WASHINGTON — Astronauts have a down-to-Earth problem that could be even worse on a long trip to Mars: They can’t get enough sleep. And over time, the lack of slumber can turn intrepid space travelers into drowsy couch potatoes, a new study shows.
In a novel experiment, six volunteers were confined in a cramped mock spaceship in Moscow to simulate a 17-month voyage. It made most of the would-be spacemen lethargic, much like birds and bears heading into winter, gearing up for hibernation.
The men went into a prolonged funk. Four had considerable trouble sleeping, with one having minor problems and the sixth mostly unaffected.
Some had depression issues. Sometimes, a few of the men squirreled themselves away into the most private nooks they could find. They didn’t move much. They avoided crucial exercise.
“This looks like something you see in birds in the winter,” said lead author David Dinges, a sleep expert at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
The experiment was run and funded by Russian and European space agencies.
A trip to Mars, Earth’s closest neighbor, would take about six months each way.
