ASSESSMENT OF ENDURANCE CAPACITY BY GAS EXCHANGE AND HEART RATE KINETICS DURING
PHYSICAL TRAINING (EKE)
Research Area: Cardiovascular and Respiratory Systems
Expedition(s): 19-ongoing
Principal Investigator(s): ● Uwe Hoffmann, German Sport University, Cologne, Germany
● Stefanos Fasoulas, PhD, University of Dresden, Dresden,
Germany
● Dieter Essfeld, German Sport University, Cologne, Germany
Tobias Dräger, German Sport University, Cologne, Germany
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
Assessment of Endurance Capacity by Gas
Exchange and Heart Rate Kinetics During
Physical Training (EKE) assesses the
endurance capacity and heart rate kinetics
during physical training of International
Space Station crew members. The current
VO2Max protocol for determining astronaut
fitness on a regular basis is quite time
consuming. If EKE is successful in reducing
the time spent on fitness evaluation in orbit,
this will free up more time to be spent on
other activities such as scientific research.
Another goal of EKE is the development of a
physiological model to explore the transport
delay of the deoxygenated blood from the
exercising muscle tissue to the lungs. This
approach permits differentiation between
the responses of heart, lungs, and exercising
muscles for a more specific training
prescription.
EARTH BENEFITS
Data from this research also helps to
improve our knowledge in general of the
physiological mechanisms at work during
the assessment of endurance capacity. The
improvement of diagnostic techniques in
space could also lead to improved
diagnostic techniques of endurance capacity on Earth where VO2max is a standard technique.
(^) NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Expedition 30 flight engineer,
performs a joint session of the European Space Agency’s
(ESA) Thermolab and Assessment of Endurance
Capacity by Gas Exchange and Heart Rate Kinetics
During Physical Training experiments in conjunction with
NASA’s VO2max experiment while using the Cycle
Ergometer with Vibration Isolation System in the Destiny
laboratory of the International Space Station. ESA/NASA
image.