The US Navy Kraken spinning device was designed to simulate spaceflight and helps scientists study the disorientation that astronauts may encounter. Put simply, the machine spin occupants like clothes churning in a washing machine and NASA scientists hope to use the Kraken to build strategies that aim to ease motion sickness.
You enter Kraken through a 50-foot-long, 100-ton platform at Wright-Patterson Air Force and it can be configured to replicate various types of flight to disorient occupants through sudden shifts in roll / pitch / yaw superimposed onto horizontal and vertical lurches. NASA and Navy scientists will recruit 24 active duty service members for an upcoming study to ride in the Kraken for 60 minutes. These participates will be spun at accelerations reaching three times the force of gravity to simulate what astronauts experience when they first return to Earth.
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Anecdotes from astronauts suggest that performing slight head movements helps them recover a sense of balance more quickly. Tests with the Kraken will allow us to rigorously determine what head movements, if any, help astronauts to quickly recover their sense of balance,” said Michael Schubert, Nurophysiologist at Johns Hopkins University.
