What could be some disadvantages to living in space?

Answer 1

Despite bone loss due to the zero G environment, there are other concerns. One of the largest is cosmic radiation. I was talking to two NASA engineers before the Discovery tragedy, who told me about the topic at length. Apparently the cosmic radiation will seep through anything (you should see what it does to digital camcorders and their film). It goes right through the shuttles and right through the people inside them. In the process it does unpleasant things to their organs and mitochondria. Currently they have no idea how to stop it, and of course they aren't saying much about it. I imagine it would be hard to get full funding if everyone knew that radiation was slowly cooking our astronauts. In short, even if we could get to Mars and back, the radiation would kill the astronauts.

Answer 2

Well, for one, muscle loss and bone marrow loss. When Shannon Lucid, Vladimir Titov, Muso Manarov, Anatoly Levchenko, and other astronauts/cosmonauts/whatever have returned to Earth after prolonged stays in space, their muscles had weakened significantly and they experienced loss of bone marrow, despite their diets & the amount of exercise they performed daily. When it comes to exercise, there's no replacement for gravity. (I'm not sure what the explanation is for the bone marrow loss.)

Then there's the increase in exposure to radiation which normally is reduced by our atmosphere. No matter how well we build space craft, it's hard to think that the ships will provide the 24-hour-a-day protection from radiation that we receive from the atmosphere, or that the ships will be able to provide that protection endlessly, year after year, without any deterioration.

And there's always cosmic debris to deal with. "Honey, we got hit by another asteroid. Could you go out and see if our grill is still there?"

One amusing thing I read once is that astronauts experience "puffy face", or a rush of blood to the head when they reach micro-gravity or zero-gravity. This is caused by a circulatory system which is designed for Earth's gravity. Apparently, puffy face goes away in an hour or so.

Answer 3

1. Weightlessness causes muscle to waste away and makes the body frail.

2. There is more radiation leading to a greater cancer risk.

3. There is no quick access to many types of medical care. E.g. if you had a heart attack you would be screwed.

4. You would not build up an immunity to the germs that exist on earth making you susceptible to illness.

5. A fetus probably would be unable to form properly in zero gravity.

6. You would never get fresh food.

7. You would get bored of looking out of the window.

I'm sure there are many more

Answer 4

No atmosphere to breath. No protection from cosmic radiation. Extreme cold temperatures. Hard vacuum of space trying to rip you apart and send you in an infinite amount of directions. No readily available food or drink. The list goes on and on.

Answer 5

trying to survive in a new environment and adapting to the huge changes that differ from earth.

Answer 6

You don;t get to walk under the Moonlight

Answer 7

Well first of all, the place has no atmosphere.