2019, Volume 25, Issue 4

USING A STATE-OF-THE-ART HUMAN CENTRIFUGE TO SIMULATE ACCELERATION PROFILE OF ROCKET LAUNCH AND ATMOSPHERE RE-ENTRY: PROOF OF CONCEPT

MATEUSZ M. HARASYMCZUK¹, STEFAN P. GAŹDZIŃSKI², AGATA M. KOŁODZIEJCZYK¹, ARKADIUSZ TRZOS³, ROBERT KILIAN⁴, TADEUSZ GRZESZUK⁴, MAREK GĄSIK⁴, KRZYSZTOF KOWALCZUK⁴
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¹Analog Astronaut Training Center
²Creative Neuroscience Lab – CNS Lab, Military Institute of Aviation Medicine
³Collegium Medicum, Department of Disaster and Emergency Medicine, Jagiellonian University
⁴Department of Simulator Studies and Aeromedical Training, Military Institute of Aviation Medicine


Autor korenspondencyjny: KRZYSZTOF KOWALCZUK; Department of Simulator Studies and Aeromedical Training, Military Institute of Aviation Medicine; email: kkowalczuk@wiml.waw.pl

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Streszczenie

Abstract: Astronauts and Cosmonauts who so far were carefully selected and both highly skilled and trained will no longer be the sole space fliers. In the advent of space tourism, implementation of methods allowing for fast and cost-effective medical evaluation and preparation for space flight is inevitable. In this document, we describe a simulator training, utilizing a programmable military human centrifuge (HC), allowing for both medical evaluation and acquaintance of future space tourism. The procedures and evaluation have been implemented and flight-tested on a programmable HC. It includes elements of hypergravity training and simulations of real-life rocket start and capsule atmosphere re-entry profiles. This training was implemented on three subjects with positive results and without impacting their health, performance, and wellbeing. Such training may become disruptive innovation that reduce costs of preparing space tourists for the real space flight.

Słowa kluczowe

ascent and re-entry into the atmosphere, flight simulator, human centrifuge, heart rate, physiological responses