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Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques tests the jersey of the Bio-Monitor in orbit during the expedition 58. The portable experiment of the International Space Station aims to monitor vital signs and transmit them to Earth, transmitting information such as blood pressure and heartbeat.
Credit: David Saint-Jacques / Canadian Space Agency
OTTAWA, Ontario – Star Trek fans are familiar with the iconic tricorder that could take any vital sign for astronauts. Although astronauts at the International Space Station do not (yet) have access to this futuristic technology, they are currently testing devices such as a shirt measuring heart rate, temperature, and blood pressure, according to a report. astronaut currently in orbit.
Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques spoke to schoolchildren and the media yesterday (February 7th) at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum via a brief downlink, answering questions. such as the impact of radiation on astronauts and how astronauts stay healthy in space. Microgravity is a nasty problem for astronauts, he explained as he floated in the Japanese Kibo laboratory. Astronauts must spend about 2 hours a day exercising their cardiovascular and muscular system to avoid weakness and damage.
Although the station is not full of great technology like the one the public has seen in "Star Trek," said Saint-Jacques, there are some innovative technologies in the orbiting laboratory. One is a "smart shirt" called Bio-Monitor, whose development was led by Carré Technologies of Montreal. Its purpose is to combine the functions of several devices while remaining discreet enough so that astronauts can wear it while sleeping or doing exercise. The shirt automatically monitors the vital signs of the astronaut, then transmits the information to the Earth. [Expedition 58: The International Space Station Mission in Pictures]
"We hope [it] will become a very common product, "St. James told Space.com during a public Q & A session broadcast with the media, and he did not mean that in the news. This would be very useful for the deployed people. [in the military] … or people stuck at home, [where] it is difficult to go to the hospital. They could have their health checked from a distance. "
Most other ISS medical equipment is "rather conservative", although doctors sometimes get creative by trying to use elements already on the space station to monitor their health problems, a- he added. Then, these creative solutions can also be used on Earth.
"We scratch our heads and invent new methods in stations that we then use in the field," said Saint-Jacques, himself a doctor. "For example, a few years ago, people began to say to themselves," Hm, we do not have X-ray equipment here in the space. How could we know if anyone has a hole in the lungs … without X – ray machine?
"So we found a way to move around in space using an ultrasound machine, because that's what we had," he continued. Now, this is the common practice for many doctors. "Now, that's what we do on Earth to look for perforated lungs.We use an ultrasound machine."
Former Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk (top right) poses with schoolchildren during a new exhibit at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa on February 7, 2019 The exhibition sheds light on the contributions of medical space technology to the health of astronauts and consumers. It also introduces astronaut doctors such as David Saint-Jacques. A flat photo of Saint-Jacques is displayed at the top left.
Credit: Elizabeth Howell
New exhibition
The call of St. James from space coincided with the opening of a new exhibition at the museum, "Health in Space: Daring to Explore". The traveling exhibition deals with several Canadian astronauts who have traveled in space. In addition, the attraction includes artifacts such as scallop images while he was a doctor working in northern Canada, a Bio-Monitor shirt sample, and an example of the Microflow experiment on computer technology. blood test conducted with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield during his mission Expedition 34/35 in 2012-13.
Retired Canadian astronaut, Robert Thirsk, attended the event and briefly introduced a small group of children to the exhibition, explaining how the artifacts exhibited were used for the events. space flights. During the visit, he stopped in front of an exhibition and explained how gravity affects astronauts.
Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques (on screen) calls from the International Space Station a group of schoolchildren at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa February 7, 2019.
Credit: Elizabeth Howell
"It's me in space," he said, showing a picture of himself in 2009, during Expedition 20/21. "I wear glbades to read, and during my first month in space, I realized that I could not see it as well as on the floor." I spoke to him. one of my team mates and he told me that he also had vision problems.I could see the distance but [when] reading the documents closely, I had difficulty. " [The Human Body in Space: 6 Weird Facts]
The vision problem, which Thirsk played a role in his discovery, continues to be a problem for NASA a decade later. What the agency knows for sure is the effects: a pressure on the bottom of the eye pushes the bottom of the eye and causes a change in the focal length, which affects the ability of the astronaut to read in the space, among others. Nobody knows exactly how vision problems occur, but NASA investigates. One of the main suspects is the lack of day-night pressure cycle in the skulls of astronauts when they are in space.
The Saint-Jacques mission will examine a series of Canadian medical technologies. These include Bio-Analyzer (who will perform a near real-time blood test), MARROW (who will investigate whether microgravity causes fat accumulation in the blood marrow) and MicroPrep (which takes body fluids to look for macromolecules such as DNA).
follow us @Spacedotcom and Facebook. Original article on Space.com.
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