Have you ever wondered how an astronaut weighs himself in space?

There has been a lot of talk lately about rocket launch and future expeditions to Mars, but have you ever wondered how astronauts weigh themselves in space? While on a mission, this is important - not for the same reason we weigh ourselves around here, because space banquets have never been mentioned - because the lack of gravity causes muscle loss and bone demineralization, which makes them more fragile.

Since it is important that astronauts' physical condition be maintained during and after the mission, devices have been developed so that these precautions can be taken, and they are not merely adaptations of the scales we usually use here on Earth.

The problem with gaining the weight of astronauts in space is that the earth's gravitational force acting inside the spacecraft is imperceptible even when it is near Earth. While in orbit, they remain in a state similar to an infinite drop that causes the sensation of zero gravity — that's why it's called microgravity.

There are several ways around this, so we will show those used by the two forerunners of space development: the USA and Russia.

Americans use what is referred to as the Space Linear Acceleration Mass Measurement Device (SLAMMD). We can imagine him as a carousel horse, but without the cute horses.

The astronaut positions himself, starts operation, and the equipment moves less than 1 meter horizontally, due to the existence of springs with known coefficient. This, coupled with a camera that measures acceleration, generates enough information to determine mass satisfactorily by applying Newton's second law (force equals mass multiplied by acceleration).

The Russians, on the other hand, use a similar solution, with another positioning of the person, making the measurement simpler and more robust. The principle is the same; however, instead of using a camera to measure acceleration, they calculate the number of oscillations per second and thus arrive at the astronaut mass value.

Regardless of the equipment used, and as complicated as it may be, it is possible to measure the mass accurately enough to preserve the health of astronauts. Good!