DLR award for TU Ilmenau scientists: Monitoring brain activity in space

A research team led by Professor Patrique Fiedler from TU Ilmenau has won second place in the international INNOspace Masters 2025 innovation competition organized by the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center with a new method for monitoring brain activity in space. Together with the University of Duisburg-Essen and the Berlin-based medical technology company eemagine, it is developing an innovative system for measuring brain activity that is designed to protect astronauts on long, stressful space missions - and could also improve the lives of people with brain diseases, depression or burnout on Earth.

Whether in space, where astronauts live in zero gravity, confined spaces and under enormous pressure, or in Antarctica, where researchers work in isolation for months on end - anyone who is exposed to extreme conditions for long periods of time reaches their physical and mental limits. In spring, for example, there was apparently an extreme case of cabin fever at a remote research station in the Antarctic, when a scientist is even said to have threatened others with death. "Continuous monitoring of changes in brain activity could possibly have helped to detect a mental crisis early and take countermeasures," explains Prof. Patrique Fiedler, Head of the Group of Data Analysis in Life Sciences at TU Ilmenau.

Even in space travel, studies confirm that long stays in space in isolation and confined spaces can have an impact on the psyche of astronauts and thus on their brain function. TU Ilmenau is researching these changes together with partners from the Université libre de Bruxelles, McGovern Medical School Houston, Complutense Universidad Madrid, the University of Duisburg-Essen and eemagine Medical Imaging Solutions GmbH. The aim is to continuously monitor the astronauts' brain activity in order to be able to recognize such stresses in the future and initiate countermeasures at an early stage.

The research team led by Prof. Patrique Fiedler wants to develop an ultra-light, comfortable system, such as a headset that is ready for use in seconds and reliably records high-quality EEG data on an ongoing basis. Built-in artificial intelligence in the form of signal analysis automatically recognizes the person's mental states and continuously monitors and optimizes the signal quality independently. In their award-winning innovation, the research partners are building on an EEG system with dry electrodes that was developed at Ilmenau University of Technology. It does not require the time-consuming preparation of conventional electrodes and is already being used in numerous medical facilities in Germany.

In combination with neurofeedback, a computer-assisted brain training system, the new system could help to prevent performance losses for people on space missions in the future and even enable them to recover mentally while they are still in space. "Our aim is to make mental stress visible and help people to deal better with stress and extreme situations - on Earth too, by the way," says Fiedler.

Double benefit - in space and in everyday life

What is being developed for space travel also has great potential for everyday life: "Monitoring brain health is a key issue - not only for long-term missions in space, but also for our society as a whole," says Fiedler: from emotion recognition and monitoring brain health to support for mental illness. "Especially in times when burnout and depression are on the rise, reliable tools that continuously monitor mental health can be a great help."

Contact

Prof. Patrique Fiedler
Head of the Group of Data Analysis in Life Sciences
+49 3677 69-2865
patrique.fiedler@tu-ilmenau.de