A re-investigation of the role of utricular asymmetries in Space Motion Sickness

During the first days of spaceflight, about 50-70% of the astronauts experience symptoms of Space Motion Sickness (SMS). It has been proposed that an asymmetry between the left and right otolith organs contributes to an astronaut's individual susceptibility. A recently developed test to measure unilateral utricular function enabled us to re...

The DESDEMONA Motion Facility: Applications for Space Research

The research facility DESDEMONA features a unique motion platform, combining a fully gimbaled cabin with the capability of producing sustained g-loads. Originally designed for ground-based simulation as well as training of spatial disorientation in aviation, the motion capabilities are also interesting for other areas. In this paper we will...

The large radius human centrifuge 'A human hypergravity habitat, H ³

Over the last decades a significant body of knowledge has been gained on the adaptation of the human body going into near weightlessness conditions as well as for the re-adaptation to 1xg Earth conditions after an orbital space flight. Ground-based paradigms for microgravity simulation have been developed such as head down tilted bed rest or dry...

Orientation of Listing’s plane after hypergravity in humans

Adaptation to a novel gravitational state involves adaptation of vestibular mediated responses, in particular those mediated by the otolith organs. The present paper investigates whether the orientation of Listing’s plane, which is under control of otolith signals, is affected by sustained exposure to hypergravity. Subjects were exposed to four...

Ground-based research on vestibular adaption to G-level transitions

At TNO research is ongoing on neuro-vestibular adaptation to altered G-levels. It is well-known that during the first days in weightlessness 50-80% of all astronauts suffer from the Space Adaptation Syndrome (SAS), which involves space motion sickness, spatial disorientation and motion illusions. After return on Earth the problems re-appear, but...

Velocity storage activity is affected after sustained centrifugation: a relationship with spatial disorientation

Prolonged exposure to hypergravity in a human centrifuge can lead to post-rotary spatial disorientation and motion sickness. These symptoms are mainly provoked by tilting head movements and resemble the Space Adaptation Syndrome. We hypothesized that the occurrence of these post-rotary effects might be related to changes in the velocity storage ...

Sickness induced by head movements after different centrifugal Gx-loads and durations

It has been found that sustained centrifugation on Earth may evoke sickness symptoms that are similar to those of the Space Adaptation Syndrome (SAS). As in SAS, incidence of this ‘Sickness Induced by Centrifugation’ (SIC) is about 50% and the symptoms are particularly evoked by head movements. By systematically varying the G-load and duration...

Ocular torsion before and after 1 hour centrifugation

To assess a possible otolith contribution to effects observed following prolonged expo-sure to hyper gravity, we used video-oculography to measure ocular torsion during static and dynamic conditions of lateral body tilt (roll) before and after one hour of centrifugation with a Gx-load of 3G. Static tilt (from 0 to 57 deg. to either side) showed...