the International Space Station
Columbus, an antidote for hassle?
Under Weightlessness" >weightlessness, everything changes. Our good old heart, for example, used to pumping the blood all over our body, and especially up to our brain, slows down, which gives astronauts problems when returning to Earth… All this we have to be able to analyse, in order to prepare people for much longer stays in space.
Not so cool, the enormous emptiness of space…
You’ve understood, no longer being subject to gravity is not achieved without some very real inconveniences. It’s true that astronauts have the unbelievable fun of being able to float in space, but they can also suffer from lots of little aches and pains. With Weightlessness" >weightlessness, muscles atrophy from a lack of effort to supply the heart, which is one of them, in unison. There are 15% less red corpuscles, a phenomenon that is still unexplained, which means less efficient transportation of oxygen in the blood. These physiological changes involve brain reactions that are sometimes rather anarchic. For example, it could stimulate a frequent urge to urinate without compensating with feeling thirsty, which can lead to serious dehydration.
EPM to the rescue
This is where the EPM, the European Physiology Modules Facility, a key element of Columbus, comes in. In practical terms, it consists of a cupboard the size of a telephone booth, made up of standard sized lockers that can hold multiple experiments. Its purpose is to bring together all the medically related experiments in space flight. All the effects of micro-gravity on the body will be screened, from the cardiovascular to bone characteristics, as well as all the respiratory, immune and neurological functions. The EPM can also take a large number of blood, saliva and urine samples, which will be kept in the MELFI fridge onboard the American laboratory, Destiny.
How are all these experiments managed?
Ioonos asked Romain Marcout, an engineer at EADS Astrium* at its Bordeaux site in France, and head of the “DECLIC” experiment, which will take place onboard the American module Destiny to study fluids and other transparent environments. The answer in a nutshell, “remote-control science”. “The actions of the crew have to be reduced to a minimum. Don’t forget that at the moment just three astronauts are permanently onboard the ISS, with an immense workload. So they can only commit just a few percent of their time to this type of experiment. Their task will be to install the system for the experiment and to regularly replace the samples. All the rest will be implemented by remote-control science, from Earth, by giving instructions to the automated instruments onboard. For EPM, CADMOS (the Centre for Aid in Developing Activities in Microgravity and Space Operations) in Toulouse will be in charge.”
