Page 111 - International Space Station Benefits for Humanity, 3rd edition.

Textiles would have to be specially adapted for use
in space—new fabrics with better thermal and sweat
management need to maintain the astronauts’ cooling Adequate, quality sleep is
mechanism and reduce microbiological contamination important for overall health and
on the spacecraft.
physical and cognitive performance
for astronauts and people on Earth.
Sleepwear with a Purpose
Traveling in space represents a dream come true
for astronauts; however, these crew members
do not always have sweet dreams while there.
In fact, astronauts experience poor sleep quality. during sleep and how these mechanics are related to
An investigation aboard the ISS looked for the autonomic activity, which can be identified by analyzing
reasons why. specific patterns in the heart rate.
Wearable Monitoring—an investigation that is part of Current methods of measuring these patterns
the Italian Space Agency (ASI) Futura Mission—used require waking the subject. However, ESA astronaut
a smart garment to unobtrusively collect data on sleep Samantha Cristoforetti demonstrated that the garment
physiology during spaceflight. did not interfere with sleep by wearing it for seven in-
Based on research that was conducted on Earth, flight sleep recordings taken over several months.
researchers suspect that abnormal activation of The lightweight, cotton vest is embedded with sensors
the autonomic nervous system might interfere with made of textile silver-coated fibers—a technology called
sleep during spaceflight. The investigation looked MagIC-Space. The sensors monitored traditional vital
at the effects of microgravity on cardiac mechanics signs—i.e., electrocardiograms (ECG), respiration,

(a) (b) (c)

(d)

The MagIC-Space system. (a) the vest with its components; (b) the inner part of the vest with the
ECG textile electrodes, the textile respiratory sensor and the thermometric probe for measuring
skin temperature; (c) the electronic module, including the sensor for the assessment of the
seismocardiogram; (d) the battery box for the power supply.
Image credit: Marco Di Rienzo, Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi, Milano, Italy

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