Muscle Atrophy Research and Exercise System (MARES)

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Muscle Atrophy Research and Exercise System (MARES)

MARES (Muscle Atrophy Research and Exercise System) is a European Space Agency (ESA) facility for research into the effects caused by weightlessness on human muscles.

The system makes it possible to investigate induced atrophy in muscle groups, both of the individual joints of the trunk and limbs and of whole limbs. For this purpose it applies a stimulus with programmable speed or torque/force to eleven different muscle groups of the human body in order to subsequently measure the subject”s torque/force and speed response.

Sener Aeroespacial, as the main contractor for MARES, was in charge of project management, the global design of the system, all the control, power and supervision electronics and all the mechanical and structural parts, as well as the software.

This system is integrated in the Columbus module of the International Space Station (ISS)and is part of the NASA Human Research Facility.

Main objectives

To carry out research on muscle-skeletal, bio-mechanical, neuromuscular, and neurological physiology.

To study the effect of micro-gravity on the human body.

To evaluate the effect of the countermeasures applied to offset this effect.

To assess the effectiveness of exercise test protocols.

Characteristics

Measurement of 11 muscle groups.

Astronauts population

between the 5th percentile japanese female and the 95th percentile american male.

Continuous torque

of +- 450 Nm and peak torque of 900 Nm.

Ripple torque

of less than 0.3 Nm.

Maximum speed

of up to 9 rad/s.

Velocity settle time

less than 55 m/s.

Acurated measurement

of torque, position, velocity and acceleration.

Composition

MARES is composed of several subsystems:

Low-inertia torque motor (between 1 and 900 Nm) and its servo drive electronics.
Mechanical sub-system consisting of the main structure, the subject restraining chair with its pantograph and a set of restraints and adapters.
Controller.
Supervision electronics. Power and battery.
User interface software.

XSpace

XScience & Earth observation

Muscle Atrophy Research and Exercise System (MARES)