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The space science experiments

The European Space Agency has an impressive space science program. Accordingly, one of the main objectives of the Eneide mission is to complete an ambitious scientific and technology demonstration program. The mission includes 22 research payloads. Over the last few months, Roberto and I received training on each of these payloads. The Eneide research teams explained the objectives of their experiments to us. Working in simulators and laboratories, Roberto and I became proficient with the experiment hardware, software and procedures. In addition, we participated in baseline data collection for the human physiology experiments so that any in-flight physiological effects could be compared to ground-based "control" data.

While all 22 of the Eneide experiments are interesting, I will highlight just four of them: the Hand Posture Analyzer, the Eye Tracking Device, Crickets in Space, and Lazio.

The Hand Posture Analyzer (HPA) experiment will study arm motion and muscle function in weightlessness. One of the HPA protocols will investigate how the nervous system performs reaching and grasping tasks in weightlessness.

Another HPA protocol will assess forearm muscle performance during exertion of sustained force, with and without visual feedback. Special handgrip and pinch force dynamometers have been developed to enable data collection.

The results of the Hand Posture Analyzer experiment may help researchers develop countermeasures to hand and forearm fatigue, which is common among spacewalking astronauts who must work in the restrictive EVA (extra-vehicular activity) space suits.

The ETD (Eye Tracking Device) is another interesting Eneide payload. On Earth, eye movements are dependent on inputs from the body's vestibular system, which controls the body's balance, orientation and posture. Space scientists seek to better understand how the vestibular system adapts to weightlessness and how this relates to the occurrence of space sickness.

Every time I don the ETD head unit, I have the urge to shout "boo!" The ETD head unit may resemble a Halloween mask but it is actually a sophisticated means to measure eye and head movements in space with great accuracy and precision. ETD is unique in that it measures torsional eye movements in addition to left-right and up-down movements.

Roberto will not be the only European in space. He will be accompanied by 14 crickets! The objective of the CRISP (Crickets in Space) experiment is to study the development of embryos in weightlessness. In particular, the CRISP investigators wish to learn how embryonic neurons develop. Crickets were chosen for this experiment since their neurons are easy to identify. There is also a simple behavioural test that can be performed on crickets after the mission to assess their neurological function.

In the photo, I am holding one of two cricket containers. The top portion of each container will house seven female crickets and provide them with food and water. When Roberto arrives at the Station, he will open three cylindrical egg-deposition chambers within the bottom portion of each container. The females will then lay their eggs (up to 400 are expected!) in these chambers. The resulting larvae will spend half of their 16-day gestation period in weightlessness before returning to Earth.

(By the way, in case you are wondering, only male crickets chirp. Since the CRISP crickets are all female, the Space Station crew should not be disturbed in their sleep!)

Lazio, the name of the region around Rome, is also the name of an experiment that will study the ionizing radiation and magnetic environment inside the ISS. In the photo, the large silver box on the table is a cosmic ray detector that includes scintillators and silicon photomultipliers. Roberto will set up the detector in the PIRS docking module to characterize the Station's radiation environment. Periodically he will place various shielding materials on the top and bottom of the device to test their effectiveness in shielding cosmonauts and astronauts from the harmful effects of ionizing radiation.

You will note that the Lazio principal investigator in the photo is holding a black rod. This rod is a highly accurate magnetometer; this will be set up near the Lazio cosmic ray detector to measure the intensity and variations of the magnetic field associated with the Van Allen radiation belts. It has been hypothesized that instabilities in the Van Allen belts might be associated with impending earthquakes on Earth.