Long-term space missions are associated with many health risks for astronauts. It is suspected that such missions could lead to a performance degradation and could have negative effects on cardiovascular health.
Genes4Mars will therefore use blood and urine samples of the analog astronauts to investigate whether there are changes in genes that could indicate such risks. For this purpose, samples will be taken at various times before, during and after the mission and analysed at the laboratory. The experiment by the Russian-Armenian University and the Institute of molecular Biology NAS RA of Yerevan, Armenia and Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Traumatology, Austria also aims to monitor the performance of the analog astronauts with automated analysis of electrocardiograms, which record the activity of the heart muscles. Before and after extravehicular activities, various electrocardiograms of the analog astronauts will therefore be taken, examined for abnormalities and the results compared with the genomic examination.