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Project Title:  A Non-Pharmacological Countermeasure Suite for Motion Sickness Induced by Post-Flight Water Landings Reduce
Images: icon  Fiscal Year: FY 2024 
Division: Human Research 
Research Discipline/Element:
HRP HHC:Human Health Countermeasures
Start Date: 01/01/2021  
End Date: 12/31/2023  
Task Last Updated: 11/02/2023 
Download report in PDF pdf
Principal Investigator/Affiliation:   Clark, Torin K. Ph.D. / University of Colorado, Boulder 
Address:  Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences 
3775 Discovery Dr, Rm. AERO N301 
Boulder , CO 80303-7813 
Email: torin.clark@colorado.edu 
Phone: 303-915-2152  
Congressional District:
Web:  
Organization Type: UNIVERSITY 
Organization Name: University of Colorado, Boulder 
Joint Agency:  
Comments: NOTE: PI moved to University of Colorado after NSBRI Postdoctoral Fellowship concluded in late 2015 (Ed., 9/1/17) 
Co-Investigator(s)
Affiliation: 
DiZio, Paul  Ph.D. Brandeis University 
Lawson, Benton  Ph.D. Self 
Oman, Charles  Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Key Personnel Changes / Previous PI: November 2023 report: None.
Project Information: Grant/Contract No. 80NSSC21K0257 
Responsible Center: NASA JSC 
Grant Monitor: Stenger, Michael  
Center Contact: 281-483-1311 
michael.b.stenger@nasa.gov 
Unique ID: 14258 
Solicitation / Funding Source: 2019-2020 HERO 80JSC019N0001-HHCBPSR, OMNIBUS2: Human Health Countermeasures, Behavioral Performance, and Space Radiation-Appendix C; Omnibus2-Appendix D 
Grant/Contract No.: 80NSSC21K0257 
Project Type: GROUND 
Flight Program:  
TechPort: No 
No. of Post Docs:
No. of PhD Candidates:
No. of Master's Candidates:
No. of Bachelor's Candidates:
No. of PhD Degrees:
No. of Master's Degrees:
No. of Bachelor's Degrees:
Human Research Program Elements: (1) HHC:Human Health Countermeasures
Human Research Program Risks: (1) Sensorimotor:Risk of Altered Sensorimotor/Vestibular Function Impacting Critical Mission Tasks
Human Research Program Gaps: (1) SM-202:Develop and test manual control countermeasures, such as vibrotactile assistance vest, and other human factors aids.
(2) SM-203:Develop and test SMS countermeasures.
Task Description: To mitigate astronaut motion sickness during capsule water landings, we aim to assess the benefit of providing Earth-fixed, external visual references, and enabling active postural control to increase head and torso stability, in a series of ground-based laboratory experiments. Re-exposure to Earth gravity, combined with the passive motion of the capsule in the sea is expected to cause varying degrees of motion sickness in most astronauts. In our laboratory experiments, we will use sustained hyper-gravity centrifugation and a visual reorientation paradigm to mimic adaptive responses to gravity-transitions experienced by astronauts. Immediately following, we will use our motion simulators to expose subjects to passive motions relevant for those expected for a capsule at sea. With the standard Motion Sickness Questionnaire, we will first quantify the prevalence, severity, and time course of resulting motion sickness. Next, we will systematically evaluate approaches which have been reported, mostly anecdotally, to benefit terrestrial seasickness, theoretically by helping anticipate the incoming sensory information and reducing the resulting sensory conflict. This includes 1) providing external visual reference cues within the capsule and 2) requiring the subject to try to keep their head and/or torso upright during the passive simulated sea-motion. We hypothesize external visual references will help subjects anticipate inertial motion cues (e.g., vestibular) that are otherwise unpredictable in a closed capsule. Given the emerging relationship between posture and motion sickness, we hypothesize subjects with their head and torso unrestrained and required to maintain alignment with upright during the passive motion stimulation will again help reduce sensory conflict and thus mitigate motion sickness. While these approaches are anecdotally-promising and grounded in sensory conflict theory, they have not been systematically assessed for the scenario of post-flight water landings. Through our experimental evaluations, we will develop a better scientific understanding of the mechanisms of motion sickness induced by post-flight water landings. Our planned countermeasure approaches are readily implementable within the capsule (e.g., providing external visual cues with projection displays or virtual reality) and should have no side effects. In fact, we hypothesize our non-pharmaceutical approaches can lead to reduced dosages of anti-motion sickness medications (e.g., promethazine), which do have undesirable side effects. If successful, these approaches will have substantial significance in reducing astronaut motion sickness post-water landings, which can otherwise impair mission performance and egress.

Research Impact/Earth Benefits: This project focuses on developing countermeasures to mitigate motion sickness experienced by astronauts during water landings post-flight. While our focus is on the unique combination of astronauts experiencing a gravity transition (microgravity to 1 Earth g) along with the passive motion of the capsule produced by ocean waves, our approaches are likely to translate well to terrestrial motion sickness scenarios (e.g., seasickness, carsickness). While terrestrial motion sickness does not include the gravity transition experienced by astronauts, the passive, ocean wave motion is similar to that which often causes some forms of terrestrial motion sickness. Thus, we anticipate that our most promising countermeasures may be effective in helping mitigate some forms of terrestrial motion sickness. To help assess this, we will perform testing with subject cohorts that are exposed to 1) the gravity transition analog, 2) the wave-like motion analog, and 3) the combination of both, which will help us disambiguate the relative contributions of each, but also evaluate the countermeasures during just wave-like motion without the gravity transition (which may be more applicable for terrestrial motion sickness). Since motion sickness is commonly experienced in cars, boats, airplanes, and other paradigms like virtual reality, countermeasures to mitigate motion sickness could have substantial terrestrial benefits.

Task Progress & Bibliography Information FY2024 
Task Progress: In the last year, we made substantial progress on our human subject experiments to assess countermeasures to motion sickness associated with water landings. Programmatically, we have had intermittent virtual team meetings to discuss integrating project objectives, protocol choices, and planned analyses. In Spring 2023, we had an opportunity to meet with some Co-Investigators (Co-Is), NASA scientific advisors, and potential stakeholders (i.e., commercial spaceflight providers). In addition, we had an in-person meeting with some of the Co-Is in Boulder in June 2023, providing an opportunity to review results and plan upcoming experiments, but also to visit laboratory facilities and experience experimental protocols. Then the bulk of the effort has been on implementing, refining, and performing our human subject testing protocols to evaluate countermeasures effectiveness for mitigating motion sickness. We have performed extensive data analysis on our series of experiments. As a major accomplishment, we have published our first peer-reviewed journal paper assessing the impact of virtual reality on reducing motion sickness incidence.

At the University of Colorado-Boulder, we completed testing in two cohort groups, each with 15 subjects enrolled: 1) a visual countermeasure group, which was provided a rich visual scene in virtual reality that moved congruently with their self-motion during the simulated “wave-like” motion, and 2) a control group, who also wore a head-mounted display, but which displayed a stationary (in the field of view) fixation point, and thus no cues regarding self-motion. All subjects experienced the “sickness induced by centrifugation” (SIC) paradigm on our short-radius centrifuge, providing 2Gs for approximately 1 hour. SIC aims at mimicking a gravity transition relevant to spaceflight. Immediately following the SIC paradigm, subjects experience up to 1 hour of the wave-like motion on our Tilt-Translation Sled. These profiles are representative of buoy data near potential water landing sites in terms of frequency content, amplitudes, and coherence of tilt motion versus lateral translation. The results of these studies were published in Experimental Brain Research.

In addition, we have begun testing on two additional potential countermeasures. In one, termed the “postural control” group, subjects have their head and torso unrestrained and are instructed to make postural motions to attempt to keep their head aligned with the direction of down during the wave-like motion. We hypothesized that this would engage postural control circuitry and enable subjects to reduce the sensory conflict associated with the wave-like passive motion. To date, we have tested 11 (of the planned 15) postural control subjects. We have found that 6 of these 11 subjects (55%) reached our stopping criteria of reporting “moderate” nausea on two successive reports, before the end of the hour of wave-like motion. This is slightly less but roughly similar to the control group where 10 of 15 subjects (67%) were unable to complete the hour of wave-like motion without reaching moderate nausea. This tentatively suggested the postural control countermeasure is unable to reduce the propensity of moderate motion sickness.

In the second group, termed the “anticipatory cueing” group, we designed a novel display which not only provides a rich visual scene that moves congruently with self-motion (as in the visual countermeasure group previously), but also provides a figurine that moves in an anticipatory manner, providing cues of the upcoming motion 1 second into the future. Specifically, the display includes a transparent notional figurine of a person, which tilts and translates laterally along a track to convey upcoming motion. In addition, an arrow points relative to the person in the direction (and magnitude) of the net gravito-inertial (i.e., the combination of linear acceleration and gravity) which is how the person may “feel” the net force acting upon them. We hypothesized that this would help subjects build a proper expectation of upcoming sensory information, reducing sensory conflict, and helping to mitigate motion sickness. To date, we have tested 5 subjects in this group (of the planned 15). As preliminary results, we have found that while 1 subject was stopped prematurely due to a technical issue, all subjects completed the wave-like motion (i.e., 0% of subjects reached moderate nausea). While tentative, this suggests that the anticipatory cueing in virtual reality may be an effective means of reducing the propensity of motion sickness, potentially even beyond the visual countermeasure condition (without anticipatory cueing).

The Brandeis arm of this project employs a virtual rendition of the visual reorientation levitation illusion introduced by Howard to partially simulate orbital microgravity, and a six-degree-of-freedom Stewart platform to simulate a water landing sea state (heave ±42 cm centered on 0.17 Hz and roll ±10° centered on 0.4 Hz). Data collection is complete for three within-subject counter-balanced treatment conditions (n=15). All three sessions begin with the microgravity analog: one hour in which supine subjects make paced roll head movements in a fully articulated virtual room pitched back 90°. This is then followed by an immediate transition to the sea state analog: reorientation to the upright with head restraint and the onset of platform oscillation. For the next hour, subjects viewed either 1) a completely dark field, 2) a head-fixed single fixation point in a dark field, or 3) a virtual spatially stabilized horizon line. Separate overall motion sickness and anxiety self-ratings (both 0-10 scales) were prompted every 60 seconds, and postural stability (standing in tandem stance on a narrow beam, arms crossed, eyes open/closed) was measured at the beginning and end. We found that the availability of a horizon-fixed visual reference mitigated motion sickness severity, relative to viewing a head-fixed visual target and being in complete darkness during exposure to partially simulated wave motion following sensitization by active head movements in a 0g analog environment. To determine whether active postural stabilization is an incremental countermeasure to an Earth-fixed visual reference, we are currently assessing motion sickness severity in the same ground-based 0g-to-sea state sequence, with the same horizon-fixed visual reference, when subjects are instructed to either hold their head and torso upright versus when head and torso are restrained in the upright orientation. To date, 7 subjects have completed at least one of the two conditions in the repeated measures design, and we plan to run a total of 10.

Bibliography: Description: (Last Updated: 12/01/2023) 

Show Cumulative Bibliography
 
Abstracts for Journals and Proceedings Clark TK, Lonner TL, Allred A, Gopinath A, Bonarrigo L, Oman CM, Lawson BD, Groen EL, Lackner J, and DiZio P . "Countermeasures to reduce sensory conflict and mitigate motion sickness from ground-based analogs of a gravity transition and sea state motion." 2023 NASA Human Research Program Investigator’s Workshop, Galveston, Texas, February 7-9, 2023.

Abstracts. 2023 NASA Human Research Program Investigator’s Workshop, Galveston, Texas, February 7-9, 2023. , Feb-2023

Abstracts for Journals and Proceedings Lonner TL, Gopinath G, Bonarrigo L, and Clark TK. "The effect of virtual reality on motion sickness and balance in astronauts during post-flight water landings." 2023 NASA Human Research Program Investigator’s Workshop, Galveston, Texas, February 7-9, 2023.

Abstracts. 2023 NASA Human Research Program Investigator’s Workshop, Galveston, Texas, February 7-9, 2023. , Feb-2023

Abstracts for Journals and Proceedings Lonner TL, Allred A, Gopinath A, Bonnarigo L, and Clark TK. "Using virtual reality as a countermeasure for astronaut motion sickness and sensorimotor impairment in post-flight water landings." 93rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Aerospace Medical, New Orleans, Louisiana, May 21-25, 2023.

Abstracts. 93rd Annual Scientific Meeting of the Aerospace Medical, New Orleans, Louisiana, May 21-25, 2023. , May-2023

Articles in Peer-reviewed Journals Lonner TL, Allred AR, Bonarrigo L, Gopinath A, Smith K, Kravets V, Groen E, Oman C, DiZio P, Lawson BD, and Clark TK. "Virtual reality as a countermeasure for astronaut motion sickness during simulated post-flight water landings." Exp Brain Res. 2023 Dec;241(11-12):2669-2682. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-023-06715-5 ; PubMed PMID: 37796301 , Dec-2023
Papers from Meeting Proceedings Lonner T and Clark TK. "The Efficacy of Virtual Reality as a Countermeasure for Astronaut Motion Sickness during Post-Flight Water Landings." IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana, March 4-11, 2023.

IEEE Aerospace Conference, Big Sky, Montana, March 4-11, 2023. , Mar-2023

Project Title:  A Non-Pharmacological Countermeasure Suite for Motion Sickness Induced by Post-Flight Water Landings Reduce
Images: icon  Fiscal Year: FY 2023 
Division: Human Research 
Research Discipline/Element:
HRP HHC:Human Health Countermeasures
Start Date: 01/01/2021  
End Date: 12/31/2023  
Task Last Updated: 11/02/2022 
Download report in PDF pdf
Principal Investigator/Affiliation:   Clark, Torin K. Ph.D. / University of Colorado, Boulder 
Address:  Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences 
3775 Discovery Dr, Rm. AERO N301 
Boulder , CO 80303-7813 
Email: torin.clark@colorado.edu 
Phone: 303-915-2152  
Congressional District:
Web:  
Organization Type: UNIVERSITY 
Organization Name: University of Colorado, Boulder 
Joint Agency:  
Comments: NOTE: PI moved to University of Colorado after NSBRI Postdoctoral Fellowship concluded in late 2015 (Ed., 9/1/17) 
Co-Investigator(s)
Affiliation: 
DiZio, Paul  Ph.D. Brandeis University 
Lawson, Benton  Ph.D. Self 
Oman, Charles  Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Key Personnel Changes / Previous PI: November 2022 report: None.
Project Information: Grant/Contract No. 80NSSC21K0257 
Responsible Center: NASA JSC 
Grant Monitor: Stenger, Michael  
Center Contact: 281-483-1311 
michael.b.stenger@nasa.gov 
Unique ID: 14258 
Solicitation / Funding Source: 2019-2020 HERO 80JSC019N0001-HHCBPSR, OMNIBUS2: Human Health Countermeasures, Behavioral Performance, and Space Radiation-Appendix C; Omnibus2-Appendix D 
Grant/Contract No.: 80NSSC21K0257 
Project Type: GROUND 
Flight Program:  
TechPort: No 
No. of Post Docs:
No. of PhD Candidates:
No. of Master's Candidates:
No. of Bachelor's Candidates:
No. of PhD Degrees:
No. of Master's Degrees:
No. of Bachelor's Degrees:
Human Research Program Elements: (1) HHC:Human Health Countermeasures
Human Research Program Risks: (1) Sensorimotor:Risk of Altered Sensorimotor/Vestibular Function Impacting Critical Mission Tasks
Human Research Program Gaps: (1) SM-202:Develop and test manual control countermeasures, such as vibrotactile assistance vest, and other human factors aids.
(2) SM-203:Develop and test SMS countermeasures.
Task Description: To mitigate astronaut motion sickness during capsule water landings, we aim to assess the benefit of providing Earth-fixed, external visual references, and enabling active postural control to increase head and torso stability, in a series of ground-based laboratory experiments. Re-exposure to Earth gravity, combined with the passive motion of the capsule in the sea is expected to cause varying degrees of motion sickness in most astronauts. In our laboratory experiments, we will use sustained hyper-gravity centrifugation and a visual reorientation paradigm to mimic adaptive responses to gravity-transitions experienced by astronauts. Immediately following, we will use our motion simulators to expose subjects to passive motions relevant for those expected for a capsule at sea. With the standard Motion Sickness Questionnaire, we will first quantify the prevalence, severity, and time course of resulting motion sickness. Next, we will systematically evaluate approaches which have been reported, mostly anecdotally, to benefit terrestrial seasickness, theoretically by helping anticipate the incoming sensory information and reducing the resulting sensory conflict. This includes 1) providing external visual reference cues within the capsule and 2) requiring the subject to try to keep their head and/or torso upright during the passive simulated sea-motion. We hypothesize external visual references will help subjects anticipate inertial motion cues (e.g., vestibular) that are otherwise unpredictable in a closed capsule. Given the emerging relationship between posture and motion sickness, we hypothesize subjects with their head and torso unrestrained and required to maintain alignment with upright during the passive motion stimulation will again help reduce sensory conflict and thus mitigate motion sickness. While these approaches are anecdotally-promising and grounded in sensory conflict theory, they have not been systematically assessed for the scenario of post-flight water landings. Through our experimental evaluations, we will develop a better scientific understanding of the mechanisms of motion sickness induced by post-flight water landings. Our planned countermeasure approaches are readily implementable within the capsule (e.g., providing external visual cues with projection displays or virtual reality) and should have no side effects. In fact, we hypothesize our non-pharmaceutical approaches can lead to reduced dosages of anti-motion sickness medications (e.g., promethazine), which do have undesirable side effects. If successful, these approaches will have substantial significance in reducing astronaut motion sickness post-water landings, which can otherwise impair mission performance and egress.

Research Impact/Earth Benefits: This project focuses on developing countermeasures to mitigate motion sickness experienced by astronauts during water landings post-flight. While our focus is on the unique combination of astronauts experiencing a gravity transition (microgravity to 1 Earth g) along with the passive motion of the capsule produced by ocean waves, our approaches are likely to translate well to terrestrial motion sickness scenarios (e.g., seasickness, carsickness). While terrestrial motion sickness does not include the gravity transition experienced by astronauts, the passive, ocean wave motion is similar to that which often causes some forms of terrestrial motion sickness. Thus, we anticipate that our most promising countermeasures may be effective in helping mitigate some forms of terrestrial motion sickness. To help assess this, we will perform testing with subject cohorts that are exposed to 1) the gravity transition analog, 2) the wave-like motion analog, and 3) the combination of both, which will help us disambiguate the relative contributions of each, but also evaluate the countermeasures during just wave-like motion without the gravity transition (which may be more applicable for terrestrial motion sickness). Since motion sickness is commonly experienced in cars, boats, airplanes, and other paradigms like virtual reality, countermeasures to mitigate motion sickness could have substantial terrestrial benefits.

Task Progress & Bibliography Information FY2023 
Task Progress: In Year 2 of this project, we have made substantial progress in our human subject evaluations at both experimental sites, as well as implementation steps towards future experiments. Programmatically, we have had intermittent virtual team meetings to discuss integrating project objectives, protocol choices, and planned analyses. The bulk of the effort has been on implementing, refining, and performing our human subject testing protocols to evaluate countermeasures effectiveness for mitigating motion sickness. We have also begun initial data visualization and analysis for these complex datasets. Further, we have made substantial progress in integrating hardware and software for later experimental efforts in Year 3. Finally, we have successfully onboarded new trainees, who are becoming/have become more familiar with this research domain.

At the University of Colorado-Boulder, we have performed safety testing on two separate human-rated motion devices, enabling testing on real human subjects. We have safety tested the “wave-like” motion profiles on the Tilt-Translation Sled housed in our laboratory. These profiles are representative of buoy data near potential water landing sites in terms of frequency content, amplitudes, and coherence of tilt motion versus lateral translation. On our other device, the Human Eccentric Rotator Device (HERD), we have finished designing and now assembling a new centrifuge arm that positions the subject far off-axis in order to produce substantial and sustained centrifugal acceleration. We then performed a series of safety tests on this new hardware, spinning for our 1+ hour exposure of hyper-gravity, enacting the “sickness induced by centrifugation” (SIC) paradigm that mimics a gravity transition relevant for spaceflight. We iterated upon our design for how the participant was configured based upon pilot tests, transitioning from a “seated” posture to a “supine” or laying down posture, which we found to be more comfortable for participants during sustained x-axis centrifugation (i.e., “eyeballs in” g-forces).

Next, we performed extensive preliminary testing for each of these paradigms in isolation. We tested 7 subjects that experienced just the “wave-like” motion, the Tilt-Translation Sled, in order to assess the propensity for our motion profile to induce motion sickness symptoms. This further allows us to capture the relative contribution toward motion sickness of the wave-like motion in isolation, as compared to conjointly with the SIC gravity transition analog paradigm. In summary, we found that while the majority of subjects were able to tolerate the entire wave-like motion exposure, the majority also experienced substantial levels of motion sickness. This is important to quantify as we proceed with evaluating countermeasures aimed to help mitigate/reduce motion sickness. This dataset will serve as a control condition for future experimental conditions. We then performed pilot testing with just the SIC gravity transition analog, as performed on our HERD human-rated motion device. We found in our pilot testing that the SIC paradigm was tolerable, and further, that immediately following, when the centrifuge was stopped, subjects reported illusory sensations, unsteadiness, and early symptoms of motion sickness (e.g., nausea). This is consistent with previous studies that have used the SIC paradigm on other centrifuges and suggests that we are able to mimic some of the motion sickness related to gravity transitions relevant for spaceflight.

In one of our planned countermeasure conditions, we intend to provide congruent visual orientation cues to the subject during wave-like motion. The team decided to use a virtual reality head-mounted display to provide these cues, for ease of use in the laboratory, but also operational feasibility in a capsule (low mass, power, and volume). To do this in our experiments, we had to integrate our virtual reality headset into the Tilt-Translation Sled (including integration/modification with the head restraint). Previously, we developed and implemented software enhancements for the Tilt-Translation Sled to enable communication and provide motion information to the head mounted display programmed in Unity. In the last year, we have enhanced our implementation of the congruent visual cues in the virtual reality headset within the Tilt-Translation Sled. Specifically, our approach for driving the visual cues now allow for head-free motion within the Tilt-Translation Sled. This will be critically important for our “postural control” countermeasure condition, where the participant will be instructed to voluntarily move their head/body to remain aligned with perceived upright. These head/body movements are sensed in real-time and the visual cues in the virtual reality headset congruently depicts self-motion derived from both participant active head/body motions and wave-like whole-body passive motions. Finally, we preformed validation tests to confirm that the visual and inertial motion cues were precisely synchronized. Thus, we are now prepared to perform testing in each of our various countermeasure conditions (the control condition, visual cues, postural control, and the combination of both visual cues and postural control).

With all of the technical implementation progress, we have proceeded with formal human subject testing of both the control condition and the visual cueing countermeasure condition. As of the time of writing this report, we have completed testing on 8 subjects (4 in the control condition and 4 in the visual cueing countermeasure condition). (We are testing 2-3 subjects per week, so our subject pool is changing rapidly). In brief, while subjects tend to become increasingly motion sick during the wave-like motion exposure, and then gradually recover after the wave-like motion ceases, the subjects which experience the visual cueing countermeasure appear to become less motion sick than subjects in the control group. Further, balance was substantially impaired in some of the control subjects after the wave-like motion but was unaffected in our subjects to date that were provided the visual cueing countermeasure.

Pilot testing of additional countermeasure conditions is beginning. Specifically, we are exploring providing visual cues that are predictive of upcoming motions and their associated sensory signals. We hypothesize that this will enable the brain to produce between expectations of sensory cues, reducing sensory conflict and the associated motion sickness. Further, we are preparing to test the postural control countermeasure group, in which subjects are instructed to keep themselves upright, evoking postural control mechanisms that may be important for reducing motion sickness through active control.

The Brandeis arm of this project employs a virtual rendition of the visual reorientation levitation illusion introduced by Howard (2000) to partially simulate orbital microgravity, and a six-degree-of-freedom Stewart motion platform to simulate a water landing sea state analog (heave ±42 cm centered on 0.17 Hz and roll ±10 degrees centered on 0.4 Hz). Pilot studies confirmed the validity of the microgravity (n=5) and sea state (n=5) analogs. Data collection is about 70% complete for three within-subject counterbalanced treatment conditions, with a target sample size of 15. All three sessions begin with the microgravity analog for 1 hour in which supine subjects make paced roll head movements in a fully articulated virtual room pitched back 90 degrees, followed by an immediate transition to the sea state analog of reorientation to the upright with head restraint and the onset of platform oscillation. For the next hour, subjects view either 1) a completely dark field (n=12), 2) a head-fixed single fixation point in a dark field (n=12), or 3) a virtual spatially stabilized horizon line (n=7). Motion sickness and anxiety self-ratings are prompted regularly through the entire session, and postural stability (stand on narrow beam eyes open/closed) is measured at the beginning and end. Preliminary statistics show the water landing simulation exacerbates motion sickness significantly more with a head-fixed target than in darkness.

Bibliography: Description: (Last Updated: 12/01/2023) 

Show Cumulative Bibliography
 
Abstracts for Journals and Proceedings Clark TK, Lonner T, Allred A, Drecksler S, Poole N, Oman CM, Lawson BD, Groen E, Lackner J, DiZio P "Development of a Countermeasure Suite for Motion Sickness Induced by Post-Flight Water Landings" 2022 NASA Human Research Program Investigator's Workshop, Virtual, February 7-11, 2022.

Abstracts. 2022 NASA Human Research Program Investigators' Workshop, Virtual, February 7-11, 2020. , Feb-2022

Abstracts for Journals and Proceedings Lonner TL and Clark TK "Evaluating Virtual Reality as a Countermeasure for Astronaut Motion Sickness during Post-Flight Water Landings" 2022 NASA Human Research Program Investigator's Workshop, Virtual, February 7-11, 2022.

Abstracts. 2022 NASA Human Research Program Investigators' Workshop, Virtual, February 7-11, 2020., Feb-2022 , Feb-2022

Project Title:  A Non-Pharmacological Countermeasure Suite for Motion Sickness Induced by Post-Flight Water Landings Reduce
Images: icon  Fiscal Year: FY 2022 
Division: Human Research 
Research Discipline/Element:
HRP HHC:Human Health Countermeasures
Start Date: 01/01/2021  
End Date: 12/31/2023  
Task Last Updated: 11/01/2021 
Download report in PDF pdf
Principal Investigator/Affiliation:   Clark, Torin K. Ph.D. / University of Colorado, Boulder 
Address:  Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences 
3775 Discovery Dr, Rm. AERO N301 
Boulder , CO 80303-7813 
Email: torin.clark@colorado.edu 
Phone: 303-915-2152  
Congressional District:
Web:  
Organization Type: UNIVERSITY 
Organization Name: University of Colorado, Boulder 
Joint Agency:  
Comments: NOTE: PI moved to University of Colorado after NSBRI Postdoctoral Fellowship concluded in late 2015 (Ed., 9/1/17) 
Co-Investigator(s)
Affiliation: 
DiZio, Paul  Ph.D. Brandeis University 
Lawson, Benton  Ph.D. Self 
Oman, Charles  Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Key Personnel Changes / Previous PI: November 2021 report: None.
Project Information: Grant/Contract No. 80NSSC21K0257 
Responsible Center: NASA JSC 
Grant Monitor: Stenger, Michael  
Center Contact: 281-483-1311 
michael.b.stenger@nasa.gov 
Unique ID: 14258 
Solicitation / Funding Source: 2019-2020 HERO 80JSC019N0001-HHCBPSR, OMNIBUS2: Human Health Countermeasures, Behavioral Performance, and Space Radiation-Appendix C; Omnibus2-Appendix D 
Grant/Contract No.: 80NSSC21K0257 
Project Type: GROUND 
Flight Program:  
TechPort: No 
No. of Post Docs:
No. of PhD Candidates:
No. of Master's Candidates:
No. of Bachelor's Candidates:
No. of PhD Degrees:
No. of Master's Degrees:
No. of Bachelor's Degrees:
Human Research Program Elements: (1) HHC:Human Health Countermeasures
Human Research Program Risks: (1) Sensorimotor:Risk of Altered Sensorimotor/Vestibular Function Impacting Critical Mission Tasks
Human Research Program Gaps: (1) SM-202:Develop and test manual control countermeasures, such as vibrotactile assistance vest, and other human factors aids.
(2) SM-203:Develop and test SMS countermeasures.
Task Description: To mitigate astronaut motion sickness during capsule water landings, we aim to assess the benefit of providing Earth-fixed, external visual references, and enabling active postural control to increase head and torso stability, in a series of ground-based laboratory experiments. Re-exposure to Earth gravity, combined with the passive motion of the capsule in the sea is expected to cause varying degrees of motion sickness in most astronauts. In our laboratory experiments, we will use sustained hyper-gravity centrifugation and a visual reorientation paradigm to mimic adaptive responses to gravity-transitions experienced by astronauts. Immediately following, we will use our motion simulators to expose subjects to passive motions relevant for those expected for a capsule at sea. With the standard Motion Sickness Questionnaire, we will first quantify the prevalence, severity, and time course of resulting motion sickness. Next, we will systematically evaluate approaches which have been reported, mostly anecdotally, to benefit terrestrial seasickness, theoretically by helping anticipate the incoming sensory information and reducing the resulting sensory conflict. This includes 1) providing external visual reference cues within the capsule and 2) requiring the subject to try to keep their head and/or torso upright during the passive simulated sea-motion. We hypothesize external visual references will help subjects anticipate inertial motion cues (e.g., vestibular) that are otherwise unpredictable in a closed capsule. Given the emerging relationship between posture and motion sickness, we hypothesize subjects with their head and torso unrestrained and required to maintain alignment with upright during the passive motion stimulation will again help reduce sensory conflict and thus mitigate motion sickness. While these approaches are anecdotally-promising and grounded in sensory conflict theory, they have not been systematically assessed for the scenario of post-flight water landings. Through our experimental evaluations, we will develop a better scientific understanding of the mechanisms of motion sickness induced by post-flight water landings. Our planned countermeasure approaches are readily implementable within the capsule (e.g., providing external visual cues with projection displays or virtual reality) and should have no side effects. In fact, we hypothesize our non-pharmaceutical approaches can lead to reduced dosages of anti-motion sickness medications (e.g., promethazine), which do have undesirable side effects. If successful, these approaches will have substantial significance in reducing astronaut motion sickness post-water landings, which can otherwise impair mission performance and egress.

Research Impact/Earth Benefits: This project focuses on developing countermeasures to mitigate motion sickness experienced by astronauts during water landings post-flight. While our focus is on the unique combination of astronauts experiencing a gravity transition (microgravity to 1 Earth g) along with the passive motion of the capsule produced by ocean waves, our approaches are likely to translate well to terrestrial motion sickness scenarios (e.g., seasickness, carsickness). While terrestrial motion sickness does not include the gravity transition experienced by astronauts, the passive, ocean wave motion is similar to that which often causes some forms of terrestrial motion sickness. Thus, we anticipate that our most promising countermeasures may be effective in helping mitigate some forms of terrestrial motion sickness. To help assess this, we will perform testing with subject cohorts that are exposed to 1) the gravity transition analog, 2) the wave-like motion analog, and 3) the combination of both, which will help us disambiguate the relative contributions of each, but also evaluate the countermeasures during just wave-like motion without the gravity transition (which may be more applicable for terrestrial motion sickness). Since motion sickness is commonly experienced in cars, boats, airplanes, and other paradigms like virtual reality, countermeasures to mitigate motion sickness could have substantial terrestrial benefits.

Task Progress & Bibliography Information FY2022 
Task Progress: In Year 1 of this project, we have made strides in several domains in preparation for our series of human subject experiments. First, Institutional Review Board (IRB) approvals have been obtained for the planned protocols at both Brandeis University and the University of Colorado-Boulder. This includes considerations for COVID-related safety protocols (at Brandeis the protocol is considered moderate risk with all potential hazards mitigated by appropriate safeguards). Second, the broader team has held a virtual kickoff meeting and intermittent virtual team meetings to discuss integrating project objectives, protocol choices, and planned analyses. Third, substantial progress has been made in integrating hardware and software and further defining our experimental protocols. Finally, we have successfully on-boarded new graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, who are becoming/have become more familiar with this research domain.

At the University of Colorado-Boulder, we have developed and fully defined the “wave-like” motion profiles that we plan to use in our laboratory motion device (the Tilt-Translation Sled). Specifically, we analyzed representative buoy data near potential water landing sites, defining the frequency content, relative amplitudes, and coherence of tilt motion versus lateral translation. This informed developing a sum of sinusoids with 12 frequencies, each phase shifted, such that the motion is smooth, will appear random to the subject, and is representative of wave-like motion astronauts may experience in their capsule post-flight. These motion profiles have been implemented in the Tilt-Translation Sled, have undergone safety testing, and are approved for use with human subjects.

In one of our planned countermeasure conditions, we intend to provide congruent visual orientation cues to the subject during wave-like motion. The team decided to use a virtual reality head-mounted display to provide these cues, for ease of use in the laboratory, but also operational feasibility in a capsule (low mass, power, and volume). To do this in our experiments, we had to integrate our virtual reality headset into the Tilt-Translation Sled (including integration/modification with the head restraint). Further, we have developed and implemented software enhancements for the Tilt-Translation Sled to enable communication and provide motion information to the head mounted display through Unity, such that the visual orientation cues will be congruent with inertial motion.

Finally, we as team, have refined our protocols for subjects reporting motion sickness using the Motion Sickness Questionnaire (i.e., the frequency of reporting, specific questions being asked, and protocol for operator-subject communication). Necessary improvements were made in the two-way auditory communication and visual monitoring systems within the Tilt-Translation Sled. With these updates, we have performed initial human subject pilot testing of the wave-like motion profiles, with the head mounted display, and the subject reporting motion sickness symptoms. In the remainder of the year, we intend to formally test a cohort of subjects in the control condition (no countermeasure).

In addition, we have designed and begun implementation of a new structure for our Human Eccentric Rotator Device (HERD), which will enable the use of the hyper-gravity (e.g., 3gx) paradigm. This will serve as an analog for the gravity transition astronauts experience during return to Earth, and be performed prior to the wave-like motion on the Tilt-Translation Sled. In the coming months, we will complete construction and perform safety testing, in preparation for human subject testing.

At Brandeis, the three proposed hardware elements have been fully prepared. The first is the subject chair which reclines to orient the subject supine, to provide a visual reorientation illusion, while allowing Earth-horizontal plane head movements simulating the stimulus for space motion sickness. The chair can then quickly be reconfigured as an upright chair on a 6 DOF (degree of freedom) motion platform for the splashdown simulation configuration. The motion platform is the second hardware component ready for the project. The platform hydraulic servo control system has been tuned to follow the desired profiles of the load of the experimental equipment. The motion platform software is fully ready to provide a range of wave-like motions, which we are pilot testing for suitable provocativeness. We are assessing the provocativeness of a pattern consisting of a Rayleigh distribution of heave frequencies/amplitudes ranging from a 0.5 meter peak-to-peak at 0.1 Hz to 0.1 meter peak-to-peak at 1 Hz plus a phase-independent distribution of roll motion ranging from +/-15 degrees peak-to-peak at 0.1 Hz to +/-5 degrees peak-to-peak at 0.5 Hz. We hope to obtain feedback from the NASA Human Research Program about the best profile for simulating splashdown for further evaluation. The final hardware component that has been acquired and assembled is the head mounted display for creating virtual space flight and splashdown virtual environments. We have purchased an HVC VIVE Pro2 head mounted display system, because it has the capacity to track both the head motion relative to the 6 DOF platform and the platform motion relative to space, which are required for the space flight analog and splashdown analog environments, respectively. The tracking is currently operational and providing spatial compensation for a simple virtual visual scene. Our final software task is to create the virtual visual environments as well as the visual reference stimuli we propose to assess as motion sickness countermeasures.

While the beginning of the first year of this project has been dedicated to setting up equipment for our experiments, we are now prepared to begin our extensive human subject testing effort. Cohorts will be tested sequentially beginning with our control condition, adding the gravity transition analog, and then testing our countermeasure which provides congruent visual cues to help reduce sensory conflict.

Bibliography: Description: (Last Updated: 12/01/2023) 

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 None in FY 2022
Project Title:  A Non-Pharmacological Countermeasure Suite for Motion Sickness Induced by Post-Flight Water Landings Reduce
Images: icon  Fiscal Year: FY 2021 
Division: Human Research 
Research Discipline/Element:
HRP HHC:Human Health Countermeasures
Start Date: 01/01/2021  
End Date: 12/31/2023  
Task Last Updated: 02/01/2021 
Download report in PDF pdf
Principal Investigator/Affiliation:   Clark, Torin K. Ph.D. / University of Colorado, Boulder 
Address:  Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences 
3775 Discovery Dr, Rm. AERO N301 
Boulder , CO 80303-7813 
Email: torin.clark@colorado.edu 
Phone: 303-915-2152  
Congressional District:
Web:  
Organization Type: UNIVERSITY 
Organization Name: University of Colorado, Boulder 
Joint Agency:  
Comments: NOTE: PI moved to University of Colorado after NSBRI Postdoctoral Fellowship concluded in late 2015 (Ed., 9/1/17) 
Co-Investigator(s)
Affiliation: 
DiZio, Paul  Ph.D. Brandeis University 
Lawson, Benton  Ph.D. Self 
Oman, Charles  Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 
Project Information: Grant/Contract No. 80NSSC21K0257 
Responsible Center: NASA JSC 
Grant Monitor: Stenger, Michael  
Center Contact: 281-483-1311 
michael.b.stenger@nasa.gov 
Unique ID: 14258 
Solicitation / Funding Source: 2019-2020 HERO 80JSC019N0001-HHCBPSR, OMNIBUS2: Human Health Countermeasures, Behavioral Performance, and Space Radiation-Appendix C; Omnibus2-Appendix D 
Grant/Contract No.: 80NSSC21K0257 
Project Type: GROUND 
Flight Program:  
TechPort: No 
No. of Post Docs:  
No. of PhD Candidates:  
No. of Master's Candidates:  
No. of Bachelor's Candidates:  
No. of PhD Degrees:  
No. of Master's Degrees:  
No. of Bachelor's Degrees:  
Human Research Program Elements: (1) HHC:Human Health Countermeasures
Human Research Program Risks: (1) Sensorimotor:Risk of Altered Sensorimotor/Vestibular Function Impacting Critical Mission Tasks
Human Research Program Gaps: (1) SM-202:Develop and test manual control countermeasures, such as vibrotactile assistance vest, and other human factors aids.
(2) SM-203:Develop and test SMS countermeasures.
Task Description: To mitigate astronaut motion sickness during capsule water landings, we aim to assess the benefit of providing Earth-fixed, external visual references, and enabling active postural control to increase head and torso stability, in a series of ground-based laboratory experiments. Re-exposure to Earth gravity, combined with the passive motion of the capsule in the sea is expected to cause varying degrees of motion sickness in most astronauts. In our laboratory experiments, we will use sustained hyper-gravity centrifugation and a visual reorientation paradigm to mimic adaptive responses to gravity-transitions experienced by astronauts. Immediately following, we will use our motion simulators to expose subjects to passive motions relevant for those expected for a capsule at sea. With the standard Motion Sickness Questionnaire, we will first quantify the prevalence, severity, and time course of resulting motion sickness. Next, we will systematically evaluate approaches which have been reported, mostly anecdotally, to benefit terrestrial seasickness, theoretically by helping anticipate the incoming sensory information and reducing the resulting sensory conflict. This includes 1) providing external visual reference cues within the capsule and 2) requiring the subject to try to keep their head and/or torso upright during the passive simulated sea-motion. We hypothesize external visual references will help subjects anticipate inertial motion cues (e.g., vestibular) that are otherwise unpredictable in a closed capsule. Given the emerging relationship between posture and motion sickness, we hypothesize subjects with their head and torso unrestrained and required to maintain alignment with upright during the passive motion stimulation will again help reduce sensory conflict and thus mitigate motion sickness. While these approaches are anecdotally-promising and grounded in sensory conflict theory, they have not been systematically assessed for the scenario of post-flight water landings. Through our experimental evaluations, we will develop a better scientific understanding of the mechanisms of motion sickness induced by post-flight water landings. Our planned countermeasure approaches are readily implementable within the capsule (e.g., providing external visual cues with projection displays or virtual reality) and should have no side effects. In fact, we hypothesize our non-pharmaceutical approaches can lead to reduced dosages of anti-motion sickness medications (e.g., promethazine), which do have undesirable side effects. If successful, these approaches will have substantial significance in reducing astronaut motion sickness post-water landings, which can otherwise impair mission performance and egress.

Research Impact/Earth Benefits:

Task Progress & Bibliography Information FY2021 
Task Progress: New project for FY2021.

Bibliography: Description: (Last Updated: 12/01/2023) 

Show Cumulative Bibliography
 
 None in FY 2021