Project Name: Muscle Stimulation

Customer: ESA (prime contractor)

Objective: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation to enhance the exercise benefits for muscle functions during spaceflight.

Description: 

Muscle atrophy and the associated rapid decline in exercise capacity are still a concern for crew-health and their operational proficiency during prolonged space missions. Despite the success of exercise to sustain astronaut health and performance in spaceflight, these countermeasures are time consuming and do not entirely prevent muscle wasting and weakness. Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is a well-recognized efficient modality to potentiate muscle performance in athletes and healthy individuals, and to combat muscle atrophy during prolonged periods of disuse, immobilization, injury, or in patients affected by chronic diseases. The goal of this project is to apply inflight an evidence-based NMES protocol and assess the benefits of this countermeasure in ISS crew, namely the exercise capacity, and muscle mass and function of the tibialis anterior, quadriceps femoris and triceps surae muscles. Objective of the contract with Kayser Space is to deliver the integration, qualification, acceptance and mission support of a flight demonstration of a Neuromuscular electrical stimulation device and accessories to demonstrate the efficacy of the protocol on the International Space Station (ISS).