Polaris Dawn Project Aims to Prevent Bone Loss in Space

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线上赌场 researchers and astronauts test a new inflight calcium monitor.

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Astronaut in spaceship cockpit
A 线上赌场 project aboard Polaris Dawn tackles the breakdown of astronauts鈥 bones in zero gravity.  (Photo by SpaceX)
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线上赌场 researchers have a project aboard the mission they hope will help address two major health risks of space flight鈥攖he breakdown of astronauts鈥 bones in zero-gravity conditions and the resulting danger of developing kidney stones.

When subjected to weightlessness, bones freed from the burden of supporting the human body leach calcium. The shedding of this critical element reduces bone density and, as the calcium enters the urine, heightens the chance of painful kidney stones forming in the urinary tract.

Through Polaris Dawn, which launched from Florida on Sept. 10, researchers at 线上赌场鈥檚 and are testing a critical element of a handheld device the team is developing that would alert crew members to high levels of calcium in their urine during space flight so they can take action.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e in space for a long time, bone and muscle loss are significant problems. Right now, there鈥檚 not a really good way to track that in flight,鈥 says lead researcher , a former astronaut who is now a professor of medicine and director of the .

鈥淥ur goal is to provide a simple real-time method for preventing kidney stones and bone loss in space,鈥 says Buckey, who was aboard Space Shuttle Columbia鈥檚 STS-90 mission in 1998 and is also an .

The team has developed a prototype of the device鈥攚hich is not on the mission鈥攖hat consists of a reader and a small-volume, small-mass sampler that detects the presence of calcium in urine using the fluorescent dye calcein. It was developed in partnership with Creare LLC, an engineering firm based in Hanover that was founded by the late Thayer professor Robert C. Dean Jr.

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Jay Buckey
Research by Geisel professor and former astronaut Jay Buckey suggests that once-daily urine samples can track bone-density loss in space. (Photos courtesy of Eli Burakian 鈥00 and NASA) 

The project aboard Polaris Dawn is testing whether the day鈥檚 first urination鈥攐r first morning void鈥攑rovides enough information on urinary calcium concentration for astronauts to gauge the risk of losing bone density and forming kidney stones.

鈥淭o have that real-time data would be invaluable for astronauts鈥 health,鈥 says , a PhD candidate in engineering who is leading the testing and evaluation of the handheld device. 鈥淲e need good solutions to keep people healthy in space, especially if they don鈥檛 have room to exercise to maintain their bone and muscle mass.鈥

Currently, astronauts at risk for kidney stones provide all of their urine over a 24-hour period. But Buckey鈥檚 research suggests that one sample may do. A in 2022 found that calcium content was highest in the first morning void. The paper concluded that collecting those samples over several days should provide enough data to monitor calcium levels effectively.

鈥淚t should be relatively easy for a crew member to sample one void, get information from it, and put that information to practical use,鈥 Buckey says.

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Mimi Lan showcasing urine bag
Mimi Lan, a PhD candidate at Thayer School of Engineering, is leading the testing and evaluation of a handheld device to collect and test urine in space. (Photo by David Haley)

The four members of the Polaris Dawn crew provided morning void samples on three consecutive days during the quarantine week before launch. The crew will also provide a morning sample on their last day in space.

After collecting the samples, the 线上赌场 team will have them analyzed for kidney stone risk using a test panel that includes calcium. The samples also will be tested for fragments of the protein titin, which indicates possible muscle wasting and atrophy, another hazard of weightlessness.

A significant change between the pre-mission and last-day samples would indicate the researchers are on the right track in basing their device on the first morning void, Buckey says.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not the first to measure urinary calcium in space,鈥 Buckey says. 鈥淏ut focusing on the first morning void is unique. This mission is the first real test of our idea in space.鈥

Morgan Kelly