Nasa is offering to pay $18000 to participants for a clinical trial that requires the participants to stay in bed for 70 days.
The participants will have to be in the bed rest facility of NASA’s Flight Analogs Research Unit (FARU) at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX. The study is for 70 days but the commitment will be for close to 100 days.
For 70 days the participants will have to lay in bed, head slightly tilted up and legs in a lifted position. The participants will have to be in bed the whole time, only breaks are given for standard tests.
Scientists’ will observe how the bodies change over 70 days. The objective of the study is to devise ways to keep the astronauts healthy without exercise and any movement.
Subjects in this study will be tested on set of seven functional tests (Functional Task Tests) and a corresponding set of physiological measures before and after 70 days of bed rest. Results of the study will help us
- Understand which mission tasks might be affected by changes in physiology during space flight,
- Understand how physiological changes map to a person’s ability to do a particular task, and
- Design countermeasures to prevent or minimize impairment to these physiological systems
The study will also evaluate the effectiveness of a new exercise program to maintain muscle size and strength, bone health, and cardiovascular function during 70 days of bed rest. The exercise program is called the countermeasure and functional testing (CFT) study.
Not everybody is qualified to be a participant in the trial. Couch potatoes certainly aren’t. NASA takes those people who are of ideal health and who exercise on a regular basis.