The Space Shuttle Discovery launched on March 15th 2009 and is on it's way to the International Space Station. This flight is of importance to the York Community as part of the cargo is software that will be used to collect data on the long term effects of life in microgravity. The Bodies in the Space Environment (BISE) will make use of equipment already on board the ISS, however the experimental software, written by Michael Jenkin of York's Computer Science and Engineering department, had to make its way there by catching a ride on STS 119.

This is a very exciting time in Canadian Space Research.

The BISE project examines the effects of long-term zero gravity on visual perception. The study is funded through the Canadian Space Agency and involves Canadian, American and European astronauts. “We hope to generate an objective metric which reflects each crew member’s current state of adaptation”, states Jim Zacher, project scientist with the Centre for Vision Research. “One future challenge is to see how this process of adaptation might change depending on each crew member’s previous spaceflight experience.” adds Richard Dyde. Zacher and Dyde work on the project at York with fellow investigators Michael Jenkin, Heather Jenkin (Department of Psychology) and the project’s principle investigator Laurence Harris (Chair, Department of Psychology)

The next milestone will be the arrival of the first subject, Michael Barrett, by means of a Soyuz launch from Kazakhstan (Soyuz TMA-14) hopefully on Thursday, March 26.

You can find out more information about this project here.

Image Credit: NASA/Tony Gray, Tom Farrar