Physiology of Women | It’s worth going to Mars with a group of women, because the gender difference in metabolism would offer millions in savings

To gender quotas it’s not worth staring when choosing a crew to establish a colony on Mars.

After all, it would be best to send only women to the planet, concludes European Space Agency researcher Jonathan Scott with colleagues in the scientific journal Scientific Reports.

Female astronauts consume fewer resources than their male counterparts and produce less carbon dioxide and heat.

When comparing women to men of the same height, women manage with 5-29 percent less energy, water and oxygen.

This is because women are generally lighter than men of the same height.

Differences grow even more when it is taken into account that women are on average shorter than men.

When playing sports, the importance of gender differences in metabolism is even more emphasized. Astronauts must exercise almost daily to reduce the effects of weightlessness.

The researchers calculated that for a 1,080-day journey, an expedition of four women would need 1,695 kilograms less food than four men.

The food alone would save 147 million euros and the space on the ship would be 2.3 cubic meters.

In addition, a thinner crew would be better able to operate in extremely cramped long-distance ships.

Published in Tiede magazine 7/2023.