Japanese Astronaut Aki Hoshide (JAXA) Wears the Astroskin Bio-Monitor in the International Space Station

October 22, 2021

Japanese Astronaut Aki Hoshide was the 5th astronaut to wear the Astroskin Bio-Monitor system aboard the International Space Station last week. Astronauts use the Astroskin in space since 2019 to participate in various research studies, including "Vascular Aging", a project lead by University of Waterloo researchers.

Many more astronauts are scheduled to use Astroskin in space. The system is available to all participating space agencies and research universities. The most recent Astroskin payload was launched with SpaceX's mission CRS-23 on August 29th, 2021.

Microgravity affects fluid movements in the body and heat transmission (in the absence of convection movement in microgravity). This triggers physiological phenomena impossible to monitor on the ground and tests our models of human physiology. The Astroskin Bio-Monitor system gives scientists a tool to observe these phenomena in space. It also prepares us to maintain crew health during long space missions beyond low earth orbit (LEO), to the Moon and Mars.

A Brief History of the Astroskin

Here's a list of space launches that carried Astroskin payloads:

1. SpaceX CRS-16 (December 5th, 2018)
2. Cygnus NG-11 (April 17th, 2019)
3. SpaceX CRS-18 (July 25th, 2019)
4. SpaceX CRS-19 (December 5th, 2019
5. SpaceX CRS-20 (March 7th, 2020)
6. Cygnus NG-14 (October 3rd, 2020)
7. SpaceX CRS-21 (December 6th, 2020)
8. SpaceX CRS-22 (June 3rd, 2021)
9. SpaceX CRS-23 (August 29th, 2021)

The Astroskin Vital Signs Monitoring Platform is also used on Earth on industrial projects and scientific research. 

Information about Astroskin missions aboard the ISS:

https://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/Hardware/hardconfig/3065
https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/i/iss-bio-monitor-analyzer