A team of German scientists with the help of an advanced imaging technology are trying to understand skin thinning of astronauts, one of the unusual effects of long-term space habitation.

The study led by Professor Karsten Koenig of Saarland University, is an outcome of the European Space Agency's Skin B project detailing the effects of skin aging in space.

According to Reuters, Koenig’s team for their study documented three astronauts, scanned their skin cells before and after their time on the ISS using multiphoton tomography (MPT).

JenLab, the developer of the system, claims that its femtosecond laser pulses provide a spatial resolution a thousand times higher than that of ultrasonic devices. Koenig’s company said its laser pulses can eliminate the need for lengthy biopsy processes, and provides results within seconds.

One among the three astronauts tested during the study was Samantha Cristoforetti. Cristoforetti was first scanned before traveling to the ISS in November 2014 and was again scanned when she returned to earth in June this year after her record-setting 199-day mission.

The study results showed that there was an increased level of collagen in the dermis, the lower layer of the skin, indicating a slight anti-aging effect. In addition, researchers found that the outer epidermal layer of the skin was shrinking and started getting thinner nearly by almost 20%.

Researchers mentioned that the increased susceptibility to dangerous radiation, affect the area where stem cells are located and skin cancer often begins. Once astronauts return to earth, this process starts reversing.

Koenig is still carrying out the study in hopes to find a way to reduce this thinning skin phenomenon before astronauts are subject to more than a year's journey on NASA's Mars mission.