A big giant machine of the US Navy Kraken will now be used by NASA’s scientists to help them to study the various physical experience faced by Astronauts.
NASA’s scientists now collaborating again with the US Navy, previously they are collaborate in the 1960s and 1970s. They not only study the motion sickness experiences by the astronauts but also the vertigo patients on Earth.
NASA’s Human Research Program or HRP uses the best methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. HRP’s main mission is to keep the astronauts healthy and mission ready and their studies will assist the astronauts to expand to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
US Navy Kraken Machine
A big giant US Navy Kraken machine is a disorientation device that weighs a quarter of million pounds with 4,500 horsepower. It simulated the motion and disorientation. It actually moves the participants in a swirling motion like laundry churning in the washing machine.
It simulated the experience of humans in various vehicles like flights, jet flights, fighter planes, and now even spacecraft. It assists researchers to evaluate the human physiological and psychological experience in submarines, flights, and other oceanic and space vehicles.
This masterpiece is presented at the Captain Ashton Graybiel Acceleration Research Facility at Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.
How This US Navy Kraken Machine Helps the NASA Team to Studied About Astronauts’ Motion Sickness
Every astronaut of NASA experience motion sickness while flying on the spacecraft and even after returning to Earth. Their symptoms include – dizziness, spinning, nausea, vertigo, etc., which is difficult for them to carry out the tasks such as landing and exiting the spacecraft.
The device simulated the spacecraft experience faced by the astronauts, researchers wanted to study NASA’s astronauts’ experiencing dizziness and vertigo issues.
NASA astronaut Douglas Wheelock said “ Shortly after liftoff in the space shuttle, I felt like I was on a merry-go-round as my body hunted for what was up, down, left, and right,” Crew must prepare for the confusion that they will likely undergo during these gravitational transitions.”
NASA’s Johnsons Space Centre in Houston Laura Bolweg said “ The first time I saw the Kraken in person, I was impressed by how large and agile the machine is,” “With the ability to move six directions on its axis, the device can simulate complex flight scenarios that are difficult to recreate on Earth, including landing scenarios that could induce vertigo and nausea.”
The Future Study to Conduct on NASA’s Astronauts and Vertigo Patients
In an upcoming study NASA and Navy scientists will recruit 24 active duty service members to ride in the Kraken for 60 minutes. The Kraken will then spin them at acceleration reaching three times the force of gravity to simulate what astronauts experience when they first return to Earth.
When they exit the machine 12 volunteers will perform the head turns and tilts while wearing video goggles that track their head and eye movements. The technology measures their heart rates and it measures how much participants blink.
The remaining Kraken riders will not perform any head movements protocols. After that all volunteers will then complete four tasks – these four task includes -:
- These astronauts test their balance by standing on foam with eyes open and closed
- Their speed walk nearly 10 meter
- Their endurance on a two-minute walk
- The length of time they take to finish a standing and walking test
These tasks would be easy but after a ride, they felt dizzy and it’ll take them longer to perform these tasks.
The same set of experiments and protocols they perform for patients with vertigo issues. The studies will help the researchers to provide the astronauts to adapt the specific protocols to help them quickly adapt to gravitational changes during spaceflight said Schubert.
Michael Schubert suggests that “Anecdotes from astronauts suggest that performing slight head movements helps them recover a sense of balance more quickly,” “Tests with the Kraken will allow us to rigorously determine what head movements, if any, help astronauts to quickly recover their sense of balance.”