Quantifying and modelling adaptive astronaut movement : motion strategies for long-duration spaceflight missions

Past spaceflight experience has shown that astronauts adapt their motor control strategies to microgravity movements after approximately four weeks of microgravity exposure. A similar (but typically shorter) re-adaptation period is required upon return to Earth or partial gravity environment such as the Moon or Mars. During these adaptation periods, astronaut performance is considerably degraded and can lead to falls and mission-threatening injuries. This dissertation describes a research program to quantitatively study the dynamics and control aspects of human motor control adaptation to a spectrum of gravity environments. The key hypotheses of this research were that a) locomotor control adaptation could be observed following short exposure (on the order of hours) to a different dynamic environment and b) the observed adaptation could be predicted using a single model that applied to a spectrum of gravitational environments. Experiments were conducted on a 1-G air-bearing floor microgravity simulator and underwater to provide contrasting dynamic and gravitational environments. Subjects performed leg push-offs and hand landings to demonstrate their control strategies as they adapted.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Ferguson, Philip Andrew, 1976-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Dava J. Newman.

• Aeronautics and Astronautics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36176

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/36176