"Anemia in space" may affect astronauts on long-term missions

BEIJING, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- Canadian researchers have found that even after a long time back to Earth, astronauts' symptoms of "space anemia" are still difficult to eliminate, which is different from previous cognition. In addition, the problem of "anemia in space" may prevent astronauts from performing long-term space missions with the moon or Mars as the destination.

According to the Reuters website reported on the 15th, researchers at the University of Ottawa in Canada came to the above conclusions after analyzing the blood and other samples of 14 astronauts, and the research report was published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Medicine. The 14 astronauts all stayed on the International Space Station for six consecutive months and kept research samples during their mission.

Lead researcher Guy Trudel said that as soon as astronauts entered space, more red blood cells were "destroyed" in their bodies, a condition that continued during their stay in space.

The equipment used by Armstrong and other astronauts to land on the moon is displayed at the U.S. Air Force National Museum Space Museum in Dayton, Ohio, U.S.A., on July 24, 2019. (Photo by Zhang Fengguo, Xinhua News Agency)

On Earth, nearly 2 million red blood cells are destroyed every second, while an equal amount of red blood cells are being born at the same time. The research team led by Trudel found that astronauts can destroy up to 3 million red blood cells per second during their lives in space, and they also regenerate red blood cells. But they don't know how long the body's ability to compensate for the extra loss of red blood cells in space with newborn red blood cells lasts.

If astronauts need to live in space for a long time, for example, on a mission to Mars, and can't produce a sufficient number of newborn red blood cells, Then astronauts are "in big trouble," Truder said.

He said the scarcity of red blood cells is not a big problem in weightless environments, but once returned to Earth or landed on another planet, anemia can affect astronauts' energy, endurance and strength. The researchers found that a year after returning to Earth from space, the astronauts' levels of red blood cells loss were still high and did not return to the levels they had before they left for a mission into space.

Astronauts, both men and women, will have the problem of "space anemia" after going to space. A previous NASA study suggested that "anemia in space" would disappear shortly after astronauts returned to Earth, but it was a "15-day minor illness." (Yuan Yuan)