Scott Kelly Is Heading Back to Earth — Here's What NASA Might Discover

At the point when space traveler Scott Kelly returns to Earth following 340 days in space (nope, not an entire year!), his main goal is not over. He's going to end up NASA's own lab rodent the minute his feet touch the ground. Kelly's record-setting mission locally available the International Space Station was all part of an investigation to perceive to what extent length of time spaceflight influences the human body — so NASA can make sense of how to send people to Mars sometime in the not so distant future. Kelly has officially finished a few tests on the ISS, including pee tests, blood tests and microorganism swabs, yet NASA has significantly more information to gather when he gets back home.

The most fascinating part of this study is that Scott Kelly has a twin sibling, Mark Kelly, who has spent the most recent 340 days on Earth. NASA will have the capacity to straightforwardly look at the two siblings and make sense of how spaceflight changes the body and psyche. It'll even have the capacity to tell if spaceflight influences us on a hereditary level. This is what NASA plans to gain from the twin study.

 

1. Will space destroy our vision or make us weaker?

There's as of now proof that space explorers have vision issues after they come back to Earth. Researchers think this may be connected to changes in the weight of mind and spinal liquid. Kelly is nearly observing his vision and liquid weight, and researchers will keep on assessing it all the time after he grounds to check whether it comes back to typical.

Space explorers frequently lose bulk and bone thickness in microgravity. Kelly utilizes a treadmill and resistance-construct exercise machine with respect to the ISS consistently, and researchers will check whether this has had any effect in the measure of muscle and bone thickness misfortune.

He'll likewise have a few ultrasounds when he returns to Earth to check whether spaceflight has adjusted his courses and flow.

2. Will space change the way we think?

Specialists are trying whether long haul spaceflight impacts space explorers' engine aptitudes, capacity to perform straightforward psychological undertakings, and recollect things. They'll contrast Scott Kelly with his sibling and different space explorers who have flown shorter missions.

3. Will space change our microbiome?

The microbiome and gut microscopic organisms is a blasting range of exploration at this moment. Researchers have connected gut microorganisms to everything from weight reduction to inclination changes. Presently researchers need to know whether space changes our microbiome and if a few sorts of organisms are more defenseless than others.

4. Will space transform us on a hereditary level?

In a question and answer session on Feb. 25, Scott Kelly said this is the part of the twin study he finds generally intriguing. Both twins are having their whole genomes sequenced for the study — a choice that has raised some protection concerns.

Researchers will contrast the twins' qualities with track epigenetic changes (which qualities are exchanged on and off amid space go), to quantify any transformations. This will offer them some assistance with investigating how a space explorer's extraordinary genome may impact how their body reacts to delayed microgravity and how space travel influences the safe framework.

In the end, Scott Kelly will have an opportunity to rest and recuperate from his months in space, yet he has a bustling couple of weeks in front of him first.