ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet is setting up Mares in the European Columbus laboratory this week. Mares, or Muscle Atrophy Research and Exercise System, is a muscle-measurement machine on the International Space Station that monitors astronauts’ muscles as they work out. Muscle strength decreases during spaceflight and researchers need to know why this happens in order to prepare for long-duration missions and safe space tourism. Mares is a Physiology instrument that offers detailed information about how muscles behave during spaceflight.
Setting up MARES, great science, but a beast of a machine! Luckily, weightlessness helps a lot… http://blogs.esa.int/thomas-pesquet/2016/11/29/the-mares-machine/
