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You Could Get Paid By The European Space Agency To Stay In A Bath For Five Days

You Could Get Paid By The European Space Agency To Stay In A Bath For Five Days

ESA is looking for 20 women to take part on the study to assess the impact on the body of weightlessness in space

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

You can now get paid for the pleasure of lying in the bath for a week as the European Space Agency (ESA) is looking for people to take part in a new study.

The study is due to take place later this year at the Institute for Space Medicine and Physiology (MEDES) in Toulouse, France.

ESA wants 20 women (previous dry-immersion studies were all-male) to sit in a dry-immersion bath for five days to test the effects of weightlessness on the human body.

Dry-immersion means that participants lie in the bath on a waterproof sheet, so don't actually get wet.

Explaining the concept, ESA said: "Dry-immersion studies benefit from placing less pressure on the body as volunteers are supported and suspended evenly in the tub, a condition that mimics the floating astronauts experience on the International Space Station."

But if you think this is a joke, the boffins over at ESA are clear that it is a serious scientific study and not a whole lot of fun.

ESA's human spaceflight team leader, Jennifer Ngo-Anh, said: "We get many requests to be a volunteer for these studies, but they are no joke.

The ESA want 20 women to take part in a new study to test the effects of weightlessness on the human body.
ESA

"Lying in bed sounds fun but the pleasure wears off very quickly - especially when blood is drawn and muscle biopsies are involved - we constantly salute the volunteers that sacrifice their daily lives for the benefit of human exploration!"

It is not yet known how much participants will be paid for the experiment, but you can put your name forward for studies like this here. MEDES will then contact you if you match the criteria for an upcoming study.

Previously, NASA paid people £14,000 to spend 89 days in bed as part of its Artificial Gravity Bed Rest Study.

NASA explained: "The results of the study help scientists develop more effective countermeasures or preventive measures so that astronauts on the space station do not have to spend most of their day doing sports."

NASA is also looking for people to go to the moon.
PA

NASA also recently announced it was on the hunt for the next group of astronauts to head to the moon.

Hiring next month, they will be training a bunch of newbies up to take part in future missions to the moon, with the aim of jetting off into space in just four years time.

Speaking about the recruitment drive, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said: "We're celebrating our 20th year of continuous presence aboard the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit this year, and we're on the verge of sending the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024.

"For the handful of highly talented women and men we will hire to join our diverse astronaut corps, it's an incredible time in human spaceflight to be an astronaut.

"We're asking all eligible Americans if they have what it to takes to apply beginning 2 March."

Featured Image Credit: ESA

Topics: Science, Interesting, space