Three astronauts on the planned mission of the private space company Axiom Space to the ISS will use a special helmet with electroencephalogram (EEG) capability made by Brain.Space, the company announced on Monday.
The 10-day mission, the first private trip to the space station, will begin on April 3 with four astronauts.
“We really know that the microgravity environment affects the body’s normal parameters. So, it will probably affect the brain and we would like to monitor it,” Brain.Space CEO Yair Levy told Reuters.
Data on heart rate, skin resistance, muscle mass and more have been collected continuously, but not yet on brain activity, he said.
Brain.Space brings together 30 experiments that will take part in the so-called Rakia mission to the ISS.
Three of the four astronauts – including Israeli Eytan Stibbe – will wear the helmet, which has 460 airbrushes attached to the scalp and perform a series of tasks for 20 minutes a day, during which the data will be downloaded to laptop at station space. The work includes a “visual oddity” that the company says has been effective in detecting abnormal brain potential.
Similar studies using these works have been completed on Earth and after the mission, Brain.Space will compare EEG data to see differences in brain activity between Earth and Space.
He noted that such experiments are needed, as long-term space exploration and “extraterrestrial life” are under control.
Brain.Space, which also said it raised $ 8.5 million in a start-up funding round, is self-financing as a brain infrastructure company and working with the Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences at Ben Gurion University in Israel to turn data terabytes into useful insights. .
Levy said he hopes the space mission will be a springboard for other institutions, researchers and software developers to use its brain data platform.
“Space is an accelerator. The idea is to revolutionize and make potential applications, products and services of brain activity as easy as extracting data from an Apple Watch,” said Levy, citing ADHD measurement as an example.
(Report by Steven Scheer · Edited by Bernadette Baum)
