One subject group will follow an exercise plan. Exercise has many forms. Bicycle exercise is primarily training the cardiovascular system, whereas high intensity exercise (resistance exercise) is thought to be necessary to maintain muscle force and mass. The flywheel technology applied here is the best method known at present.

Beginning of September 2001, ESA, the French Space agency CNES and the Japanese Space agency NASDA start a unique experiment at the MEDES Space Clinic in Toulouse, France.
Fourteen test subjects aged between 29 and 41 will spend three months in bed to simulate the effects of long-duration Space Station missions. Throughout the study, the subjects will have to undergo many investigations such as tests during exercise, measurement of bone-density and magnetic resonance imaging… This is the first ever long-term bed rest study with so many scientific teams to be carried out in Europe.

(Photo: ESA/CNES/MEDES, A.L.Huet)