Astronauts4Hire and Vital Space Team Up for Biometric Monitoring Flights

Online, February 22, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Astronauts4Hire and partner company Vital Space will test a new biometric monitoring system designed for use by spaceflight participants on a May 2012 reduced gravity parabolic flight campaign in Houston, Texas. They will undergo up to four flights with 40 parabolas each granting 25 seconds of near zero-gravity. The project is facilitated by NASA's Flight Opportunities Program, to which Vital Space and Astronauts4Hire submitted a successful joint proposal chosen by NASA in October 2011 titled, "A demonstrated application of a cost effective and novel platform for non-invasive acquisition of physiologic variables from spaceflight participant candidates."

"The growth of suborbital spaceflight reflects a unique opportunity to capture and quantify the physiologic variables related to human performance in demanding environments," said Vital Space President and project Principal Investigator Dr. Ravi Komatireddy. "Given recent advancements in wireless medical devices, real time acquisition and monitoring of physiologic data is now possible. We are proud to be working with Astronauts4Hire to test the ViSi MobileTM Monitoring Platform for use by spaceflight participants."

The ViSi MobileTM System from Sotera Wireless has the capability to reliably capture critical physiological metrics such as continuous noninvasive blood pressure, arterial oxygen saturation, heart rate, respiratory rate, skin temperature and multi-lead electrocardiogram. Additional data from integrated accelerometers and a display will be used to remotely view, control, and assess physiologic response.

The upcoming initial parabolic flight tests will be used to collect performance and operational data on Astronauts4Hire research subjects, under direct supervision of members of the Vital Space team. The data will aid in the assessment of preflight fitness, in-flight physiological dynamics, and post-flight physiological recovery for spaceflight participants.

The May 2012 flights will be Astronauts4Hire's second microgravity research project. In February 2011, Astronauts4Hire carried out its first research flight with Vostok Pty Ltd to investigate the effects of alcohol absorption in microgravity.