ISS, January 31. /TASS/. The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) is conducting the second stage of the experiment ‘Virtual’ to study the influence of zero gravity on the ability of humans to track the movement of objects and get their bearings in space, TASS special correspondent in orbit, ISS commander, Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov reported.

"Today we are conducting the medical experiment ‘Virtual’ aboard the ISS. The purpose of this research is to understand how reliably and accurately a cosmonaut can track the position of moving objects while staying in zero gravity at various stages of a space flight," he said.

Zero gravity considerably changes activity and disrupts the operation of gravitationally dependent systems. In addition, adaptation is frequently accompanied by sensory disorders, for example, illusions of body position in space, dizziness and a difficulty in tracking visual objects, which can cause discomfort, he explained.

During the experiment, an operator wearing virtual reality glasses tracks the movement of a small mark on the screen with his eyes. The movement of the mark can be either smooth or abrupt, in various directions and accompanied by visual interference. Special sensors on the face register actual eye movements, the cosmonaut said.

All the data are recorded and sent to Earth for analysis by specialists of the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The second stage of the experiment, which began in 2023, is being conducted on Russia’s completely domestic equipment and software whereas the first stage was implemented with the use of European apparatus and ended in 2016.