics intended. An Escape to Mars won’t change what we are, because at the end of the day Human physiology is evolved for Earth. Yet, this place we call home is becoming like Mars, due to our own negligence, we’re destroying our radiation protection (Ozone), and we’re creating inhumane habitats, such as by turning our atmosphere into CO2. Yet, there seems to be more invested interest from governments to get to Mars, than to actually save the one place, the place which we’re made of. 

In all Space isn’t the “final Frontier”, some adventure story, where someone finds a ship and just starts sailing, it’s more akin to a massive middle finger to the universe itself, as Space is the harshest possible environment for people to live in, both mentally and physically. Having designed people mostly perfect for the niche, Earth, until the sun devours her, will always be the perfect place for people to live. People may escape to space, use ulta-advance technologies to simulate the perfect living environment, but Nature has already done that for us---it’s right here, out your window. At the end of it all, We are Earth Stuff, designed purely for Earth and her environment. If we were star stuff we could float among the galaxies like stars, till infinity, but in reality the only place which won’t be constantly trying to kill is here, Earth.