The Artificial Gravity Platform, AGP a very Large Radius Human Centrifuge

Over the last decades a large body of knowledge has been accumulated on the adaptation of the human body going into near weightlessness conditions as well as for the re-adaptation to 1×g Earth conditions after an orbital space flight. Ground-based paradigms for microgravity simulation have been developed such as head down tilted bed rest or dry-immersion studies. In such systems adaptations of the human body to long term immobilization and increased upper-body fluid shifts have been studied. But could we learn something on human body adaptations to altered gravity conditions using centrifuges? How does the body adapt to a long duration (days, weeks or longer) exposure to a hypergravity environment? And, once the body has fully adapted to a hypergravity environment, how does it re-adapt going from a hypergravity condition to a relatively hypo-gravity condition of 1×g. Can such transitions teach us something about the gravity transitions as a crew will experience going to Moon or Mars? Is hypergravity therefore a suitable model to study the effects of reentry in gravitational environments after long duration space flight? We should address these questions for all organ systems known to change under altered gravity conditions. We should identify to which gravity levels the human body can be exposed to for longer periods of time and what protocols could be applied to address the questions at hand. The AGP project has been supported through an ESA Topical Team which was co-supported by NASA and JAXA. Van Loon cosupported through grants from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and European Space Agency (ESA). AGP Foreseen Main Characteristics  Diameter : ~ 150-200 meters  # Subjects : 10-12 (for long duration)  Operation : weeks – months per study  Max. Accel. : ~ 2.0g  Housing : Enclosed (controlled environment) 210-PRE-0014-001 poster HiS Cologne July 2013.ppt J. van Loon (Amsterdam, NL)#, J. Albiol (Barcelona, ES)14, J. P. Baeyens (Oostende, BE)8*, E. Barakova (Eindhoven, NL)10, D. Belavy (Berlin, DE)1, J. Berte (Brussels, BE)6, S. Blanc (Strasbourg, FR)12, K. Bok (Hardinxveld-Giessendam, NL)6, J. Bos (Amsterdam / Soesterberg, NL)3, R. Boyle (Moffett Field, US)3, L. Braak (Toulouse, FR)11, N. Bravenboer (Amsterdam, NL)1, L. Carotenuto (Naples, IT)6,11, A. Chouker (Munich, DE)7, G. Clement (Strasbourg, FR)3, P. Cras (Antwerp, BE)13, E. Cross (Nijmegen, NL)10, M-A. Custaud (Angers, FR)2, M. De Angelis (L’Aquila, IT)5, P. de Boever (Mol, BE)7, O. de Haas (Dresden, DE)6, T. Delavaux (Cologne, BE)5*, R. Delfos (Delft, NL)15, P. Denise (Caen, FR)16, M. Eekhoff (Amsterdam, NL)1, O. Eiken (Stockholm, SE)16, D. Felsenberg (Berlin, DE)1, K. Fong (London, UK)16, C. Fuller (Davis, US)16, N. Goswami (Graz, AT)16, S. Grillner (Stockholm, SE)3*, E. Groen (Soesterberg, NL)3, J. Harlaar (Amsterdam, NL)5*, M. Heer (Neus, DE)12, N. Heglund (Leuven, BE)5, H. Hinghofer-Szalkay (Graz, AT)16, M. Hughes-Fulford (San Francisco, US)7, S. Iwase (Aichi, JP)2, J.M. Karemaker (Amsterdam, NL)2, B. Langdahl (Aarhus, DN)1*, D. Linnarsson (Stockholm, SE)4, C. Lobascio (Turin, IT)14, C. Lüthen (Rotterdam, NL)16, M. Mayrhofer (Ranshofen, AT)6, I. Mekjavic (Ljubljana, SI)16, M. Monici (Florence, IT)8*, M. Moss (New Castle, UK)10, E. Mulder (Cologne, DE)5, M. Narici (Nottingham, UK)5, P. Norsk (Copenhagen, DN / Houston, US)2, D. O’Gorman (Dublin, IE)12, W. Paloski (Houston, US)3, C. Poelma (Delft, NL)15, K. Prisk (San Diego, US)4, M. Rauterberg (Eindhoven, NL)10, M. Rutten (Eindhoven, NL)2, L. Schultz (Dresden, DE)6, P. Singer (Tel Aviv, IL)12*, J. Sommeria (Grenoble, FR)15, D. Stegeman (Nijmegen, NL)5, A. Stephan (Dresden, DE)6, G. Stienen (Amsterdam, NL)5, F. Strollo (Rome, IT)8, G. Stutte (Limerick, IE)14, P. Suedfeld (Vancouver, CA)10, P. Tesch (Stockholm, SE)5, O. Ullrich (Zurich, CH)7, R. van den Berg (Noordwijk, NL)9, P. van de Heyning (Antwerp, BE)3, GJ. van Heijst (Eindhoven, NL)15, L. Vico (St. Etienne, FR)1, E. Woodward (Hampton Hill, EU)12, L. Young (Boston, US)3, F. L. Wuyts (Antwerp, BE)3#. AGP Team Disciplines: 1:bone , 2:cardiovascular, 3:(neuro-)vestibular, 4:pulmonary, 5:muscle/sports, 6:technology, 7:immunology, 8:ageing, 9:outreach/education, 10:psychology, 11:operations, 12:nutrition, 13:ethics, 14:life-support, 15:aero-hydrodynamics-coriolis, 16:integrative physiology, #: coordination, *:European science society We need to identify if and how we could perform such long duration hypergravity and re-adaptation studies. Issues like ethics, safety and required technology should be explored. Studies should answer the feasibility of long duration hypergravity, and if and how hypergravity studies can provide useful knowledge to support future exploration space flight on the one hand and the medical issues in e.g. the ageing population with its contemporary lifestyle like osteoporosis, cardiovascular diseases, obesity on the other.Future activities for the AGP project have to address engineering, science and operations questions in more detail. Since this is a science driven platform: what specific science requirements need to be taken into account for the AGP. What are the best technologies to be applied for such a system, etc. etc. And as for all ambitious projects: How much will it cost? We hope we will be able to answer these questions through e.g. the next framework program for the European Union, Horizon-2020.