Active Bioelectronic Sensing-Compression Spacesuit for Microgravity Adaptation and Cardiovascular Deconditioning
Irmandy Wicaksono, Ali Shtarbanov, Rebecca Slater, Esha Ranade and Joseph Paradiso
It is known that prolonged exposure to microgravity induces various acute health risks, including osteoporosis, skeletal muscle atrophy and fatigue, and cardiovascular deconditioning. Providing continuous medical check-ups and interventions for astronauts throughout their journey in outer space and after their return to Earth is, therefore, imperative. Without the influence of gravity, hydrostatic bodily fluid pressure gradients vanish, and blood distribution shifts from the astronaut's legs towards their upper body. The Peristaltic (PS) Suit is an active bioelectronic intra vehicular activity spacesuit that can simultaneously perform multi-modal, distributed physical and physiological sensing, as well as exert spatiotemporal and peristaltic pressure across the body to normalize cardiovascular flow. The integration of both wireless biosensing and pneumatic actuation systems in the PS-Suit facilitates a closed-loop and timely response to astronauts, and enables researchers to correspondingly study the direct influence of active-dynamic compression during relevant environmental conditions, such as microgravity, on various physiological markers
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