The pressurized capsule of the SpaceX Cargo Dragon resupply ship with its nose cone open is pictured as the vehicle leaves the International Space Station on January 23, 2022. Credit: NASA
As the International Space Station (ISS) orbited more than 267 miles above the South Atlantic Ocean, the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft docked autonomously to the forward port of the station’s Harmony module at 11:21 a.m. EDT (8:21 a.m. PDT) today (July 16, 2022), with NASA astronauts Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins overseeing operations from the station.
Dragon launched on SpaceX’s 25th contracted commercial supply mission for NASA from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 8:44 p.m. EDT, Thursday, July 14. After Dragon spends about a month attached to the orbiting laboratory, the spacecraft will return to Earth with cargo and research.
SpaceX’s Dragon supply ship approaches the space station during an orbital sunrise over the Pacific Ocean. Credit: NASA TV
Among the science experiments that Dragon delivers to the space station are:
Dust from northwestern Africa drifts over the Canary Islands in this image taken by the NOAA-20 satellite on Jan. 14. An upcoming NASA mission, the Source of Mineral Dust on Earth’s Surface (EMIT) Study, will help scientists better understand the role of airborne dust in heating and cooling the atmosphere. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory
Earth Dust Mapping
Developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Survey (EMIT) uses NASA imaging spectroscopy technology to measure the mineral composition of dust in Earth’s arid regions. Mineral dust blown into the air can travel considerable distances and affect climate, weather, vegetation, etc. For example, an area may be warmed by dust made of dark minerals that absorb sunlight, while a region may be cooled by dust made of light minerals. Air quality, surface conditions, including the rate at which snow melts, and the health of ocean phytoplankton are all affected by blowing dust. Over the course of a year, the probe will collect images to generate maps of the mineral composition of Earth’s dust-producing regions. Such mapping can expand our understanding of how mineral dust affects human populations now and in the future.
Preflight preparation of tissue chips for immunosenescence research that studies the effects of microgravity on immune function to determine the mechanisms behind immune system aging. Credit: Sonja Schrepfer, UC San Francisco
Faster aging of the immune system
Immunosenescence is the changes in the immune system due to aging. Microgravity causes changes in human immune cells that resemble immunosenescence, but they occur much faster than the actual aging process on Earth. Sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory, the Imunosenescence study uses tissue chips to study how microgravity affects immune function during flight and whether immune cells recover after flight. Tissue chips are tiny devices that contain human cells in a 3D structure that allows researchers to test how those cells respond to stress, drugs and genetic changes.
“Immune aging affects tissue stem cells and their ability to repair tissues and organs,” said principal investigator Sonia Schrepfer, a professor of surgery at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). “Our studies aim to understand critical pathways to prevent and reverse immune cell senescence.”
“The conditions of spaceflight allow the study of immune aging that would not be feasible in the laboratory,” said co-investigator Tobias Dues, professor of surgery at UCSF. This work could help develop treatments for Earth’s aging immune system. The investigation could also help develop methods to protect astronauts during future long-duration space flights.
SpaceX’s 25th cargo delivery mission (SpaceX CRS-25), carrying science research and technology demonstrations to the International Space Station, launched July 14 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Experiments aboard the Dragon capsule include studies of the immune system, wound healing, soil communities and cell-free biomarkers, along with mapping the composition of Earth’s dust and testing an alternative to concrete. Credit: NASA
Small satellites, big science
Five CubeSats launched this mission sponsored by NASA’s launch program, including BeaverCube, which launched to the space station for deployment in low Earth orbit. Multiple cameras are used by the small satellite, including one that takes color images of Earth’s oceans and two that collect thermal images of cloud tops and the ocean surface. Cloud top and ocean surface temperatures help researchers understand Earth’s climate and weather systems. The data collected also help scientists improve their understanding of the concentration of phytoplankton in the ocean, an important factor in the generation of atmospheric oxygen.
“Most Earth observation missions show mostly land, focusing on populated areas and targets of interest. BeaverCube will focus on imaging oceans and coastal regions, combining thermal imaging with visible imaging to help us better understand ocean fronts,” said principal investigator Kerry Cahoy, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. . “BeaverCube also plans to demonstrate electrospray propulsion to understand its performance before and after drag forces begin to significantly affect the spacecraft and we deorbit.”
Sample tube preparation for DynaMoS, which investigates how microgravity affects metabolic interactions in soil microbial communities. Each tube contains chitin and sterile soil inoculated with a community of microbes. Credit: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Earth in space
Complex communities of microorganisms perform key functions in Earth’s soil, including supporting plant growth and the cycling of carbon and other nutrients. DynaMoS, an investigation sponsored by NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences Division (BPS), investigates how microgravity affects metabolic interactions in soil microbial communities. This research focuses on microbial communities that degrade chitin, a natural carbon polymer on Earth.
“Soil microorganisms perform beneficial functions that are essential to life on our planet,” said principal investigator Janet K. Janson, principal scientist and laboratory scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. “To harness these beneficial activities for future space missions, we need to understand more about how conditions in space, such as microgravity and radiation, affect these microbes and the beneficial functions they provide.” Perhaps in the future we will use beneficial soil microbes to improve the growth of crops on the lunar surface.
Improved understanding of the function of soil microbial communities could also reveal ways to optimize these communities to support agricultural production on Earth.
Celine Kojalar, the student who designed the experiment on which Genes in Space-9 is based, prepares her samples for launch. Credit: Genes in Space
Genes, no cells
Cell-free technology is a protein production platform without the specialized equipment of living cells that need to be cultured. Genes in Space-9, sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory, demonstrates cell-free protein production in microgravity and evaluates two cell-free biosensors that can detect specific target molecules. This technology could provide a simple, portable, and inexpensive tool for medical diagnostics, on-demand drug and vaccine production, and environmental monitoring on future space missions.
“Biosensors are a class of synthetic biology tools with enormous potential for spaceflight applications in contaminant detection, environmental monitoring, and field diagnostics,” said Celine Kokalar, student winner of Genes in Space 2021. “This investigation seeks to confirm their use aboard the space station. If successful, Genes in Space-9 will lay the groundwork for downstream biosensor applications in space exploration and Earth’s limited resources.
Genes in Space, an annual science competition, challenges students in grades 7 through 12 to design DNA experiments to be conducted on the space station. The program has launched eight investigations so far, and some of them have led to publications expanding our knowledge of genetic experiments through space exploration, including the first experiment using CRISPR technology in microgravity in 2019.
Flight hardware for Biopolymer Research for In-situ Capabilities, a study of how microgravity affects the process of creating a concrete alternative made from organic material and in-situ materials such as lunar or Martian dust. Each module makes two bricks, for a total of six bricks made in space. Credit: James Wall
Better concrete
Biopolymer Research for In-Situ Capabilities looks at how microgravity affects the process of creating a concrete alternative made from organic material and in-situ materials such as lunar or Martian dust known as a biopolymer soil composite (BPC). Using the available resources where the construction takes place makes it possible to increase the mass of the building material and therefore the amount of shielding.
“Astronauts on the Moon and Mars will need habitats that provide radiation shielding, but transporting large quantities of conventional building materials from Earth is logistically and financially infeasible,” said team member Leywood Fein. “Our student team, led by Michael Lepech of Stanford University’s Blume Earthquake Engineering Center, is studying a way to turn the regolith in these environments into a concrete-like material by mixing in water and a protein known as…
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