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Active TRL 5 (started at 3, targeting 6)
The purpose of this task is to develop a portable training system to be used preflight that will prepare crews for the vestibular disruptions typically experienced following g-transitions. This will be accomplished using the enhanced phase-2 funding to Soterix Medical Inc, who are developing an inertial measurement unit (IMU)-coupled galvanic vestibular stimulator (GVS) device under NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR). Mars Campaign Office (MCO) is partnering with the Human Research Program (HRP) Human Health Countermeasures (HHC) Element and the SBIR program to provide matching funds for an enhanced Phase 2 under which Soterix will deliver training units to deploy to various stakeholders. Neuroscience Laboratory (NSL) personnel will provide technical guidance to Soterix to ensure the resulting training units are operationally feasible. This MCO task will also develop the operational procedures to enable the system’s usage by stakeholders within NASA, including any other scientists and engineers examining human operation of aerospace vehicles under degraded vestibular conditions. The initial implementation of this system will be with manual landing skills-based training to provide vestibular disruption similar to that which will be experienced by crews following g-transition to provide a higher-fidelity simulation and prepare crews for the task of piloting a vehicle following g-transition.
The simulations from this project can be used 1) across research studies investigating the impacts of vestibular disruption on operational performance/assessments, 2) to train astronauts for upcoming spaceflight missions, and 3) to educate space medicine and operational personnel prior to providing post-flight support.
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