Four astronauts from Axiom Space will take SpaceX’s manned Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. On Monday, Israeli start-up Brain. Space said it would detect changes in brain activity in three of its astronauts in space.
Brain. Space is a 4-year-old startup that studies brain activity data. Next week, SpaceX will use the Crew Dragon spacecraft to send four astronauts from American commercial aerospace company Axiom Space to the International Space Station. The ten-day mission is also Axiom Space’s first private space mission.
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Moreover, the Brain. Space said it plans to monitor the brain waves of three of its astronauts using special helmets made by the company itself.
Yair Levy, CEO of Brain. Space, said, “We actually know that microgravity affects the body’s physiology. So, it may also affect the brain, and we want to monitor that.”
People have been collecting data on heart rate, skin resistance, muscle mass, and other physiological data about the human body in space, but data on brain activity has not been collected, he said. Brain. Space participated in more than 30 experiments on the ISS “Rakia” mission.
Furthermore, three astronauts, including Israeli Eytan Stibbe, will wear special helmets during the space activities and spend 20 minutes a day on multiple tasks. The helmet has 460 sensors attached to the scalp, and the brainwave data will be uploaded to a laptop on the International Space Station during the astronaut’s mission while wearing the helmet.
The astronauts’ planned missions include a series of quirky-looking tasks, including “visual quirks.” The company says these tasks are effective at detecting abnormal brain activity.
Similar research on these missions has been done on the ground. After the entire space mission, Brain. Space will compare human EEG data in different environments to observe differences in human brain activity between Earth and space environments.
Brain. Space notes that such experiments are necessary because of long-term space exploration and “alien life within reach.”
Besides, Brain. Space also said it raised $8.5 million in a seed round. The company bills itself as a brain infrastructure company and is currently working with the Cognitive and Brain Sciences Department at Ben-Gurion University in Israel to turn massive amounts of data into usable guidelines.
Levy said he hopes the space mission will spur greater use of the company’s brain data platform by other agencies, researchers, and software developers. Levy cited feasibility studies such as testing for ADHD. “Space is an accelerator,” he said. “The idea of enabling brain activity apps, products, and services as simple as pulling data from an Apple Watch is completely disruptive.”
