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How Will Martian Gravity Affect Skeletal Muscle?

NASA and the China National Space Agency (CNSA) plan to send astronauts to Mars as early as the next decade. Naturally, this ambitious goal requires a great deal of planning, research, and the anticipation and preparation for all potential challenges in advance. Among them, astronaut health and safety are paramount. In addition to the hazards associated with the long transit times – radiation and the effects of long periods in microgravity – there’s the issue of Mars itself. Aside from exposure to elevated radiation levels, Martian gravity is about 38% of Earth’s.

This has the potential to lead to long-term health risks. An international team of researchers is currently studying how Martian gravity will affect a key aspect of human health: skeletal muscle. This muscle, which is the most abundant tissue in the human body (accounting for more than 40% of total body mass), is essential to movement and metabolic health. What’s more, this tissue is especially sensitive, and lower gravity could potentially result in the substantial loss of muscle strength, size, and performance. It is therefore important to determine how this muscle tissue will fare in the Martian environment.

The research team was composed of scientists from the Institute of Medicine at the University of Tsukuba, Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization, the Advanced Research Center for Innovations in Next-GEneration Medicine (INGEM), the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Space Environment Utilization Center, and multiple universities. The results of their research appeared in the journal Science Advances

*Experiments aboard the International Space Station with mice showed that muscle atrophy can be mitigated and prevented in lower gravity. Credit: NASA/ESA–T. Pesquet*

For their experiment, the team studied how lower gravity affected skeletal muscle tissue in 24 mice sent to JAXA’s Kibo experimental module. These mice were then placed in a JAXA-developed centrifuge device called the Multiple Artificial-gravity Research System (MARS), where they were subjected to four different levels of gravity – microgravity, 0.33 g, 0.67 g, and 1 g – over a 28-day period. The mice were subjected to pre-flight testing before launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where they were returned for post-flight sampling.

These samples were then examined by scientists at the Metabolism and Muscle Biology Lab in the Department of Nutrition at the University of Rhode Island (URI). As Professor Marie Mortreux, who leads the MMBL, attested in a Rhoby Today news story:

While we can simulate spaceflight on Earth in humans, it’s extremely complicated and costly. We have centrifuges that can be used to temporarily expose humans to certain gravity levels, but it is not homogeneous nor constant. We used gravity levels that were equally separated, to have a better picture of the dose-response of each system to gravity. The test group that was exposed to 0.33g was extremely close to Martian gravity (0.38g). Our findings for that group can be translated into actions to enable Mars exploration.

Mortreux and her team analyzed the weight, strength, and movement of the mice once they were returned to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Their analysis showed that 0.33 g mitigated spaceflight-induced muscle atrophy, with full prevention at 0.67 g. They also measured the mice’s forelimb grip strength using Electrical impedance myography (EIM), which showed that 0.67 g was sufficient to maintain muscle performance.

*The research team at Kennedy Space Center confirming the protocol and timing prior to receiving animals for post-flight sampling. Credit: URI*

Their results collectively demonstrated that 0.67 g is a critical threshold for mitigating muscle atrophy caused by prolonged spaceflight. In addition, an analysis of the mice’s blood plasma identified 11 metabolites that showed gravity-dependent changes, suggesting they could serve as potential biomarkers to monitor physiological adaptations in astronauts. This work builds on previous research she performed with Professor Mary Bouxsein (a co-author on the study) at Harvard Medical School.

Whereas Dr. Bouxsein developed the ground-based mouse model of partial gravity in the early 2010s, Montreux developed the rat model of partial gravity at Harvard. As such, the two are well-acquainted with the impact that different gravity levels have on musculoskeletal tissues.

“Since this mission aimed to assess gravity as a continuum, we were perfectly positioned to see if our ground-based results had similar outcomes when reduced mechanical loading was applied in orbit,” said Montreux. “Working with an international team was challenging and exciting. I think my experience working in Italy, France, and the United States prepared me for those big-scale collaborations.”

One takeaway from this study is that future missions to Mars will need to be mindful of mitigating skeletal muscle loss during the long transit between Earth and Mars. For astronauts to maintain mobility, muscle strength, and carry out regular science operations. The same holds true for their physical health upon returning to Earth.

These findings suggest that rotating toruses would be a wise addition to any future spaceflight plans, a la NASA’s Non-Atmospheric Universal Transport Intended for Lengthy United States Exploration (NAUTILUS-X) and similar aspects.

Further Reading: Rhody Today, Science Advances

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ICE shootings protested in Pasadena on National Day of Action

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Approximately 50 demonstrators gathered Saturday morning in Pasadena as part of a national action to honor lives lost during immigration enforcement operations and in detention centers during the Trump administration.

They wore fliers around their necks, hung with yellow thread, bearing the smiling faces and names of some of the 75 people who have died since January 2025.

“Killed by ICE” was printed above a photo of each person, including local resident Roberto Carlos Montoya Valdez, a 52-year-old killed while trying to flee immigration agents who descended on a Home Depot in Monrovia last year.

The Los Angeles residents, part of the San Gabriel Foothills Indivisible group, carried American flags and held signs that read “No ICE No War” and “Stop ICE Murders.”

“Good morning, Pasadena,” Betsy Hanger, an organizer with the group, boomed into a megaphone as she walked through an intersection. “Honk for democracy. Honk if you want ICE off our streets now.”

A chorus of horns sounded as drivers signaled their support.

Organizer Andra Clarke held a banner in each hand that read “Neighbors Say ICE Out.” The sign around her neck carried the name and photo of Francisco Gaspar-Andrés, a 48-year-old who died in a Texas detention center in December.

Clarke, 61, said the group has been gathering at the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Fair Oaks Avenue every Saturday since March. Last weekend, they celebrated civil rights activist John Lewis.

This Saturday, though, their focus was aimed at ICE.

“Now 75 people have died at the hands of ICE,” Clarke said. “We were originally told, ‘Oh they’re going to go after the criminals, the people who are the worst of the worst.’ That’s a lie; that is not what’s happening.

“They’re targeting communities, they’re targeting people of color. It’s fascism. … Anybody who cares about humanity should care about what’s happening.”

Clarke said it hit her hard when she learned of the two recent deaths at the hands of ICE.

The event was also a vigil honoring 52-year-old Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who was killed by an ICE agent in Houston on July 7 while driving his construction crew to a job site, and Johan Sebastian Guerrero, 25, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer in Maine during a traffic stop earlier this month.

“It’s like, again? It just doesn’t end. It feels like it never ends — the evil.”

Shortly before noon, Clarke used a megaphone to read aloud the names of the dozens who have died. After each name read, Hanger struck a singing bowl, the vibrations sounding out in the corner where they stood. At times, she read “unidentified man” or “four unidentified women.”

Next to them was a poster board with a photo of Daphy Michel, a 31-year-old woman found unresponsive at a bus shelter in Pittsburgh after ICE released her “into cold winter conditions and no care for mental health episodes or notice to relatives.”

“Let’s take a moment of silence for all those who were taken,” Clarke said, bowing her head.

Among those gathered to listen was Leticia Lopez, a 65-year-old South Pasadena resident whose voice trembled as she talked about the impact of hearing about another arrest or death tied to enforcement operations.

“It gets me to the core,” she said, striking her chest. “It’s not getting any better, it’s getting worse. I just feel like I need to do something.”

Lopez, who wore a shirt that read “Immigrants are not criminals but the president is,” said her mother and grandmother were forcefully repatriated from Arizona to Mexico.

Her mother, who was raised in Mexico, later met her father there. He moved to the U.S. in the 1950s as a bracero. Hearing the stories of today, she said, “triggers everything that they went through.”

“When I see it happening, it’s a generational trauma that I feel,” she said. Lopez said people around her are carrying passports and documents in public to prove they’re citizens.

“Because they’re afraid they might be profiled, picked up, kidnapped by ICE. When my son goes out, I worry,” she said of her 28-year-old.

Later that afternoon, about four miles away outside of Home Depot in Pasadena, organizers staked in the ground dozens of white crosses that bore photos of the dead — the majority of them men. Attendees of the vigil laid flowers at the crosses in a makeshift cemetery.

“Shot dead by ICE,” read one with a photo of Keith Porter Jr., who was killed by an off duty ICE officer in California.

Several of them contained details of how the deaths unfolded. A man killed after a tractor trailer struck him as he fled an ICE raid in Florida. A Cuban immigrant who died in a detention center (his death was later ruled a homicide). A Mexican national who fell 30 feet to his death during a raid in California.

Among the photos on crosses were Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

“Are we going to wait until 70 more die to do something?” asked Marlom Portillo, an educator with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, as he staked more crosses into the ground.

“What they want us to do is forget them,” Portillo added. “We will never get tired of denouncing this atrocity.”

“There are more people who died than there are people here protesting,” Kathleen Vallee, a Monrovia resident, observed to her friend. “And that says a lot about us.”

Vallee said when she attended the “No Kings” protest, it was “jam-packed.” Only a dozen people had gathered around 20 minutes into the vigil.

“It turns my stomach,” Vallee said, hands clasped. “This just seems to be seeping up from the sewer into our democracy and that motivates me.”

As the small crowd assembled, demonstrators carried signs that read “Every person is sacred,” “we keep us safe” and “neighbors say ICE out.” One woman carried a handmade sign that read: “Who will they come for next?”

Sheri Lochner, a 64-year-old Monrovia resident, is part of East Pasadena Community Defense Corner, a small group that “provides support and a sense of community” for day laborers.

Lochner said she watched as immigrant agents took six or seven men at an Oct. 1 ICE raid at the Monrovia Home Depot.

“So un-American,” Lochner said, as she scanned the rows of crosses. “This isn’t right.”

She added that her mom, who voted for Trump the first time, agreed with her.

“I speak up, I will not be silent,” she added.

News

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Lucky 13! Starship Deploys Starlink Satellites and Splashes Down Intact

SpaceX’s Starship super-rocket deployed operational next-generation Starlink satellites for the first time during its 13th flight test, which addressed snags that arose in the previous test.

The 407-foot-tall, two-stage rocket rose from its Starbase launch pad in Texas at 5:51 p.m. CT today (10:51 p.m. UTC), with all 33 Raptor engines firing on the Super Heavy booster. On the way up, the rocket set a record for maximum dynamic pressure, also known as Max-Q.

Minutes after liftoff, the Starship upper stage — known as Ship — separated to continue on the flight test’s trajectory, and then the booster relit its engines for a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX launch commentator Dan Huot noted that not all of the engines fired up as planned — making for a splash that was a bit spicier than expected but still safe.

During the next phase of the test, Ship sent out 20 operational Starlink V3 satellites from a deployment system that’s been nicknamed the “Pez Dispenser.” For about 20 minutes, SpaceX’s engineering team ran a series of tests to check the deployment of solar arrays and see how the satellites were able to communicate with other spacecraft in the telecom network using laser systems.

“Not only were we able to make contact with all 20, but we also made comms over lasers with all of them as well,” SpaceX engineer Kate Tice said. “So, that is awesome.”

The satellites weren’t meant to stay in orbit. After the tests were completed, all 20 re-entered the atmosphere and burned up. But the data gathered during the tests will help SpaceX ensure that future batches of Starlink V3 satellites work properly.

Starlink V3 satellites are built to download data at speeds of up to 1 terabit per second, which marks a substantial technological advance over the V2 satellites that make up the bulk of the Starlink constellation. Adding V3 satellites to the network will upgrade Starlink’s capacity for direct-to-device services.

After satellite deployment, the upper stage executed a relight of one of its six Raptor engines in mid-flight, and then descended through the atmosphere to a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. On the way down, Ship’s heat shield weathered fiery flashes of plasma that made for quite a fireworks show on the in-space video transmitted down to Earth via Starlink. At the very end, the upper stage settled down intact in the water, spouting flames as it floated.

“That is a first. That is the softest splashdown we have ever had with a Starship there in the Indian Ocean,” Huot said. “This is a dream scenario for the team that’s trying to get this heatshield data.”

This marked the second test of SpaceX’s beefed-up Starship V3 rocket. The previous test in May followed a similar flight profile and was rated a success, but SpaceX made some modifications to systems on the Super Heavy booster as well as on the upper stage to address engine performance issues.

SpaceX’s initial attempt to launch the 13th flight test was aborted a week ago, at the moment of ignition, when four Raptor engines failed to start up for launch. After the scrub, SpaceX found six booster engines that raised concerns and replaced them for today’s second try.