Brain.space will be among experiments going to the International Space Station aboard NASA’s Axion-1 mission, April 2-8.
By Abigail Klein Leichman, Israel21c
Tel Aviv-based brain-mapping data company Brain.space will be aboard the April 2-8 NASA Axion-1 mission to the International Space Station, conducting microgravity brain activity experiments in space.
Three astronauts will perform various tasks while wearing the Brain.space EEG-enabled headset. The first-of-its-kind helmet will record their neurological activity, enabling scientists to track day-to-day brain changes during space travel for the first time.
The crew members, including former Israeli fighter pilot Eytan Stibbe, will all take part in the experiments before, during and after the mission to gather comparative data sets.
The company explained in a statement that while EEG scanning systems are versatile, relatively inexpensive and portable, they can produce inaccurate results when movements or environments are altered. That’s one problem Brain.space seeks to solve.
In the bigger picture, Brain.space is developing a comprehensive and affordable database where brain-activity mapping of any kind can be publicly stored and shared. This information can be vital for researchers, physicians, pharmaceutical companies, and app developers to better understand brain abnormalities, diseases, and conditions.
The company recently came out of stealth with an $8.5 million seed round, with Mangrove Capital Partners as the lead investor.
“It gives us great joy to participate in these unprecedented experiments and showcase what our EEG helmet can do,” said Dr. Shai Efrati, cofounder and chairman of Brain. space.
“We hope this new technology will improve the entire methodology behind EEG brain mapping, for everyone involved. We want to promote neural wellness and believe that this mission and our future open-source database will do exactly that.”