NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Overview | Description | Applications | Operations | Results | Publications | Images

Experiment/Payload Overview

Brief Summary

Bodies in the Space Environment: Relative Contributions of Internal and External Cues to Self-Orientation, During and After Zero Gravity Exposure (BISE) will evaluate adaptation to, the effect of, and recovery from long-duration microgravity exposure on the perception of orientation of ISS crewmembers.

Principal Investigator

Laurence R. Harris, Ph.D., York University, North York, Ontario, Canada

Co-Investigator(s)/Collaborator(s)

Richard Dyde, Ph.D., York University, North York, Ontario, Canada

Heather L. Jenkin, Ph.D., York University, North York, Ontario, Canada

Michael R. Jenkin, Ph.D., York University, North York, Ontario, Canada

Andrew M. Liu, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Charles M. Oman, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Jim Zacher, York University, North York, Ontario, Canada

Payload Developer

York University, North York, Ontario, Canada
Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, Toulouse, France

Sponsoring Agency

Canadian Space Agency (CSA)

Expeditions Assigned

|19|20|21|22|

Previous ISS Missions

Increment 19/20 was the first mission for BISE.

^ back to top

---

Experiment/Payload Description

Research Summary

• Bodies in the Space Environment: Relative Contributions of Internal and External Cues to Self-Orientation, During and After Zero Gravity Exposure (BISE) will conduct experiments during long-duration microgravity conditions to better understand how humans first adapt to microgravity and then re-adapt to normal gravity conditions upon return to Earth.



• BISE involves comparisons of preflight, inflight, and postflight perceptions and mental imagery, with special reference to space flight-related decreases in the vertical component of percepts.

Description

The Bodies in the Space Environment: Relative Contributions of Internal and External Cues to Self-Orientation, During and After Zero Gravity Exposure (BISE) investigation involves having subjects view a computer screen through a cylinder that blocks all other visual information. The subjects will be presented with various background images containing different up and down orientations, on top of which they'll see a letter that could be either a "p" or a "d" depending on its orientation. Crewmembers will indicate which letter they see to determine the transition point at which they can't recognize the letter.

This BISE test will enable the researchers to measure the relative importance of visual and body cues to the subjects? perception of "up" and measure the influence of various cues and demonstrate which ones are the most important. The scientists are also studying the process by which the brain combines multiple pieces of information about the same thing and produce the correct answer.

BISE will conduct experiments during long-duration microgravity conditions on the International Space Station to better understand how humans first adapt to microgravity and then readapt to normal gravity conditions upon return to earth. BISE will also establish a relationship between different measures of orientation perception: OCHART, shape-from-shading and luminous line and whether these may be differently influenced preflight and postflight.

Studies done in an aircraft that produce brief periods of microgravity suggest that, in the absence of gravity, people rely more on body cues than vision to tell them which way is up. This study will examine whether the same is true on the Space Station. Scientists noted that the Station can be "tricky" because it contains different modules that are not all in a straight line. An astronaut in one module who perceives the floor to be where their feet are may become disoriented when they float into another module. Crewmembers often go through a right angle to go between one module and another, therefore whatever corresponds to the ground in one module will not necessarily match in another module. Scientist stated that these issues may also affect astronauts during spacewalks. When the astronauts go outside of the spacecraft, they must adjust their orientation and use whatever visual cues they have.

^ back to top

---

Applications

Space Applications

Findings from the BISE experiment are expected to help to learn more about how astronauts perceive up and down in microgravity, thus creating a safer work environment in space. BISE uses the space environment to improve the safety of space travel by designing countermeasures against specific problems.

Earth Applications

Tools developed for the BISE experiment can also help people on Earth who experience balancing problems or are prone to falling, including seniors and people with conditions such as Parkinson?s disease.

^ back to top

---

Operations

Operational Requirements

ISS crewmembers will perform sessions preflight, inflight and postflight. For the inflight sessions ISS crewmembers will have to setup the hardware prior to each session.

Operational Protocols

BISE preflight baseline data collection (BDC) is planned to occur anytime within launch minus (L-) 180 +/- 40 days. The preflight session consists of 1 session per subject for a duration of 1.8 hours. The inflight sessions are planned for 105 minutes per subject per session. Four inflight sessions are planned per increment. One Flight Day (FD) session (Session 1) per each half of the increment is planned for FD+10 (+/-5) days, and one Return (R) session (Session 2) is planned per each half of the increment during R-15 (+/-10) days. A minimum of 60 days is required between Sessions 1 and 2 during the first half of the increment. Two postflight BDC sessions are required consisting of 2 sessions per subject for 2.1 hours each at R+15 +/- 5 and R+60 +/- 15. No early retrieval is required.

^ back to top

---

Results/More Information

Information Pending

^ back to top

---

Related Web Sites

^ back to top

---

Publications

Results Publications

• Dyde RT, Jenkin MR, Jenkin HL, Zacher JE, Harris LR. The effect of altered gravity states on the perception of orientation. Experimental Brain Research. 2009 ;194(4):647-660.
• Haji-Khamneh B, Harris LR. How long do intrinsic and extrinsic visual cues take to exert their effect on the perceptual upright? Vision Research. 2009 ;49(16):2131-2139.

^ back to top

---

Related Publications

^ back to top

---

Images

BISE operations on KC-135. Image courtesy of CSA.
+ View Larger Image


NASA Image: ISS019E005704 Astronaut Michael Barratt,Expedition 19/20 flight engineer,performs the BISE experiment in the Destiny laboratory module.
+ View Larger Image


Information Provided and Updated by the ISS Program Scientist's Office