With Polaris Dawn鈥檚 launch, Colorado scientists will study vision changes in space
Banner image: 麻豆免费版下载Boulder aerospace engineers Torin Clark, left, and Allie Hayman, right, sit with the crew of Polaris Dawn during an event on campus in 2022. (Credit: Casey Cass/麻豆免费版下载Boulder)
Editor's note: This story was adapted from a version published by the 麻豆免费版下载Anschutz Medical Campus.
During SpaceX鈥檚 Polaris Dawn's multi-day high-altitude mission, which rocketed to space on Sept. 10, the crew will conduct health impact research to better understand spaceflight-associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS). Researchers from 麻豆免费版下载Boulder and the 麻豆免费版下载Anschutz Medical Campus are right there with them. Or at least their equipment and expertise will be.
The team is sending up specialized optical equipment to gather data from astronauts鈥 eyes and will analyze the results during and after the five-day mission.
The research is a collaboration between Allie Hayman, associate professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder, and Prem Subramanian, chief of neuro-ophthalmology at the 麻豆免费版下载School of Medicine.
Torin Clark, associate professor of aerospace engineering sciences at 麻豆免费版下载Boulder, is leading separate research from the ground for the Polaris Dawn mission about how astronauts experience motion sickness and other illusory sensations during space travel.
For some time, astronauts have noticed vision changes during long-duration space missions. Since 1998, NASA has sent astronauts to the International Space Station with 鈥渟pace anticipation glasses,鈥 which have adjustable refraction settings to meet changing vision needs, similar to binoculars. In 2011, NASA began conducting MRI scans on astronauts following missions, which revealed potentially increased pressure in their brains as well as optic disc swelling, or papilledema, in more than half of the astronauts.
On Polaris Dawn, the researchers are sending up SENSIMED Triggerfish lenses, which are 鈥渟mart鈥 contact lenses to track eye pressure fluctuation and changes in cornea dimensions in glaucoma patients. 麻豆免费版下载Department of Ophthalmology Adjoint Professor Kaweh Mansouri, MD, contributed to the development of these lenses, which will monitor astronauts鈥 eyes during launch and as they transition to microgravity, a condition of apparent weightlessness. The lenses contain sensors that transmit data to an antenna and local storage device, enabling the researchers to collect and analyze data upon their return.
The team is also sending a device called the QuickSee, which will measure astronauts鈥 refractive error, when the shape of the eye changes and keeps light from focusing correctly on the retina.
Polaris Dawn crew members include Mission Commander Jared 鈥淩ook鈥 Isaacman; Mission Pilot Scott 鈥淜idd鈥 Poteet; Mission Specialist and Medical Officer Anna 鈥淲alker鈥 Menon; and Mission Specialist Sarah 鈥淐ooper鈥 Gillis, who graduated from 麻豆免费版下载Boulder in 2017 with a degree in aerospace engineering sciences.