NASA’s Sleeping Bag May Prevent Astronauts’ Eyeballs From Getting Warped

Astronauts who journey into orbit and put up with prolonged stays on the Worldwide House Station (ISS) usually face imaginative and prescient issues. This has been linked to the micro gravitational atmosphere in spacecraft, which results in swelling within the mind and optic nerves. The situation, referred to as spaceflight-associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome,or SANS, might have an answer now. Researchers have give you a sleeping bag which may regulate physique fluids to stop their accumulation within the mind throughout area missions.

Gravitational pull helps regulate how our physique fluids operate on Earth. The dearth of gravity in area impacts the traditional fluid motion and causes the fluids to drift up into the pinnacle. This motion places strain on eyeballs and flattens them. The optic nerve swells because of this.

NASA is making an attempt to handle numerous astronaut well being dangers, together with SANS. Benjamin Levine, a College of Texas Southwestern Medical Heart heart specialist working with NASA said, “That is maybe one of the mission-critical medical points which have been found within the final decade for the area programme.”

Levine led a research published within the JAMA Ophthalmology journal. The research explored the chances of a high-tech sleeping bag which might stop SANS. The experiment included a specialised sack-like construction which might be hooked up to an individual from the waist down. This futuristic sleeping bag would act as a suction bag, functioning with a way referred to as “decrease physique destructive strain.” This might stop physique fluids from floating up and accumulating in the direction of the area across the mind and the eyes.

The experiments with this sleeping bag included 10 topics — 5 male and 5 feminine — who would get into mattress and lie flat for 3 days at a stretch on Earth. After three days, researchers seen a change within the form of eyeballs. This occurred as a result of the themes weren’t allowed to face, which relieves strain from the mind.

Then, they tried the sleeping bag on the topic. Researchers discovered that simply eight hours within the sleeping bag every evening prevented the change in eyeball form.

Most issues related to SANS get resolved after astronauts come again to Earth after a number of months’ keep on the ISS. Nevertheless, the issue could be persistent if astronauts needed to make a two-year journey to Mars. Therefore, fixing the SANS downside is essential to allow longer area journey for astronauts.