ROCKY - Resistive Overload Combined With Kinetic Yo-Yo
ROCKY (Resistive Overload Combined With Kinetic Yo-Yo) will be going with astronauts on Orion missions starting with Exploration Mission-2. Not hitting a side of raw beef in a meat locker.
(ROCKY Resistive Overload Combined With Kinetic Yo-Yo)
“ROCKY is an ultra-compact, lightweight exercise device that meets the exercise and medical requirements that we have for Orion missions,” said Gail Perusek, deputy project manager for NASA’s Human Research Program’s Exploration Exercise Equipment project. “The International Space Station’s exercise devices are effective but are too big for Orion, so we had to find a way to make exercising in Orion feasible.”
On the space station, astronauts have a treadmill, resistive exercise device and a cycle ergometer that collectively weigh more than 4,000 pounds and occupy about 850 cubic feet within the space station. Astronauts workout on this equipment for more than two hours a day to stay healthy during their multi-month stays in space. ROCKY will be about the size of a large shoe box, weigh approximately 20 pounds and take up about one cubic foot of room.
“Our long-term goal is to develop a device that’s going to work for us for exploration,” said Cindy Haven, project manager for the Exploration Exercise Equipment Project.
Fans of the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey will recall this scene depicting exercise in orbit:
(2001: A Space Odyssey)
In his 1953 novel Space Tug, Murray Leinster wrote about a gravity-simulator harness for astronauts to maintain a good level of fitness:
"When we got back," Joe told Brown, "we were practically invalids. No exercise up here. This time we've brought some harness to wear. We've some for you, too..."
Joe got out the gravity-simulator harnesses. He showed Brent how they worked. Brown hadn't official instructions to order their use, but Joe put one on himself, set for full Earth-gravity simulation.
He couldn't imitate actual gravity, of course. Only the effect of gravity on one's muscles. There were springs and elastic webbing pulling one's shoulders and feet together, so that it was as much effort to stand extended—with one's legs straight out—as to stand upright on Earth. Joe felt better with a pull on his body.
(Read more about Leinster's gravity-simulator harness)
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