In Preparation for Deep Space Missions, NASA Accepts Proposals for Investigating Astronaut Health

If NASA wants to conduct its Mars mission by 2030, it would be in their best interest to discover more about how astronauts can function that far away from Earth. On Tuesday, the space agency announced they will do just that.

NASA's Human Research Program (HRP) and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) will fund a total of 26 proposals that aim to explore and investigate questions about astronaut health and performance in deep space. The 26 proposals were selected out of 123 that were submitted to NASA.

The findings could help astronauts in their upcoming "Asteroid Redirect Mission" (ARM) in which they will send astronauts to a nearby asteroid via the Orion spacecraft. The Orion spacecraft will "capture" the asteroid and the astronauts will conduct spacewalks to collect samples and return them to the Earth for analysis by 2025.

"Our Asteroid Initiative is part of a stepping stone approach focused on meeting the President's bold challenge of sending humans to Mars in the 2030s," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden in this NASA news release. "The Asteroid Redirect Mission will help us develop technologies, including solar electric propulsion, needed for future deep space missions."

This stepping stone mission will help researchers and scientists obtain pertinent information for the risky, more serious Mars missions. It's important that they understand everything about astronaut health in deep space because NASA has yet to develop the technology to return those visiting to Mars back to Earth. The astronauts will most likely remain there for an extended period of time.

The Human Research Program is responsible for quantifying crew health and performance risk during spaceflight and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute is studying health risks related to long-duration spaceflight. They will both fund the 16 proposals, which were submitted from 16 institutions in eight states. A total of $17 million will be awarded during the one- to three-year study periods.