STUDYING THE BODY'S PHYSIOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS USING A NON-CONTACT
METHOD DURING SLEEP DURING LONG-TERM SPACE FLIGHT (SONOCARD)
Research Area: Cardiovascular and Respiratory Systems
Expedition(s): 16- 34
Principal Investigator(s): ● Irina I. Funtova, PhD, Institute of Medical and Biological
Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The Studying the Body’s Physiological Functions Using a Non-contact Method During Sleep
During Long-term Space Flight (Sonocard) studies the sleep-wake cycle in humans spending a
prolonged period in space. Sonocard develops proposals to improve the system for medical
monitoring of crew members, based on the use of a non-contact method of recording
physiological data during sleep. During the Sonocard, microscopic oscillations associated with
heart rate, respiration, and motor activity are recorded. The study focuses on cardiorespiratory
homeostasis and mechanisms for regulating the cardiorespiratory system.
EARTH BENEFITS
The results obtained are useful in various fields of medicine: clinical and preventive medicine,
environmental medicine, and medicine for extreme environments.
SPACE BENEFITS
Implementation of the experiment has
opened the door to creating a fundamentally
new type of medical monitoring system, one
that allows the acquisition of information
necessary for assessing the functional status
of the crew during nighttime, with a minimal
amount of work time required for performing
medical experiments. In addition, this system
could become an important element for
assuring safety of manned flights, since it
allows for the transition from periodic to
constant monitoring.RESULTS
The main scientific result of the Sonocard experiment was confirmation of the capability to
evaluate sleep quality and the effectiveness of restoring functional reserves without the use of
cumbersome polysomnography equipment and the reality of using this new approach to
perform practical tasks of medical monitoring. Fundamental scientific results included obtaining
systematic data on pulse and respiratory rate during sleep in long-term microgravity and
obtaining systematic data on the status of various elements of the involuntary regulation
system during sleep in long-term weightlessness. Sonocard was also used in determining the
Russian cosmonaut put the Sonocard device into
place before sleep during performance of the
Pneumocard experiment during spaceflight.
Roscosmos image.