It is a long process. Friday 18 November 2022 is an important event for students onISAE-SUPAERO of Toulouse. These were selected byESA Academy as part of the “Orbit Your Thesis!” project. The aim is to enable students to design and implement a scientific experiment on board The International Space Station (ISS).
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Work with Polytechnic Torino
Since 2018, ISAE-SUPAERO students have worked closely with Turin Polytechnic. Their idea focused on cardiovascular diseases. The scientific experiment they are sending to the ISS will thus seek to understand the behavior of cardiovascular diseases under microgravity conditions. They will also seek to know if the treatments used on Earth can be transposed into space.
In more detail the experiment will enable ISS astronauts and the ISAE-SUPAERO team to visualize “the flow of a liquid similar to blood in two models of diseased arteries, only one of which has been surgically repaired by placing a stent, and to compare the results with those obtained on Earth”. Why ? The purpose of the project is to know if an astronaut equipped with a stent could go into space. In the long run, this would make it possible to offer more diversity in the profiles of the crews.
On Earth, there is indeed a drop in blood pressure before the placement of a stent, but that ceases once it is installed. In the ISS, nothing less is safe! Due to a very high level of radiation in space, the presence of a metal stent can lead to the production of dangerous ions”, explains ISAE-SUPAERO.
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See you on the ISS
ISAE-SUPAERO students and two PhD students from Turin Polytechnic worked on the project for four years. For each of their specialisations, the PhD students from the Polytechnique Turin have designed the program which corresponds to the scientific objectives; The ISAE-SUPAERO team developed the entire mission and the Politecnico di Torino manufactured the fluid tanks and pipes needed for the project. At the end of the four-month mission in the ISS, the latter will analyze the collected data.
This entire large team will be accompanied by space experts throughout the mission. It will also have access to “extraordinary scientific resources” such as ESA tests, transport i CrewDragon of SpaceX and experience in ISS. Thus, the departure to the ISS is planned for November 18 aboard a capsule SpaceX.
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