Paving The Way For Women To Mars

When the first female astronauts set foot on Mars, they may spare a thought for the 24 women who paved the way for lengthy space trips by giving three months of their lives to space science, two months of which involved staying in bed.

From March to May and from September to November, two different groups of 12 volunteers from eight European countries - the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom - took part in the Women International Space Simulation for Exploration (WISE) campaign on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA), the French space agency (CNES), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

They gathered at the MEDES Space Clinic in Rangueil Hospital in Toulouse, France, to take up an extraordinary challenge: a 60-day campaign of female bedrest. For two months, they had to lie down and undertake all daily activities in beds tilted at an angle of 6 degrees below horizontal, so that their heads were slightly lower than their feet.

This unusual position induces physiological changes similar to those experienced by astronauts in weightlessness.

The last volunteers of the second WISE campaign got up on 30 November, and are now undergoing rehabilitation and medical tests lasting until 20 December. Similar tests were conducted in the pre-bedrest period for comparison.

MEDES, the French Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology, organised the selection of the volunteers and provided medical, paramedical and technical staff to support the extensive science experiments.

The main objective of the WISE campaign has been to assess the roles of nutrition and physical exercise with adapted equipment in countering the adverse effects of prolonged microgravity conditions, in order to develop the counter-measures that will be required when future astronauts venture beyond the Earth orbit to explore other worlds.

The data collected by the international science teams during the WISE study will improve our knowledge of muscle condition, blood parameters, cardiovascular condition, coordination of movements, changes in endocrine and immune systems, metabolism, bone status, as well as psychological wellbeing.

This will serve not only the future of human spaceflight, but our everyday lives on Earth too, by providing clues as to how to deal with osteoporosis, fight the ''metabolic syndrome", which affects millions of sedentary workers who take insufficient physical exercise, assist recovery of bedridden patients, or prevent some cardiovascular conditions.

Twelve scientific teams from 11 countries - Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States - are involved in the study. It will take them several months to analyse their data and start publishing their findings. In order to answer certain scientific questions, a follow-up of the volunteers will continue for three more years.

"The WISE campaign has now come to a successful conclusion and I look forward to further campaigns in the future where there is this degree of international involvement and complexity", said Didier Schmitt, Head of the Life Sciences Unit in ESA's Directorate of Human Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration.

"Planning for future research is already under way with a programme of bedrest campaigns being prepared, covering the next three years. This will be a combination of short-term, intermediate and long-term bedrest studies, lasting 5, 21 and 60 days, respectively.

A research announcement covering this period is due to be released in the near future as part of the European programme for Life and Physical Sciences and Applications using the ISS (ELIPS). A further two bedrest studies are planned, one in Berlin and the other at the DLR in Cologne and they have already been selected as part of the ESA Microgravity Applications Programme (MAP). These studies are currently awaiting the necessary funding, also from the ELIPS Programme."

To mark the completion of the WISE 2005 campaigns, ESA, CNES and MEDES are to hold a press conference, together with representatives from NASA and CSA, science teams and volunteers from the second WISE campaign, at the "Cité de l'Espace" in Toulouse on 13 December.

Source: ESA

Copyright 2005 by Space Daily, Distributed United Press International

Related stories:

Women, space travel and infection: bed-rest study investigates female immune response on extended missions
A bed-rest study with female participants will help scientists understand changes to the immune response and decreased resistance to infection in space.
Investigators with the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) are researching the immune system as part of the Women’s International Space Simulation for Exploration (WISE), a collaborative venture that includes NASA, the European Space Agency, the Centre National D’Études Spatiales (French Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency. The study is being carried out by the French Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology (MEDES) in Toulouse, France.
WISE study starts in Toulouse: 60 days of bed-rest for terrestrial female astronauts
Since Saturday, 19 March, the study entitled Women International Space Simulation for Exploration (WISE) has been fully under way. All participants in the first of two campaigns have been lying in bed, tilted head down at an angle of 6º below horizontal, so that their heads are slightly lower than their feet.
This position results in physiological changes that also occur in astronauts during space flight. The study will assess the roles of nutrition and combined physical exercise in countering the adverse effects of prolonged gravitational unloading by bed-rest.
Researchers use supercomputer to track pathways in myoglobin
Some 50 years ago, after decades of effort, John Kendrew determined the structure of the small globular protein, myoglobin, which is responsible for oxygen storage in cells. For this discovery, he shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry with Max Perutz, who did similar work on hemoglobin. But a mystery remained: Exactly what paths does oxygen follow as it moves in and out of myoglobin?
SKorea ponders closer watch on web after surge of protests
After weeks of tumultuous protests inspired largely by South Korea's netizens, the country which claims to be the world's most wired society is considering new ways to monitor the Internet.
Black holes have simple feeding habits
The biggest black holes may feed just like the smallest ones, according to data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ground-based telescopes. This discovery supports the implication of Einstein's relativity theory that black holes of all sizes have similar properties, and will be useful for predicting the properties of a conjectured new class of black holes.
Yahoo, Google announce online ad alliance (Update)
Fresh from a failed courtship with Microsoft, Yahoo on Thursday rushed into Google's arms in the hope an alliance will improve its sagging fortunes and quell a rebellion by stockholders.
Swift satellite catches first 'normal' supernova in the act of exploding
Thanks to a fortunate observation with NASA's Swift satellite, astronomers, for the first time, have caught a normal supernova at the moment of its birth--the first instant when an exploding star begins spewing its energy into space, transforming into a supernova that during its brief lifetime will shine brighter than billions of stars combined.
Thirty-Meter Telescope Focuses on Two Candidate Sites
After completing a worldwide survey unprecedented in rigor and detail of astronomical sites for the Thirty-Meter Telescope (TMT), the TMT Observatory Corporation board of directors has selected two outstanding sites, one in each hemisphere, for further consideration. Cerro Armazones lies in Chile's Atacama Desert, and Mauna Kea is on Hawai'i Island.

News discussion:

Space & Earth science news