This mountain has no peaks and offers no beautiful views — it is located inside a research facility in Cologne. Two mountain climbers have volunteered to spend four weeks there, under extreme atmospheric conditions.
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Ralf Dujmovits is the only German mountain climber who made it to all 14 mountains that are taller than 8,000 meters (26,247 feet).
Since mid-May, he and his wife — Canadian climber Nancy Hansen — have been living on top of a very special 7,000-meter-tall mountain: in an area of only 110 square meters and located in Cologne, Germany, not much above sea level.
DW-Sports journalist and passionate climber Stefan Nestler is covering the experiment of the two at the Envihab — a medical research laboratory of the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
The two mountain climbers are volunteering as guinea pigs in an experiment about hypoxia — a lack of oxygen that affects humans in high-lying areas or aboard planes (when air pressure cuts out).
Besides researching the harm hypoxia may cause, the Envihab doctors are also interested in finding out whether hypoxia or low air pressure can have any positive effects on the body.
At Cologne's Envihab, doctors can simulate every possible environment. They can alter temperatures, light, sounds, air composition, humidity at whim. But the lab has even more in store.
Image: DLR
May the bed rest begin!
On Wednesday, September 9, Cologne's Envihab kicks off a study in which 12 test subjects will feel what it's like to be in space. The catch? They'll have to lie down for two months straight. DW takes a look.
Image: DLR
Using space to understand the Earth
Astronauts' bodies undergo stress when they travel to and through space - their metabolic and endoctrine systems, among others, change. The Envihab research lab in Cologne aims to understand how the body evolves in space.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Weak legs and muscles
When astronauts return to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) they cannot walk. Their muscles have degenerated during the period of weightlessness. Without gravitation, blood moves away from the legs and builds up in the head.
Image: Reuters/Sergei Remezov
Staying fit
This fitness machine is attached to a short-arm centrifuge. Astronauts can use it to exercise their muscles. This kind of centrifuge can be to simulate gravity used during long space missions.
Image: DW/F. Schmidt
A glimpse into the heart
The centrifuge at Envihab can go up to six times the Earth's gravitational acceleration - like during a rocket launch or in a fighter jet. This ultrasound machine, attached to a robot arm, can examine how the heart reacts during this process.
Image: DW/F. Schmidt
Up close
The doctor can move the ultrasound machine very close above the test subject's body, allowing him to look directly into the heart or at other organs to see if they have moved during the intense accelerations, and whether or not blood vessels swell or decrease in size.
Image: DW/F. Schmidt
When the brain goes into standby
EEGs, like the one shown here, help sleep researchers better understand how brain waves change , for instance when people nod off.
Image: DW/F. Schmidt
When thinking changes direction
On Earth, it's pretty simple - gravitation always pulls us down. The universe around us seems to stand still. But in space, there's no up and down. So astronauts practice tricky maneuvers, like docking a space capsule, on computers before taking off.