Bloodflow measurements during Vivaldi

Researchers tending to a participant of Vivaldi – an experiment investigating dry immersion as a technique for studying microgravity’s impact on the body.

The third Vivaldi campaign kicked off in February with at the Medes space clinic in Toulouse, France, with ten volunteers tucked in waterbeds for ten days.

Dry-immersion baths are used to recreate aspects of living in weightlessness on Earth. Volunteers lay down in containers similar to bathtubs covered with a waterproof fabric to keep them dry and evenly suspended in water. The studies benefit from placing less pressure on the body as volunteers are supported and suspended evenly in the tub, a condition that mimics the floating astronauts experience on the International Space Station.

The results from this type of research does not only benefit astronauts but has implications for people on Earth who are bedridden for long periods of time.