Prospects of medical monitoring of long-duration space flights by means of non-contact recording of physiological functions during sleep time

The methods used to investigate the body functional state in sleep under the conditions of a long-duration space flight are of great scientific and practical interest. The Sonocard experiment is based on the method of seismocardiography. The goal of this experiment is to validate and improve the procedure of non-contact recording the in-sleep physiological data for monitoring the crew state. The very first results have demonstrated that, as on Earth, sleep is crucial for recovery of the functional reserves expended during the daytime under the conditions of microgravity. Using the new technology, the recovery processes, as well as individual adaptation to a long-term space flight, can be studied. This method makes it possible to evaluate the sleep quality, mechanisms of recreation, and body functionality. These data may enrich substantially the information used by medical operators of space missions in the control centers.