Exposure to weightlessness results in the removal of hydrostatic pressure gradients and a permanent headward fluid shift, causing a redistribution of blood. Additionally, in space postural changes DON…

This federal contract award is for a ground-based research effort by the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (Tees), a research institution within the Texas A&M University System, to generate acute gravitational dose-response curves of cardiovascular and ocular variables due to changes in the gravitational vector, with and without countermeasures. The $367,029.00 grant-funded contract was awarded on September 1, 2020 by a civilian federal agency, the Shared Services Center, and has a completion date of December 26, 2026. This contract is not associated with any set-aside designations. The Texas A&M University System, as the parent organization of Tees, has a broad portfolio of federal contract awards and grants across various scientific and engineering disciplines, including work for agencies such as the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, NASA, and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Exposure to weightlessness results in the removal of hydrostatic pressure gradients and a permanent headward fluid shift, causing a redistribution of blood. Additionally, in space postural changes DON t occur and thus, astronauts are not exposed to daily fluid shifts (between supine and upright postures) as we are on earth. This has currently unknown consequences, but IT might be related to a series of neuro-ocular and functional changes developed in some astronauts during both short and long-duration spaceflight, collectively known as spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome (sans). While the exact etiology of sans is currently unknown, chronic fluid redistribution affecting intravascular, interstitial, and cerebrospinal fluids and pressures is widely hypothesized to be a contributing factor. Additionally, recently demonstrated stagnant and retrograde blood flow and venous thrombosis in the left internal jugular vein during spaceflight could also be associated with sustained headward blood and tissue fluid shift. The objective of this ground-based research effort is to generate acute gravitational dose-response curves of cardiovascular (CV) and ocular variables due to changes in the gravitational vector, with and without countermeasures.