Zach Weinersmith

Kelly, Zach, thank you so much for talking with me about if we could live on Mars. Thank you for having us.

Kelly, Zach, thank you so much for talking with me about if we could live on Mars. Thank you for having us.

This episode was produced by Jessica Young. It was edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez, and the facts were checked by Tyler Jones. The audio engineer was Gilly Moon. Beth Donovan is our senior director and Colin Campbell is our senior vice president of podcasting strategy. I'm Regina Barber. Thank you for listening to Shortwave from NPR.

This episode was produced by Jessica Young. It was edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez, and the facts were checked by Tyler Jones. The audio engineer was Gilly Moon. Beth Donovan is our senior director and Colin Campbell is our senior vice president of podcasting strategy. I'm Regina Barber. Thank you for listening to Shortwave from NPR.

This episode was produced by Jessica Young. It was edited by our showrunner, Rebecca Ramirez, and the facts were checked by Tyler Jones. The audio engineer was Gilly Moon. Beth Donovan is our senior director and Colin Campbell is our senior vice president of podcasting strategy. I'm Regina Barber. Thank you for listening to Shortwave from NPR.

The moon, Mars, we're creating an orbital space station. And among those, Mars is overwhelmingly the best option.

The moon, Mars, we're creating an orbital space station. And among those, Mars is overwhelmingly the best option.

The moon, Mars, we're creating an orbital space station. And among those, Mars is overwhelmingly the best option.

How do you govern these communities? So like whenever someone talks about going to Mars on like Twitter, they post a gif of a guy walking toward the horizon dramatically. But most of life in the International Space Station is like scrubbing the toilets. and making sure there's not too much mold and cooking dinner and that sort of thing and managing interpersonal relationships.

How do you govern these communities? So like whenever someone talks about going to Mars on like Twitter, they post a gif of a guy walking toward the horizon dramatically. But most of life in the International Space Station is like scrubbing the toilets. and making sure there's not too much mold and cooking dinner and that sort of thing and managing interpersonal relationships.

How do you govern these communities? So like whenever someone talks about going to Mars on like Twitter, they post a gif of a guy walking toward the horizon dramatically. But most of life in the International Space Station is like scrubbing the toilets. and making sure there's not too much mold and cooking dinner and that sort of thing and managing interpersonal relationships.

It's a lot like Earth. And so we need to have the solutions we have on Earth.

It's a lot like Earth. And so we need to have the solutions we have on Earth.

It's a lot like Earth. And so we need to have the solutions we have on Earth.

Sure. So, you know, when you're in an orbital space station, you are under the influence of Earth's gravity, but you experience, like on a roller coaster, zero gravity. This reliably produces all sorts of terrible stuff for the body. The obvious stuff is loss of bone mass, which happens at a very rapid clip. Studies show about 1% bone loss in the hip per month. I want to emphasize per month.

Sure. So, you know, when you're in an orbital space station, you are under the influence of Earth's gravity, but you experience, like on a roller coaster, zero gravity. This reliably produces all sorts of terrible stuff for the body. The obvious stuff is loss of bone mass, which happens at a very rapid clip. Studies show about 1% bone loss in the hip per month. I want to emphasize per month.

Sure. So, you know, when you're in an orbital space station, you are under the influence of Earth's gravity, but you experience, like on a roller coaster, zero gravity. This reliably produces all sorts of terrible stuff for the body. The obvious stuff is loss of bone mass, which happens at a very rapid clip. Studies show about 1% bone loss in the hip per month. I want to emphasize per month.

You may ask yourself why we don't turn into like Harry Potter when the bones got dissolved and no one has been up for more than 437 days. That was the maximum time. Only a few people have been up for a year. Muscles experience very similar effects. People often get motion sick right when they get up.

You may ask yourself why we don't turn into like Harry Potter when the bones got dissolved and no one has been up for more than 437 days. That was the maximum time. Only a few people have been up for a year. Muscles experience very similar effects. People often get motion sick right when they get up.

You may ask yourself why we don't turn into like Harry Potter when the bones got dissolved and no one has been up for more than 437 days. That was the maximum time. Only a few people have been up for a year. Muscles experience very similar effects. People often get motion sick right when they get up.