Earn 18,000 euros by lying in bed for 2 months, and help space science

The German Aerospace Center in Cologne is looking for volunteers for its next bed rest study

The German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Cologne is looking for people willing to participate in a bed rest study, which will commence in September 2024 with a duration of two months. The only thing required from the test subjects is to be willing to spend 60 days lying in bed and they will get 18,000 euros for their time and “effort”.

There is a catch, however. Since the aim of the bed rest study is to analyze the effects of space on the human body, the beds where the participants will lie will be inclined by 6 degrees. That means that the volunteers will have to constantly be in a position with their feet higher than their heads.

“At this angle, the body fluids shift almost exactly as they do for astronauts in space," explains Edwin Mulder, head of the study at the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine.

Study in partnership with NASA

The German centre does its research in collaboration with the US space agency NASA.

The bed study is important because it mimics the effects of microgravity on the human body of space travellers. Without the force of gravity, more fluid flows into the upper half of the body and less into the legs. The intracranial pressure increases, the physical inactivity leads to muscle and bone loss, the sense of balance is impaired and the cardiovascular system changes.

Participants will actually spend 88 days in total at the centre - for 60 of which, they will be bedridden. The other days will be spent on preparation and follow-up. DLR has been conducting such bed rest studies since the 1980s.

Applications are open to individuals between the ages of 24 and 55 with a height of 1.53 to 1.90 metres and a BMI of 18 to 30. They must also be in good health, be non-smokers and have a good command of German.