NASA
has unveiled the dream job for lazy buggers - lying in bed for a couple of
months and getting paid €16,500 (£14,177) for your efforts. Not bad, eh? The
space agency, working in partnership with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) is
looking for healthy female recruits aged between 24 and 55 for its Artificial
Gravity Bed Rest Study, which researches the effect of weightlessness on the
human body.
In
total, the study lasts 89 days - five days of familiarisation, 60 days of bed
rest and then 14 days of rest and astronaut rehab, which will have you back up
and ready for normal life. Participants are housed in a single room, where the
room temperature is kept constant throughout and, for the 60 day period of
lying down, everything is done while horizontal: eating, showering, going the
toilet, the lot.
Of
course, to stop participants from slowly dying of boredom, leisure activities
such as watching TV and reading are allowed. The study's planners say you could
use the time to take part in an online-course or learn a new skill, but I'm
sure if you spend your time napping, re-watching The Wire and scrolling through
social media, they won't care.
So,
to recap, two months in bed, not having to speak to people other than
researchers, pancakes and £14,000. SIGN ME UP IMMEDIATELY.
The
study kicks off in September, with a number of follow up
examinations, at the German Aerospace Centre in Cologne.
If
you fancy it, you can apply here but
you'll have to fight me for a place.