Plymouth researchers contribute to new mission exploring the impacts on humans of space flight

The CAMões project is bringing together a team of experts to carry out research that will be critical for improving conditions on future space flights
Yvette Gonzalez working with her crew inside Gruta do Natal as they set up all equipment ahead of mission start (Credit: Marc Bluhm)
Yvette Gonzalez working with her crew inside the Gruta do Natal lava tube cave as they set up all equipment ahead of mission start (Credit: Marc Bluhm)
Researchers from the University of Plymouth are taking part in a major international project using cave systems in the Azores to explore the impact of space missions on the human body.
The Caving Analog Mission: Ocean, Earth, Space (CAMões) project is bringing together a team of experts to develop and implement research programmes that will be critical for improving conditions on future space flights.
For a week in November 2023, seven members of the team are living and working inside a cave on Terceira Island, a lava tube cave which they believe will enable them to recreate conditions to be found on the Moon.
While there, they are carrying out tests in fields including bioastronautics, space medicine, geosciences, robotics, suborbital spaceflight, human health, and atmospheric science.
During the week, the team is also hosting webinars with several schools giving students aged three to 17 the chance to contribute to the initiative, with the ultimate goal being to bring younger people closer to the scientific domains.
Among its leaders is Yvette Gonzalez, who has recently taken up the role of Visiting Researcher with the Plymouth Institute of Health and Care Research (PIHR).
She is a space industry strategist, humanitarian, and climate researcher with over two decades of emergency experience rebuilding communities in active war, conflict, disasters, and epidemiological outbreaks.
She now bridges space technologies to help solve Earth challenges, and consults with emerging space nations on space, science, and technology ecosystem roadmaps.

We are excited to bring attention to biodiverse and extreme locations on Earth that can serve as natural laboratories. Access to these contexts is a game changer for science and really allows us to discover new solutions simultaneously across multiple disciplines and how they may interrelate.

Yvette Gonzalez
Visiting Researcher
Yvette Gonzalez exploring the Gruta do Natal lava tube cave (Credit: Mara Leite)
Yvette Gonzalez exploring the Gruta do Natal cave (Credit: Mara Leite)
A quiet moment after the tents are set up for Crew Zero inside Gruta do Natal (Credit: Yvette Gonzalez)
A quiet moment after the tents are set up for Crew Zero inside Gruta do Natal (Credit: Yvette Gonzalez)
The project builds on existing research taking place at the University, much of it in partnership with the European Space Agency, looking into the impacts of space missions of the human body.
Associate Professor in Optometry Dr Daniela Oehring will explore how such extreme environments can impact on people’s vision and eye health.
Professor Mona Nasser, Director of PIHR, and Clinical Lecturer Dr Prashanti Eachempati will be piloting an approach to study jaw movement and masticatory functions and how that changes during space flights.
Professor Stephen Hall, Director of the Brain Research & Imaging Centre (BRIC), will be using continuous monitoring of participants' rest and fatigue status to better understand behaviour and other cognitive changes.
And Dr John Martin will be working with Yvette Gonzalez to assess how people’s environmental empathy changes when they are immersed in a confined environment.

This is a hugely exciting multidisciplinary study, and a fascinating way to investigate human adaptability in environments mimicking extraterrestrial conditions. We're exploring aspects like vision, cognition, oral health, and environmental empathy in a location that offers an ideal research context due to its geological features and facilities. That makes it a suitable stand-in for lunar and Martian missions, with any findings therefore relevant to long-duration space flights.

Daniela OehringDaniela Oehring
Associate Professor in Optometry

 

Studying the impact of space flight on humans

Researchers across the University are working with partners all over the world - including the European Space Agency - to better understand the impact of space missions on humans. The aim is to build an evidence base on how the space environment affects the human body, with the research examining changes to a person's vision, behaviour, dental structures and environmental perception.
Beautiful space view of the Earth with cloud formation. planet earth shutterstock
 

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