October 3, 2005

The 2nd WISE campaign begins

After the 1st phase last spring, the 2nd WISE campaign is off to a start. The 12 new volunteers are preparing to spend the next 2 months in a bedrest position with their heads tilted below their feet. By simulating the effects of weightlessness in this way, WISE is helping scientists to study how the body reacts and to evaluate countermeasures to prepare astronauts for long-duration spaceflights.
6 October 2005

2nd campaign underway

The 2nd phase of the WISE* experiment is now underway, with all of the female volunteers confined to a bedrest position at the Medes space clinic in Toulouse since 1 October.
A bed tilted 6° from horizontal ; credits Esa/M.Specht
A bed tilted 6° from horizontal ; credits Esa/M.Specht

As during the 1st phase of the experiment from April to June, the 12 volunteers will be lying head-down on a bed tilted 6° from horizontal so that their body weight is no longer exerted along the longitudinal axis.

This position produces physiological modifications of the kind experienced by astronauts in space.

The study will evaluate the role of nutrition and physical exercise regimes in countering the harmful effects of prolonged periods of weightlessness simulated by bedrest.

Autumn lying down

Having lunch in bed ; credits CNES/S.Levin
Having lunch in bed ; credits CNES/S.Levin
Volunteers arrived at the Medes space clinic on 6 September to begin compiling the physiological data required to baseline the study.

After 20 days, the 1st 2 were put in the bedrest position on 26 September, where they will stay for 60 days.
All activities—meals, leisure, washing and so on—will be performed lying down.
The volunteers have been divided into 3 groups.
The 1st will take a dietary supplement; the 2nd will do regular physical exercise; and a 3rd will be the control group.
The study will thus be able to determine which parameters most affect astronaut health.
Physical exercise during the whole campaign ; credits Esa
Physical exercise during the whole campaign ; credits Esa

This 2nd campaign is intended to confirm or invalidate data obtained during the 1st phase, and to measure the effects of weightlessness on bones, muscles and the locomotor and cardio-vascular systems.

It will also enable new physiological countermeasures and psychological adaptation methods to be evaluated over a long period.
Few women have flown in space, so the way the female body reacts to weightlessness is poorly understood. The WISE programme therefore aims to prepare for long-duration spaceflights by female astronauts.

Credits Esa
Credits Esa
The WISE study is a joint initiative of the Esa, CNES, the Nasa and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).


* WISE : Women International Space Simulation for Exploration

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