Some interesting research is being conducted by Dr Steven Moore, associate professor of neurology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, USA.

His team has been developing a Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation system (GVS) that can safely induce the sensory and mobility disturbances that are often experienced by astronauts when returning to Earth’s gravity.  

The system developed uses large electrodes placed behind the ear to deliver small amounts of electricity (5 milliamp) to the vestibular nerve, which then sends the signal onto the brain and causes motor and sensory disturbances.

The human body is adapted to Earth and its gravitational force, with our brains receiving and interpreting the information sent from sensory organs, such as our eyes and our inner ear vestibular organs. When in the microgravity environment of Space, the pattern of information is changed with the gravity sensitive inner ear no longer functioning as it would on Earth. Many astronauts will suffer from Space Motion Sickness, disorientation and a loss of sense of direction early in the mission, before adapting to their new ‘weightless’ setting within a few days. When returning to Earth’s gravity once more though, they must readjust again and can experience problems standing up, walking and turning, and stabilizing their gaze. These disturbances can affect an astronaut’s vision and neurological functions, potentially affecting operational activities including the ability to safely land a spacecraft.

Thus, the development of a new tool that can safely simulate the vestibular disturbances experienced in Space can prove valuable.

"You can train for spaceflight tasks under normal conditions on Earth, but that will not give you an indication of what an astronaut will feel like," Dr. Moore said. "The GVS system will make mission simulations more realistic. This will be quite useful for astronaut training, especially for astronauts that have not flown before." 

Want to see a video showing the effects of the GVS? Click the link below;

http://www.nsbri.org/default/NSBRI%20News%20Pictures/Moore_Project/Moore_GVS.wmv

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) this week hosted a two day workshop at the International Space Innovation Centre at Harwell, England, involving leading experts from the aerospace industry. On the agenda were discussions relating to the feasibility and development of a reusable Space craft for carrying passengers and payloads into Space.

Engineers from privately owned company Reaction Engines Ltd are developing a new propulsion system to be used on the craft, called SABRE (Synergistic Air Breathing Rocket Engine) using air taken in through intakes, similar to a turbojet engine when in the atmosphere, but then converting to rocket mode when entering Space.

The 270 foot long, unpiloted vehicle could potentially carry up to 24 passengers into Space or be used to transport up to 12 tonnes of cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station.

With a development price tag that is likely to be close to £8 billion, funding the project could be a challenge, but officials from the UKSA believe it could revolutionise future Space travel and cut costs in the long run by making the most use of newly developed technology.

This week finds me in Greece, more precisely Thessaloniki, where I am trying to prove the theory that work and pleasure can mix!

I am here at the 6th International Conference of Aerospace Medicine, kindly organized by the Greek Aerospace Medical Association, in conjunction with the International Academy of Astronautics.

Given the current world financial climate, and knowing in particular how hard Greece has been hit, I take my hat off to Dr. Chrysoula Kourtidou-Papadeli who we must all thank for organizing and obtaining the funding for this event.

The meeting, which is usually held every two years, brings together many leading names from the world of aerospace medicine and this year is no exception. Speakers will include ESA astronaut Frank De Winne whose first Space flight was in 2002, and Dr. Chiaki Mukai, the first female Japanese astronaut who flew in 1994, to name but a couple – with the collective experience of those involved being immeasurable.

And all taking place in a city bathed in Greek sunshine – always a bonus! 

Testing took place this week in Arizona, USA of the next generation of NASA technology for human Space flight. The Desert Rats (Research & Technology Studies) program is designed to test-run equipment to see how well it performs (or not!), so any problems can be identified and solved before it ever gets into a Space environment.

The test site, near Black Point Lava Flow in northern Arizona, is an inhospitable, dry and dusty, rocky area of land near the edge of the Grand Canyon, and simulates well the type of rough terrain that could be encountered on another planet such as Mars.

Click on the video below to get a better idea of the new equipment being tested. 

How do you keep 33 men, trapped 700m below the Earth’s surface for a month and likely to be there for at least a couple more months, healthy, motivated and sane?

The advice from NASA scientists at the San Jose mine, near Copiapo, northern Chile is to regulate their day and night sleep patterns, boost their vitamin D intake and introduce a program of exercise as their nutrition improves.

Vitamin D is an essential fat soluble vitamin used in the absorption of calcium for our bodies, and a lack of it can have serious health consequences such as bone softening diseases, muscle weakness, and depression. One source of this vitamin is from foods that we eat, such as oily fish or fortified dairy products, but by far the biggest source of our vitamin D intake is from exposure to sunshine. When the sun's UV-B rays hit the skin, a reaction takes place that enables skin cells to manufacture vitamin D.

Clearly being trapped underground in the dark, and with a diet limited to what can be delivered to them via a narrow tube, the miner’s health is a huge cause for concern  and requires constant monitoring. But this surely must be the easier task, when compared to the job of monitoring and evaluating their mental health and well-being – a far less tangible thing.   

An interesting article features this week on MedPie.com, a health related website. 

The piece written by Dr Joan Vernikos is entitled "Gravity: Enemy or friend? The role of gravity in health and disease."

If you have 5 minutes to spare then click the link below and read what Joan has to say about the function of gravity, and the impact on astronaut health of a lack of gravity,


Gravity: Enemy or friend? Article  

I came across an interesting news item on the BBC online news site about a small island called Ascension, in the middle of the south Atlantic.

Not much excitement there, other than the fact that when naturalist Charles Darwin first came across the island in 1836, towards the end of his famous five year travels on board his ship, the Beagle, it was nothing more than a barren, volcanic rock, devoid of trees, lacking in water and buffeted by dry trade winds from southern Africa.

In contrast today, Ascencion Island has peaks covered by lush tropical cloud forests, and a fully functioning ecosystem. So what changed to make this possible?

On his return to the UK, Darwin talked to his good friend, botanist and explorer Joseph Hooker about the island. He in turn, set in motion collaboration between the British Royal Navy and the botanical gardens of Kew, to arrange shipments of trees to Ascension. It was a simple plan, plant trees to capture the rain and reduce evaporation from the soil – and it worked!

Ecologist, Dave Wilkinson, from Liverpool John Moores University in England believes there is a lot to be learnt from this artificial eco-system, saying “What it tells us is that we can build a fully functioning ecosystem through a series of chance accidents or trial and error".

Wilkinson thinks that the principles that emerge from this experiment could be used to transform future colonies on Mars, so that perhaps, rather than trying to improve an environment by force, the best approach might be to work with life to help it "find its own way".

Read the full article by going to:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11137903