These Volunteers Will Stay in Bed for Two Straight Months for Space Travel Experiment

Twelve group are astir to embark connected nan world’s longest sleepover, each successful nan sanction of abstraction research. The group will beryllium confined to beds designed to mimic nan rigors of abstraction for 60 days straight. Some of nan volunteers will besides beryllium testing strategies that tin hopefully trim nan bodily strain caused by a deficiency of gravity, specified arsenic exercising while being spun astir successful a centrifuge.

The research project is called nan BRACE (Bed Rest pinch Artificial gravity and Cycling Exercise) study, and it is being funded by France’s abstraction agency, nan National Center for Space Studies (CNES). The study itself will beryllium conducted astatine MEDES, nan Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology successful Toulouse, France.

Perhaps surprisingly, it doesn’t return overmuch for a furniture to go space-like. The volunteers will walk each waking and sleeping hr connected a furniture elevated 6 degrees beneath nan horizontal, feet-side up, moreover while showering and utilizing nan toilet (as a cardinal rule, astatine slightest 1 enarthrosis will person to stay connected nan mattress nary matter what). This forces humor and fluid to unreserved to nan caput and, coupled pinch nan changeless bedrest, will yet origin a person’s muscles to atrophy—the aforesaid awesome problem seen pinch semipermanent abstraction travel.

One group will enactment arsenic a control, resting nan full time. Another group will regularly rhythm connected an workout motorcycle outfitted onto nan abstraction bed, pursuing nan emblematic regular that astronauts do to stave disconnected musculus loss. And nan 3rd will rhythm while wrong a centrifuge machine. The spinning will ideally enactment arsenic a counterbalance to nan nonaccomplishment of gravity successful abstraction that’s being mimicked by nan bed, and should hopefully amended nan gains that would travel from exercise.

“We dream to understand nan added worth of artificial gravity to nan fittingness regular astronauts travel connected nan International Space Station. The unit workout 2 hours per time successful orbit,” said interrogator Angelique Van Ombergen, nan lead for life sciences astatine nan European Space Agency’s Human and Robotic Exploration branch, successful a statement provided by nan ESA.

This task isn’t nan first clip that scientists person utilized bedrest arsenic a shape of simulated abstraction travel, but it is reportedly nan first clip successful Europe that cycling will beryllium incorporated into nan experiments. Researchers successful Slovenia astatine nan Jožef Stefan Institute are group to behaviour their own, akin study, which will trial retired nan operation of artificial gravity and vibration exercises.

In nan best-case scenario, nan lessons learned from these studies won’t conscionable use to abstraction travel.

“Results from abstraction analogues tin beryllium useful to creation amended treatments for nan aged and for patients pinch musculoskeletal conditions and osteoporosis connected Earth,” said Van Ombergen.