In-Flight Anthropometry and Health Surveillance for Future Exploration Missions - 26.53
Title:
In-Flight Anthropometry and Health Surveillance for Future Exploration Missions
Authors:
Karen YOUNG 1, Han KIM 1, Garima GUPTA 2, Nate NEWBY 3
1 Leidos Inc., Houston TX, USA;
2 Aegis Aerospace, Webster TX, USA;
3 NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston TX, USA
Keywords:
microgravity anthropometry, spinal elongation, health surveillance
Abstract:
As astronauts are exposed to microgravity their body shape and size change, which can affect suit fit,
health surveillance, and hardware configurations. Previous studies on the International Space Station
(ISS) and Space Shuttle have shown up to 3% stature and 6% sitting height change will occur due to
microgravity exposure. While these studies provided critical data previously unavailable for space
exploration, several limitations were also noted for Lunar and Mars Missions. Given the need for
longitudinal monitoring and future mission relevant anthropometry data which was not fully available in
the past in-flight crew anthropometry studies, a new measurement collection initiative was recently
kicked off with NASA. This level of monitoring, in conjunction with medical requirements, is necessary
to capture time-dependent anthropometric changes that occur across different mission phases,
enabling more accurate modeling of crew body shape, posture, and volumetric changes in microgravity.
The purpose of this publication is to summarize the development of the new in-flight anthropometry
collection and surveillance initiative.
One of the key motivations for this new data collection effort is to incorporate crew medical monitoring
components in addition to the traditional focus for suit and hardware fit. This data will be used in
conjunction with body mass to determine if there is any correlation between the two sets of data to
assist in detecting health and body changes in the absence of specialized body mass measurement
devices during future exploration missions. The measurement collection timepoints were also adjusted
from previous endeavors to capture both the transient phase and steady-state phases of crew
anthropometric changes. Specifically, how quickly the body shape changes occur once in microgravity,
prior to return to earth, and during post-flight recovery will be assessed. This is particularly important as
the Lunar Missions involve more frequent gravity changes, such as 1-g to 0-g, then 0-g to 1/6-g.
Ideally, this data would be captured using 3d scan technology as in the ground laboratory. However,
due to constraints, manual measurements using existing resources on ISS are currently being collected
while scan technology is developed. As technology improves and hardware is developed that can
potentially work on ISS or lunar surface, ground-based efforts continue to collect scan data preflight
and postflight. Continued effort has been in progress to identify the optimal technology for in-flight body
scanning, which can substantially improve the data resolution and accuracy with respect to the ground
reference measurements.
Abstract:
Presentation:
Not available
How to Cite (MLA):
Young, Karen et al., "In-Flight Anthropometry and Health Surveillance for Future Exploration Missions", Proceedings of 3DBODY.TECH 2026 - 17th International Conference and Expo on 3D/4D Body Technologies, Lugano, Switzerland, 20-21 Oct. 2026, #53
Details:
Proceedings: 3DBODY.TECH 2026, 20-21 Oct. 2026, Lugano, Switzerland
Paper/Presentation: #53
DOI: -
License/Copyright notice
Proceedings: © Hometrica Consulting - Dr. Nicola D'Apuzzo, Switzerland, hometrica.ch.
Authors retain all rights to individual papers, which are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
The papers appearing in the proceedings reflect the author's opinions. Their inclusion in the proceedings does not necessary constitute endorsement by the editor or by the publisher.
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