An Israeli startup will soon conduct a first-of-its-kind brain health experiment in space, the company announced this week.
Brain.Space will launch its EEG experiment beginning April 2 in the International Space Station to determine whether there are changes in the astronauts’ cognitive functions and to characterize their dynamics.
The company, co-founded and run by Yair Levy and Israel Deutsch, is based in Tel Aviv.
The study will lay the groundwork for the formulation of an assessment for future missions of how well astronauts adapt to the new environments in space.
The experiment, to run through April 8, will be carried out using the company’s proprietary EEG-enabled headset, as operated by the astronauts of Axion-1 (AX-1), Brain.Space said.
“The Brain.Space neurowellness system is a portable electroencephalography (EEG) headset that will observe differences in cognitive performance of a subject in 1-g versus micro-g, when exposed to similar stimuli.
“The ability to analyze brain waves can be an essential component in making cognitive diagnosis and monitoring the neuro-health of crews in space,” the company said.
The experiment is designed and will be performed with the support of Ben Gurion University’s Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, with the headset and all related hardware soft-stowed and launched on a SpaceX Dragon rocket.
“During its operation in the US Lab of the International Space Station (ISS), the brain.space headset will record and analyze neurological activity of crewmembers in order to determine whether results obtained in microgravity are different from those achieved on the ground,” the company said in a statement on its website.
“Upon completion of the mission, all hardware will be placed back into its original launch stowage configuration for return on the next available flight back to Earth.”
The company said it is participating in the Ramon Foundation’s Rakia Mission, which is sending 30 groundbreaking experiments to the International Space Station with Israel’s second astronaut, Eytan Stibbe.
“Brain.Space has set itself the goal to become the standard for monitoring neurowellness in space,” the company said.
“There is currently no high-quality longitudinal data regarding the neural changes in prolonged space missions. Such information can be vital in assessing day-to-day plastic changes in the brain and predicting how the brain will adapt to long-term space travel.”
