Welcome to NASA's Neurolab mission Web site. The Neurolab payload will be launched on STS-90 in April 1998.
This site will tell you about the science being performed aboard STS-90. Find out about:
Who is involved in the mission
What the science is all about
When the mission is
Where the scientists are from
Why Neurolab is such an important mission
How the Neurolab mission was developed
What's New on this site!!
About Company
Data from the aquatic experiments on Neurolab may disclose the mechanisms at work in various forms of motion sickness experienced by many people on Earth. In particular, studies of the mechanisms controlling otoconial production may provide further insight into what may have gone wrong in certain conditions of human pathology, such as benign pavoxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), an abnormality involving the otoliths. The studies may also help explain why aging otoliths become smaller.
Further benefits include the use and perfection of the sieve or wafer electrode that is used to record nerve impulses. This electrode offers potential use as a connection to the nervous system in people with deafness caused by hair cell damage. It also could be used as an interface to signal motor prostheses how and when to move.
"The finding that spatial orientation is reflected in eye movements offers us a powerful tool for testing how spatial orientation changes in microgravity. These studies should help us understand normal balance better, and suggest causes for imbalance and falling on Earth."
Address:
GSFC-Code 690.1,NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771
