Clark tells Colorado Matters that the health problems astronauts face, including muscle atrophy and bone loss, will be worse on extended voyages like a mission to Mars. To mitigate this, he and his team propose strapping the astronaut into a sled and catapulting it back and forth across a track. The forces of acceleration and deceleration would simulate the effect of gravity.
NIAC is holding a symposium in Denver this week. On Monday we spoke with Chris Dreyer of the Colorado School of Mines, who's part of a team exploring the idea of mining asteroids using concentrated sunlight. On Tuesday, University of Colorado scientist Jay McMahon told us about the possibility of frisbee-like robots flying around and attaching themselves to asteroids.
