• Question: As you wanted to be astronaut have you invented anything to do with space

    Asked by Thomas in the shed to James on 9 Nov 2016.
    • Photo: James Clarke

      James Clarke answered on 9 Nov 2016:

      I like to think so. First, a 3D food printer would be so useful in space – that way astronauts could actually eat nice food instead of the horrible stuff out of packets. I think Matt damon would have had a great time on Mars with real food instead of potatoes and ketchup!

      My current work to study movement with wearable sensors is also relevant. One of NASA’s biggest problems right now is working out how space affects the body, and how to stop it. When astronauts come back from the space station after half a year, they usually can’t stand up because they’re so used to zero gravity, and it can take months to recover from that. If we got astronauts to Mars (which will take 2 years travelling in space) then they’d not be able to stand up when they got there. It’d be a disaster! By studying astronauts bodies with wearable sensors, we might be able to find ways to solve this problem.

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