A University of Saskatchewan professor is one step closer to helping astronauts stay healthy in space.
Gordon Sarty, the head of the psychology department at the U of S, has created an MRI that can travel to space.
The MRI is 10 kilograms in size, while a traditional MRI is roughly 15 tons. Sarty said he was able to create a smaller version by working at a lower magnetic field.
He started creating the MRI seven years ago as he wanted to find a way to track astronauts’ health.
Sarty said while in space, astronauts lose muscle and bone, their arteries can harden and vision deteriorates. He said the MRI will track the course of loss.
“Do they lose it all at once, like within the first month and then it levels off? Or is it continuous deterioration?” Sarty told CTV News.
“Knowing this information allows people to plan, ‘Okay, can you actually survive a six month trip to Mars, or maybe we need to wait for rockets that can do it in one month, because there is no way you can survive that long.”
The researcher said while the MRI is meant for space, once it is fully complete, it can also be used in remote places back on Earth.
