24 APRIL 2021
Space and humans are not a perfect mix. Scientists are continually discovering new kinds of health risks associated with space, related to how factors like microgravity and cosmic radiation affect our bones and organs, and more besides.
But prolonged exposure to the environment of space isn't just a concern for our bodies. What about our minds?
The psychological effects of extreme isolation and confinement during long-term space travel and missions to other planets still represent a big unknown.
If we're ever going to successfully travel through space and even colonize other worlds, we need to understand much more about what happens to people stuck in unforgiving places for long periods, while very, very far from home.