This is the fate NASA scientists fear could face the first person to step foot on Mars, so they've turned to researchers at the University of Canberra to help solve the problem.

Professor in physiotherapy Gordon Waddington and PhD student Ashleigh Marchant are the only researchers outside the United States working on a project that will hopefully allow astronauts to maintain the ability to walk after months in zero gravity.

A person's ability to stay upright and move around in any environment is controlled by information travelling from the body to the brain, like vision, balance and sensory information.

The problem for astronauts, Professor Waddington said, is that as they spend time in zero or even micro gravity they experience degradation of muscle and skin senses, as they are no longer being activated.

After travelling in a spacecraft for eight or nine months to Mars, Professor Waddington described the probable feeling as being like your legs going to sleep, and so stepping out of that spaceship would prove difficult.

"You remember that real numbness feeling and the feeling as though you don’t really know where your foot or ankle is."

He said astronauts would experience similar levels of rapid sensory degredation in a week to a month in space if there were no interventions as humans on earth experience each year after the age of 65.

"We’ve spent tens of thousands of years living from sea level to a couple of thousand metres on this planet, and we’re pretty well set up to do that now," Professor Waddington said.

"But once we step out of that we’ve got all sorts of other issues."

So Professor Waddington and Ms Marchant have designed a series of tests to measure people's ability to recognise minimal movements in the ankle in lowered gravity - a difficult task to achieve in a Canberra lab.

One piece of equipment, the sensory organisational test - which is essentially a large dome - is the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere. It tests a person's balance with visual stimulation.

The second test, built primarily from bits and pieces from Bunnings and Supercheap Auto, is based on a NASA design and is affectionately named 'the Earth, Moon, Mars bed'.

Participants are fitted with a harness which can increase and decrease the load on your legs to replicate the feeling of gravity on different planets. Their feet are then positioned on moving plates so the ankle control can be judged.

The final test involves a machine designed and built by Professor Waddington. Called the AMEDA, it's essentially a box with a plate that moves small distances. Participants need to distinguish at which position their ankle is placed.

The machine has also proven useful in different contexts, including identifying whether someone has a concussion. It has been sent all over the world to be used in a variety of academic studies.

The greatest difficulty researchers in this field face is separating the three movement functions - vision, balance and sensory information - to determine which is affected. The combination of the tests is aimed at singling them out.

The research conducted at the University of Canberra in this area is world-leading, which led NASA to establish the collaboration.

At this stage Professor Waddington and Ms Marchant are gathering data to prove definitively that the different functions are affected as they suspect before developing interventions for astronauts to avoid degradation.

One option being considered is a specially designed sock that could stimulate the foot.

The research also has applications to falls prevention in older people as their balance and movement capabilities decline and for athletes to improve their training regimes.

The study still requires more participants, so if you would like an opportunity to help humans one day walk on Mars you can email Ms Marchant at u3108258@uni.canberra.edu.au

Participants must be between 18 and 60 years old, have had no ankle injuries in previous three months and have no medical condition that could affect balance.