A sleeping bag for zero gravity
2010 – 2012
LIQUIFER IN-house project co-funded by the Austrian Aeronautics and Space Agency (ALR) of the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) as part of ASAP 7
The ISS – Sleep Kit is a sleeping bag developed for zero gravity and for use at the International Space Station (ISS). LIQUIFER leads the feasibility study and are the designers and engineers of the sleeping bag, working closely with astronaut Gerhard Thiele, Safety and Testing consultants at Airbus Defence and Space, and specialists in Space Medicine from McGill University.
The ISS – Sleep Kit prototype, fabricated using Nomex-based textiles already used at the ISS, functions as a countermeasure to fatigue, a problem that affects many astronauts leading to a decrement in alertness and performance, and a cause of error. Current research in the area of medicine and psychology supports the study regarding near-term measures to be taken to improve the quality of sleep and help mitigate fatigue as experienced outside earth’s atmosphere.
LIQUIFER team Waltraut Hoheneder, Barbara Imhof, Kaspar Vogel, Kjell Herrmann
Consultants Gerhard Thiele – astronaut / Ulrich Kübler – Airbus Defence and Space
Sponsors IBENA, Velcro GmbH, 3M, Eduard Kupfer, Sanders GmbH & Co. KG, Lenzing, Michael Schultes experimonde
Image credit: ISS Sleep Kit