Space Rock Climbing Gym

Find a way to adapt common gym tools for a reduced gravity environment and design a workout routine that can minimize bone and muscular loss while being fun and easy to use during a long term mission. In doing so consider constraints regarding weight (equipment should weigh less than 500kg) and dimensions. Consider incorporating virtual reality to simulate a jog through an astronaut’s favorite Earth destinations or incorporate gaming to motivate users.

We want to bring the full experience of Sport Climbing to the pressurized habitat of the International Space Station (and potentially any future space-stations as well!). Climbing is a well-rounded sport, which can target specific functional muscle groups and includes physiological and cognitive benefits as well as physical benefits... it also happens to be a lot of FUN!

We considered scientific evidence, produced by members from the C-HIPPER project (Climbing High Performance International Project) and others, which shows that muscular atrophy and bone density loss can be combated through climbing. Custom climbing problems may be designed for astronauts depending on the intensity required and their particular climbing level; these proposals could bring together the global climbing community for a truly international project or be designed by the best climbers on Earth.

In order to "climb" in space (i.e., Astroclimb) astronauts will need some climbing gear and a way to simulate gravity; for the latter we propose a twofold approach: first, use of a modified auto-belaying device (clock-spring mechanism) to provide a constant force "downward", which replaces gravity as felt in the center of mass of the climber. Second, a number of weights located on limbs will increase the inertia associated to moving the extremities, providing a resistance similar to that felt on Earth. A second, un-modified, auto-belaying device will protect the astronauts from falls under simulated gravity.

The climbing wall would be a large sheet of flexible high-endurance material (such as reinforced Kevlar), riveted on numerous positions for flexibility in setting climbing holds for particular routes. These holds would be shipped to the ISS together with full-body harnesses and other climbing material (e.g., climbing shoes) taking into account the 500Kg limitation on the Astrocize challenge. Once a route is set on the flexible material, it may be rigidized to form a "wall" using fasteners (similar to tensing a canvas) and anchor points on the particular module of the ISS used to host the climbing gym; we propose the use of the "Kibo" module due to its ample internal volume.

An example of a workout routine has been proposed following typical workout proposals for novice climbers on Earth, the workout is comprehensive and is projected for increasing intensity and difficulty over a 4 week period.

Additional considerations made by our group include the possibility of using Mixed/Augmented Reality (such as the one provided by the Microsoft Hololens, readily available in the ISS) to overlay different environments onto the climbing wall (e.g., ice wall and snow effects, granite walls similar to El Capitan, etc.) and shipping climbing holds made of recyclable material for the ISS's 3D printer, so new holds may be printed in case astronauts become true climbing "beasts".

Reid Wiseman Tour of the ISS:

Hololens to the ISS:

Auto-belay device:

Research Publications:

[1] K.O. Genc, R. Gopalakrishnan, M.M. Kuklis, C.C. Maender, A.J. Rice, K.D. Bowersox, P.R. Cavanagh. “Foot forces during exercise on the International Space Station”. Journal of Biomechanics, Volume 43, Issue 15, November 16, 2010

[2] España-Romero, V., Artero, E.G., Ortega, F.B., Jiménez-Pavón, D., Gutiérrez, A., Castillo, M.J. & Ruiz, J.R. "Physiology of Sport Climbing", Rev.int.med.cienc.act.fís.deporte, Vol. 9, - o 35, September, 2009

[3] Tang L, Gao X, Yang X, Liu C, Wang X, Han Y, Zhao X, Chi A, Sun L, "Ladder-Climbing Training Prevents Bone Loss and Microarchitecture Deterioration in Diet-Induced Obese Rats". Calcif Tissue Inf., January 2016

[4] Draper, N., Dickson, T., Blackwell, G., Priestly, S., Fryer, S., Marshall, H., Shearman, J., Hamlin, M., Winter, D & Ellis, G. "Sport specific power assessment for rock climbing". Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 2010, 51(3), 417-25