Israel-based startup to test its brain-monitoring helmet on ISS-bound Axiom astronauts

Axiom Space will be launching its Axiom-1 (Ax-1) mission to the International Space Station (ISS), which would be carried out in a SpaceX Dragon capsule on April 6 at 9:35 pm (IST).

Apart from being the first-ever private astronaut mission, the Ax-1 will be special as the crew of four visiting astronauts would conduct different experiments including those to determine the effects of space on humans. One such experiment would be to test an Electroencephalography (EGG) helmet that would monitor changes in the brain of Ax-1 astronauts. 

Purpose of the brain-monitoring helmet

The helmet has been developed by an Israel-based startup brain.space and it works on the EEG method, which is monitoring certain signals produced by the brain. According to the company, the helmet will be used on the Ax-1 astronauts to record and analyse their neurological activity in order to determine whether results obtained in microgravity are different from those achieved on the ground.

The company says that there is currently no high-quality data regarding the neural changes in the brain during prolonged space missions. Data gathered using the EEG helmet would be crucial in tracking day-to-day changes in the brain and would help scientists predict how the brain will adapt to long-term space travel, says brain.space.

The Ax-1 mission is now being targeted for April 6, after being postponed from April 3. NASA, which is also a collaborator in the mission along with SpaceX, said that the postponement is due to the "wet dress rehearsals" for Artemis I being carried out at the Kennedy Space Center- Ax-1's launch site. Once the mission takes off, it would launch a former NASA astronaut with three space tourists for a 10-day-long mission, wherein the crew would spend eights days aboard the ISS. 

The crew members are Axiom VP and ex-NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria, along with entrepreneurs Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Eytan Stibbe. Mission commander Lopez-Alegria would be making his fifth overall spaceflight and third ISS visit whereas his fellow passengers would be on their first space trip. 

(Image: brain.space)