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Among the 14 top-tier experiments selected by the Ministry of Transport for the upcoming space mission of Czech astronaut Aleš Svoboda at the end of 2027 is also ICARUS ARMOR NEXT GEN, a project focused on developing a digital twin model to predict astronauts’ cognitive performance under cumulative stress. The project is coordinated by Vratislav Šálený, the space research coordinator at BUT, and involves scientists from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication (FEKT BUT) and the Faculty of Chemistry (FCH BUT), along with other members of the CAERPIN consortium.
Illustrative photo: Aleš Svoboda (in the middle) during cognitive stress tests in the climate chamber of the BUT. The first two from the left are J. Hubálek and V. Šálený, BUT representatives in the ICARUS ARMOR NEXT GEN project. | Author: Václav Koníček"We are thrilled with the outcome. It’s a great success not only for our team but for the entire BUT, where there is growing interest in space technologies among students. We also believe that our project has the potential to be a great source of motivation for current and future engineering students," said Vratislav Šálený on behalf of the development team and continued. "There is still a lot of work ahead. We have negotiations with the European Space Agency ahead, which will lead to the signing of a contract for the realization of the experiment. It should be ready before Aleš Svoboda's mission, and we expect that due to various physical, technical, operational, or safety constraints, it will still need further adjustments. Preparing the experiment also includes testing at the NASTAR Center in the USA or a similar center in Europe, where we will use a centrifuge that enables precise simulations of G-force effects on the human body for multiple types of rocket launchers. The profile of high G-force acting on an astronaut during a rocket launch and the subsequent microgravity are a substantial part of the total cumulative stress load affecting his or her cognitive performance in the hours and days that follow."
The project team has already obtained a dataset on the effects of stress in extreme external conditions—specifically in microgravity—thanks to the opportunity to participate in the Zero-G Mission, which visited the Czech Republic a few weeks ago. The unique experiment involved non-invasive saliva collection from participants to assess stress effects in a zero-gravity state. Scientists from FCH BUT were also involved in the analysis of the samples. The collected data pave the way for the creation of the very first scientific dataset of its kind, focused on the effects of microgravity on young astronauts in training.
Lukáš Nejdl (Lightly Technologies) and Filip Mravec (FCH BUT) analyzing samples from the Zero-G mission in the BUT laboratories. | Author: CAERPIN archive"From the samples collected during the Zero-G mission, we were able to determine the level of stress load (stress score, ed. note) for each participant during the flight and also their recovery level (recovery score, ed. note) after the experienced stress. We compared the results with data from each participant’s relaxed state, and the obtained parameters highlighted individuals who are more resilient to stress and recover very quickly," explained Filip Mravec from the Institute of Physical and Consumer Chemistry at FCH BUT.Martin Kubíček - graduate of BUT and CEO of UptimAI, which is the main contractor of ESA project ICARUS ARMOR NEXT GEN. | Author: CAERPIN archiveThe initial evaluation of the experimental results from the Zero-G Mission is available on the CAERPIN consortium website (Czech Aerospace Research Institute). Members of the CAERPIN consortium—FCH BUT, FEEC BUT, Mendel University in Brno, together with companies UptimAI (its founders M. Kubíček and T. Koutník are graduates of the Institute of Aerospace Engineering at FSI BUT, ed. note) and Lightly Technologies—are the main contributors to the ICARUS ARMOR NEXT GEN project.
The collaboration with the Zero-G Mission’s cadet team, led by Jan Spratek from the Prague Planetarium and the Czech Office of the European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO), also continues. "Later this May, our team will be collecting saliva samples during their instrument diving training and will once again analyze stress responses from them. We will share the results," said Šálený.
More information about the selection process and the chosen experiments for astronaut Aleš Svoboda’s mission is available on the Ministry of Transport’s website.
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Mission Zero-G: Resistance in microgravity was verified by an experiment involving BUTBUT rector at the launch of space project: Young people need to dream