A Crew Dragon spacecraft splashed down early March 12, returning a multinational crew after more than six months of the International Space Station. The Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast from Pensacola, Florida, at 5:47 a.m. Eastern after a normal reentry. The spacecraft had undocked from the station more than 18 hours earlier. Endurance’s return marked then end of the 199-day Crew-7 mission, which launched last August. On board were NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli, European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Satoshi Furukawa and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov. All four were out of the capsule less than an hour after splashdown. That post-splashdown recovery is among the fastest for the 12 Crew Dragon splashdowns to date. “The SpaceX team did a great job of getting the Dragon capsule out of the water and back on to the ship. They continue to get better and better,” said Steve Stich, NASA commercial crew program manager, in a call with reporters. He said favorable weather conditions, with very light winds and calm seas, likely also contributed to the speedy recovery. The splashdown completed the third flight of Endurance, all long-duration ISS missions. Benji Reed, senior director for human spaceflight programs at SpaceX, noted at the briefing that the capsule has spent 534 days in space, more than any crew-rated vehicle in history.
The Crew Dragon capsule after splashdown on the Crew-7 mission. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)
Crew-7 departed the ISS nearly a week after the arrival of their replacements, Crew-8, on another Crew Dragon spacecraft named Endeavour. NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin will stay on the ISS for the next six months.
Endeavour, Reed added in the call, will overtake Endurance’s current record, with 476 days and counting in space. “The Dragons are a workhorse in the industry.”
The return of Crew-7 frees up a docking port on the station for a cargo Dragon mission, CRS-30, scheduled for launch later this month. That vehicle will remain docked to the station for a month before it returns to Earth. It will be followed by the first crewed flight by Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, now scheduled for early May.
A Falcon 9 launched a multinational crew to the International Space Station Aug. 26 after a one-day delay to check the spacecraft’s life support system. The SpaceX Falcon 9 lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 3:27 a.m. Eastern on the Crew-7 mission for NASA. The Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance separated from the Falcon 9’s upper stage a little more than 12 minutes later. Endurance, with its crew of four, is scheduled to dock with the zenith port on the Harmony module of the ISS at 8:39 a.m. Eastern Aug. 27. That will kick off a roughly six-month stay on the station. The launch was scheduled for Aug. 25 but postponed several hours before the scheduled liftoff. NASA said that engineers needed more time to review a component of the Crew Dragon’s life support system, known as ECLSS. NASA did not initially state what that component was but later said it was valves in an air supply system. Steve Stich, NASA commercial crew program manager, said at the post-launch briefing that after discovering corroded valves in the propulsion system of a cargo Dragon in June, SpaceX “out of an abundance of caution” decided to review all valves on the spacecraft, including for life support and propulsion. The review was designed to check the “force margin,” or the ability of the valve to open and close. “It took a little bit more time to get through the ECLSS valves,” he said, which led to the one-day slip. “We said, let’s stand down for 24 hours and make sure we understand it before we go fly.” That review confirmed that the valves were working properly and required no changes.
A Falcon 9 lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center Aug. 26 on the Crew-7 mission to the ISS. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
During the launch countdown, controllers reported a sensor issue that was cleared shortly before liftoff. At the post-launch briefing, officials said that sensors had detected trace amounts of nitrogen tetroxide, or NTO, from the Crew Dragon spacecraft that indicated a possible propellant leak. NTO is one of the two hypergolic propellants used by the spacecraft’s thrusters.
Benji Reed, senior director of the human spaceflight program at SpaceX, said at the post-launch briefing that the levels of NTO detected were about 0.25 parts per million. Three engineers independently calculated what level of leak could cause that reading and all three came to the same conclusion. “The good news was that the number that we came up with was well within the range of what you might normally see.”
That assessment, though, came down to the wire. “We were working the problem and we cleared it within the last two minutes of the count,” he said.
Crew-7 is the first commercial crew flight to carry people from four different agencies. The mission is commanded by NASA astronaut Jasmin Moghbeli on her first flight to space. European Space Agency astronaut Andreas Mogensen is the pilot; he made a 10-day trip to the station on a Soyuz spacecraft in 2015. Satoshi Furukawa of the Japanese space agency JAXA and Roscosmos cosmonaut Konstantin Borisov are mission specialists. Furukawa flew a long-duration mission to the ISS in 2011 while Borisov is on his first trip to space.
That multinational lineup was simply how the crew assignments worked out, said Joel Montalbano, NASA ISS program manager, at a preflight briefing Aug. 21. “The way the timing worked out for this one with our integrated crew agreement that we have with Roscosmos, it was time for these other folks to fly,” he said.
Stich said at that briefing that another milestone for Crew-7 is having a non-NASA astronaut, Mogensen, be a Crew Dragon pilot for the first time. “It’s a very big deal for us,” he said then.
Such multinational crews will not always be the case. The next Crew Dragon mission to the ISS, Crew-8 launching in early 2024, will have three NASA astronauts and one Roscosmos cosmonaut.
The arrival of Crew-7 will allow NASA to begin preparations for the return of the Crew-6 mission, which has been on the station for nearly six months. Montalbano said at the post-launch briefing that the agency was planning a five-day handover between Crew-6 and Crew-7 before Crew-6 departs on the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour. That timing, though, will depend on weather at splashdown locations off the Florida coast, which could be affected by the expected formation of a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico in the next several days.
NASA has selected Axiom Space to carry out the fourth in a series of private astronaut missions to the International Space Station in 2024. NASA announced Aug. 3 it selected the Houston-based company for the mission, currently scheduled for no earlier than August 2024. The four-person mission, flying on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, will spend up to two weeks docked to the station. NASA had previously selected Axiom for three private astronaut missions to the station. The Ax-1 mission went to the station in April 2022, followed by Ax-2 in May 2023. NASA selected Axiom for the third mission, Ax-3, in March, and the agency said at the time it was in negotiations with an unnamed company for the fourth mission. At the time of the announcement of Ax-3, NASA and Axiom Space said that mission was planned for as soon as November 2023. However, in a speech at the ISS Research and Development Conference Aug. 1, Dana Weigel, NASA ISS deputy program manager, said the mission was now scheduled for early 2024. The agency tweeted Aug. 2 that a revised launch date of no earlier than January 2024 “allows for teams to collaborate on the integration of the mission’s scientific research priorities.” Neither NASA nor Axiom Space have announced who will fly on either Ax-3 or Ax-4. NASA regulations require private astronaut missions be commanded by former NASA astronauts with flight experience, leaving three seats available for paying customers. In January, Michael Suffredini, chief executive of Axiom, said he expected government-sponsored astronauts to be most of the customers of Ax-3 and Ax-4.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft docked to the International Space Station during Axiom Space's Ax-2 private astronaut mission in May 2023. Credit: NASA
Axiom is using the private astronaut missions to gain experience ahead of installing its first commercial modules on the station as soon as late 2025. Those modules will form the core of a standalone space station the company plans to establish by the time the ISS is retired.
“These missions are instrumental in expanding commercial space activities and access to space for individuals and nations around the world, as well as developing the knowledge and experience needed to normalize living and working in microgravity,” Suffredini said in a statement about the Ax-4 award.
The private astronaut missions are part of NASA’s ISS transition strategy, supporting the development of commercial space stations that will succeed the ISS around 2030. Phil McAlister, director of commercial space at NASA Headquarters, described the Ax-4 award in an agency statement as “another milestone in our efforts to transition low Earth orbit from primarily a government-sponsored activity to one where NASA is one of many customers.”
That approach has the support of NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, an independent safety committee. During an Aug. 3 public meeting, panel member Mark Sirangelo noted the Ax-2 mission completed a “full manifest of science, outreach and commercial activities” and was able to return more than 135 kilograms of cargo for NASA.
“We think this whole mission seems to have gone considerably more smoothly” than the first mission, he said of Ax-2. “You can see very good progress in these private astronaut missions.”
The Canadian government formally committed March 24 to an extension of the International Space Station to 2030, joining other Western partners but not Russia. As part of a summit meeting in Ottawa between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Joe Biden, the two governments confirmed that Canada would participate in the ISS through 2030 as part of a renewed commitment to space exploration that includes contributions to the NASA-led lunar Gateway. “Prime Minister Trudeau agreed to extend Canada’s commitment to the International Space Station (ISS) and support science on the Lunar Gateway,” the Canadian government said in a statement outlining overall cooperation between the two countries. “Our country’s continued participation in ISS and Lunar Gateway cement Canada’s global leadership in robotics in space and on Earth.” The White House announced at the end of 2021 its intent to extend ISS operations through 2030. Since then, the U.S. has been working with its major partners to confirm their participation in the station beyond the previously agreed-to date of 2024. The Japanese government formally agreed to the extension in November 2022, followed shortly thereafter by the European Space Agency at its ministerial meeting. Canada was expected to also agree to an extension, with timing the only issue. “No one would have expected Canada to make a decision before the U.S. or even ESA or Roscosmos,” one Canadian Space Agency official, Christian Lange, said at a January 2022 conference. The White House announcement, he said then, would allow the agency “to propose options and come to a decision in a timely manner” but gave no timeline for doing so.
The International Space Station as seen from a Crew Dragon spacecraft in 2021. Credit: NASA
“The United States strongly welcomed Canada’s decision to support the extension of operation of the International Space Station through 2030,” the White House said at the end of a fact sheet.
With the Canadian announcement, Russia is the only ISS partner that has not agreed to an extension to 2030. Last July, Yuri Borisov, new head of Roscosmos, said that Russia would leave the ISS partnership after 2024. Officials later clarified that meant some time after 2024, not necessarily immediately after 2024.
In February, a Roscosmos council approved a plan to extend Russian operations on the station to 2028. The agency said it would then prepare documents to get formal approval from the Russian government for that extension.
The U.S. and Canada also promoted the impending announcement of the crew of Artemis 2, the first flight of the Orion spacecraft to carry astronauts. The four-person crew will be announced at an event in Houston April 3.
One of the four will be Canadian as part of an agreement NASA and the Canadian Space Agency announced in late 2020 regarding Canada’s contribution to the Gateway. In exchange for providing the Canadarm3 robotic arm for the Gateway, Canada got a seat on Artemis 2 as well as a future, unspecified mission to the Gateway.
Biden mentioned the Artemis 2 announcement in a speech March 24 to the Canadian Parliament. “In just a few days, NASA is going to announce an international team of astronauts who will crew the Artemis 2 mission. The first human voyage to the moon since the Apollo mission ended more than 50 years ago will consist of three Americans and one Canadian,” he noted. “Together we’ll return to the moon.”
Airbus Defence and Space is joining a commercial space station project led by Voyager Space, a move that could potentially make it easier for European governments to use the station after the retirement of the International Space Station. Denver-based Voyager Space announced Jan. 4 a partnership with Airbus on its Starlab commercial space station project. Airbus will provide “technical design support and expertise” for Starlab, the companies said, but did not disclose additional details about the partnership or financial terms. Voyager Space announced plans for Starlab in October 2021 working with Lockheed Martin. Starlab, as described at the time, would feature in inflatable module, docking node and bus, capable of hosting up to four astronauts at a time. Voyager Space, through its subsidiary Nanoracks, won one of three NASA Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development, or CLD, awards from NASA in December 2021. The $160 million Space Act Agreement is intended to support design work on Starlab as NASA prepares to transition from the ISS to commercial space stations by the end of the decade. That transition will also involve NASA’s international partners on the ISS, something that both Airbus and Voyager Space officials alluded to in the announcement of their partnership. “Working with Airbus we will expand Starlab’s ecosystem to serve the European Space Agency (ESA) and its member state space agencies to continue their microgravity research in LEO,” Dylan Taylor, chairman and chief executive of Voyager Space, said in the announcement.
Voyager Space announced plans for Starlab in the fall of 2021 and won NASA funding to support design work for it in December 2021. Credit: Nanoracks
“This collaboration is an important step in making Starlab a reality, providing a foundation for long-lasting European and American leadership in space,” said Jean-Marc Nasr, executive vice president of space systems at Airbus Defence and Space, in the same statement.
ISS partners have pondered how they will make use of commercial space stations run by American companies. Current ISS arrangements, where space agencies barter for services, are unlikely to apply to commercial facilities, where agencies may have to work directly with the station’s operator rather than through NASA.
“We need to find ways to work together, certainly in other ways than we did before,” said Peter Gräf, director of applications and science at the German space agency DLR, during a panel discussion at the AIAA ASCEND conference in October. “There are a lot of options available and the main players are in heavy discussions on that.”
Direct payments from European governments to American companies for use of commercial space stations could be politically problematic. “The taxpayers in Europe don’t want to pay directly to private American companies,” said Nicolas Maubert, space counselor at the French Embassy in the U.S. and representative of the French space agency CNES in the U.S., at the conference panel. Those concerns may be alleviated, though, if companies from Europe and other ISS partners are involved with the stations.
ESA officials, who are beginning work on their post-ISS plans, are aware of those concerns. “Shall we pay directly to commercial providers in the U.S.? We can, of course, but that is euros directly supporting U.S. industry. Is that something Europe wants to do, that our member states want to do?” said Frank De Winne, head of ESA’s European Astronaut Center, in an interview during ESA’s ministerial council meeting in Paris in November.
How ESA will deal with commercial space stations is something the agency will study leading up to its next ministerial council meeting in 2025, but he said one option would be for ESA to fund development of a European crewed vehicle that could service those stations.
“If we talk to the commercial providers today, to the CLDs that are being funded by NASA, they all tell us the same thing: they are interested in transportation,” he said. “For them to keep their costs low on transportation, they want competition. It’s as simple as that.”
Airbus is not the first European company to be involved in a commercial space station project. Thales Alenia Space is building modules for Axiom Space that will initially be installed on the ISS but eventually be detached to form a commercial space station.
The Japanese government has formally agreed to extend its participation on the International Space Station through 2030 and provide components for the lunar Gateway. In a virtual ceremony Nov. 17, NASA and Japanese government officials signed an agreement outlining the roles that Japan will provide in the Gateway, including components for several modules and a cargo resupply mission. NASA, in turn, will fly a Japanese astronaut to the Gateway on a future Artemis mission. In addition to the Gateway agreement, Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) Keiko Nagaoka announced that the Japanese government had confirmed its intent to participate on the ISS through 2030, joining the United States in extending ISS operations beyond 2024. “The United States welcomes Japan’s intention to extend its support of International Space Station (ISS) operations through 2030, following the United States’ announcement of our ISS extension one year ago,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement. “In addition, our two countries are taking a step forward by reaching an agreement on collaboration on the Lunar Gateway orbiting platform, which will pave the way for the return of humanity to the Moon.” The new Gateway agreement updates one announced in January 2021. As with the earlier agreement, the Japanese space agency JAXA will provide the life support system, thermal controls, camera and batteries for the International Habitation, or I-Hab, module, being developed in cooperation with the European Space Agency. JAXA will also provide batteries for ESA’s European System Providing Refueling Infrastructure and Telecommunication (ESPRIT) refueling module and NASA’s Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module.
NASA's Orion spacecraft approaching the lunar Gateway. Japan agreed to provide components for Gateway modules and a cargo resupply flight in exchange for one astronaut mission to the outpost. Credit: NASA/Alberto Bertolin
Japan will develop a version of its HTV-X cargo spacecraft, called HTV-XG, to deliver supplies to the Gateway. NASA said the agreement includes a single mission to the Gateway no later than 2030.
In return, NASA said a JAXA astronaut will be included as part of the crew of a mission to the Gateway, but did not specify when that person would fly. In the January 2021 agreement, NASA only agreed to an “intent” to find flight opportunities for Japanese astronauts that would be finalized and documented in a later agreement.
“Today’s Gateway agreement represents the fulfillment commitments made by the Biden-Harris Administration and solidifies our nations’ collaboration, which will help ensure continued discoveries on Gateway, the International Space Station, and beyond,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in the statement. He signed the agreement on the behalf of the agency from the Kennedy Space Center, while Nagaoka signed the agreement from Tokyo.
NASA previously coordinated agreements with Canada and ESA for their Gateway contributions. Canada, which is providing a robotic arm for the Gateway, will fly an astronaut on the first crewed Orion flight, Artemis 2, along with a later Gateway mission. ESA will have three seats on Artemis missions, likely including the Artemis 4 and 5 missions that will deliver the I-Hab and ESPRIT modules to the Gateway.
While the Gateway agreement covers only a single astronaut flight, Nagaoka said in a MEXT statement that the country will still seeking to land a Japanese astronaut on the moon as the first non-American astronaut “by the latter half of the 2020s.”
NASA said that Japan’s announcement of its extension of ISS operations makes it only the second country, after the United States, to agree to participating on the ISS beyond 2024. Both Canada and ESA have indicated their willing to do so as well. Russia, despite comments this summer that it might leave the ISS partnership after 2024, is likely to remain a part at least until the late 2020s.
Partner agencies on the International Space Station program say they are in discussions about how they will use, and pay for, commercial space stations that will replace it. Representatives of several countries currently involved in the ISS said during a panel at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ ASCEND conference here Oct. 25 that they are looking at options for how to continue work they currently do on the ISS on the commercial space stations in low Earth orbit (LEO) NASA is helping develop to replace it at the end of the decade. “With the commercialization of LEO, it is really necessary to revisit our principles of doing cooperation,” said Peter Gräf, director of applications and science at the German space agency DLR. Germany is the biggest contributor to ESA’s share of the ISS and actively uses the station for fundamental and applied research. He said discussions among agencies and companies had started on how those arrangements would change with a commercial station. “We need to find ways to work together, certainly in other ways than we did before,” he said. “There are a lot of options available and the main players are in heavy discussions on that.” The ISS today relies extensively on barter arrangements among participating agencies, providing services to cover their share of operations of the station. Such arrangements are unlikely to work for commercial stations, however. “We need to find a new way of cooperating,” said Nicolas Maubert, space counselor at the French Embassy in the U.S. and representative of the French space agency CNES in the U.S., citing the challenges of extending current barter arrangements to commercial stations. “We need to put on the table every option.”
Current international partners on the ISS are looking at how they could use the commercial space stations being developed by American companies that will replace it. Credit: NASA
The simplest approach — direct payments from space agencies to the companies operating commercial stations — could face political obstacles. “The taxpayers in Europe don’t want to pay directly to private American companies,” he said.
He suggested Europe might consider developing its own space station as ESA members debate developing European human spaceflight capabilities. “Having autonomous capabilities is one of the solutions,” he said, one he acknowledged would depend on budgets.
Another option is for companies in other countries to be part of the U.S.-led ventures developing commercial stations. Thales Alenia, for example, is manufacturing modules for Axiom Space and builds components for Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft that will be adapted for use on its proposed station.
Japanese companies are also involved in those commercial space station initiatives, said Masami Onoda, director of the Washington office of the Japanese space agency JAXA. “We are very much looking forward to a partnership with commercial outposts.”
First, though, she said the ISS partners needed to finalize plans to extend operations of the station to 2030. “One of the arrangements I hope to see in the coming months is around the ISS. We need to first find out how we’re moving on with the ISS.”
“The bottom line for all is that there is a strong demand for capabilities in low Earth orbit,” Gräf said. “It’s quite clear there will be a human outpost in LEO, no matter what the future will bring.”
NASA issued awards Dec. 2 valued at more than $400 million to three groups of companies to advance development of commercial space stations, keeping those efforts on track to succeed the International Space Station by the end of the decade despite skepticism from the agency’s inspector general. NASA announced three funded Space Act Agreements as part of its Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations, or CLD, program, an initiative to support work on commercial stations that the agency hopes to have in place by late this decade, allowing it to transition from the ISS. The awards will allow the winning companies to mature the designs of their proposed stations through 2025. The largest award, at $160 million, went to a team led by Nanoracks and includes Voyager Space and Lockheed Martin. Those companies announced a space station concept called Starlab Oct. 21 that could be ready as soon as 2027. A second award, valued at $130 million, went to a team led by Blue Origin for the Orbital Reef space station announced Oct. 25. That project includes Boeing, Redwire and Sierra Space, among others, with a goal of entering initial operations in the latter half of the 2020s. The third award, worth $125.6 million, went to a previously undisclosed concept from Northrop Grumman. That proposed station would leverage the company’s work on the Cygnus cargo spacecraft, Mission Extension Vehicle satellite servicing program and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost module it is building for NASA’s lunar Gateway.
Northrop Grumman, one of three companies winning commercial space station development awards from NASA Dec. 2, proposes building a station leveraging work on its Cygnus cargo spacecraft and HALO module, among other projects. Credit: Northrop Grumman
Rick Mastracchio, director of business development for human exploration at Northrop Grumman, said in a call with reporters that a single launch could place in orbit a facility able to support four people, with the ability to expand. “This allows for low risk and rapid deployment,” he said. The station, which he said doesn’t yet have a name, is being developed with Dynetics, with others to be announced in the near future.
NASA selected the three concepts from 11 proposals the agency received in August. “Almost all of the proposals represented viable concepts for commercial LEO destinations,” said Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight at NASA Headquarters, in the call.
All the bidders and others will be eligible to compete for the second phase of the program in the middle of the decade, where NASA will issue contracts to certify commercial space stations for use by NASA astronauts and purchase initial services from those stations.
The program is part of NASA’s overall strategy to retire the ISS while maintaining a presence in LEO for scientific research and preparation for missions beyond Earth. That strategy includes an award made to Axiom Space in early 2020, giving that company access to a port on the ISS to which the company plans to attach a series of commercial modules starting as soon as 2024. Those modules will eventually be detached from the ISS to form a commercial station.
Axiom said in a statement that it did not submit a CLD proposal. “With active hardware development on pace to meet a late 2024 delivery to orbit of the first Axiom Station module and strong support from the market already in hand, Axiom declined to bid on CLD,” the company said.
The announcement came two days after a report by NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) that warned of a gap between the end of the ISS and commercial stations. The report said that while NASA’s initial efforts to support commercial stations “show promise,” it raised concerns about several aspects of that work, including cost and schedule.
“In our judgment, even if early design maturation is achieved in 2025 — a challenging prospect in itself — a commercial platform is not likely to be ready until well after 2030,” the report stated. “We found that commercial partners agree that NASA’s current timeframe to design and build a human-rated destination platform is unrealistic.”
McAlister said he agreed with many of the conclusions of the OIG report. “What they said primarily is that a gap in U.S. human presence in LEO would be disastrous for the LEO economy,” he said. “A gap would be bad, and that is exactly why we’re making these awards today, to help ensure that there is no gap.”
The winning companies reiterated their confidence that their stations would be ready before the end of the decade. “The technologies, the equipment, the habitats that we are using for Starlab are under development today,” said Kirk Shireman, a former NASA ISS program manager now at Lockheed Martin. “I believe it’s certainly feasible to meet the schedule we’ve laid out with NASA.”
“There are two pieces to an end-to-end service: there’s transportation and destination,” said Brent Sherwood, senior vice president of advanced development programs at Blue Origin. The transportation systems that Orbital Reef will rely on, including Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser, will be in service in the next few years. “And with respect to the destination systems, we’re building already.”
He added the importance of addressing another issue raised in the OIG report: uncertain NASA funding for the CLD program. “It’s very important that we all work on sustaining and growing stakeholder for what NASA is trying to do,” he said. “It is critically important that the West not lose its foothold in LEO and have a gap.”
NASA requested $101.1 million for commercial LEO development in its fiscal year 2022 budget proposal. A House bill provides about half that amount while a Senate bill would fully fund the program. Congress has yet to finalize spending bills for the fiscal year, which started Oct. 1.
McAlister said the CLD awards assume that NASA receives full funding for commercial LEO development in 2022 and later years. That budget proposal projected spending $186.1 million on commercial LEO development per year in fiscal years 2023 through 2026. If there is a funding shortfall, “we could rephase some of the milestones to accommodate reduced levels of funding.”
He added that, in the near term, a continuing resolution (CR) passed by Congress Dec. 2 funding the government through Feb. 18 at 2021 levels should not affect the CLD awards, although the agency may have to revisit those plans if Congress later extended the CR through the rest of the fiscal year. “If we got a full-year CR,” he said, “we would obviously have to do some replanning.”
NASA's SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts completed the first commercial crew port relocation at the International Space Station on Monday (April 5), as they moved the Crew Dragon spacecraft in preparation for the arrival of the next crew. The relocation was performed by NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover and Shannon Walker, along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Soichi Noguchi. The crew undocked the Crew Dragon, nicknamed Resilience, from the forward port of the space station's Harmony module at 6:30 a.m. EDT (1030 a.m. GMT) and reconnected to the module's space-facing port at 7:08 a.m. EDT (1108 GMT). The astronauts moved Resilience to a different port on the space station to make room for an incoming Crew Dragon spacecraft arriving later this month, named Endeavour, which will dock at Harmony's forward port. The arriving SpaceX Crew-2 mission includes NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Pesquet. The crew is scheduled to launch to the space station on April 22 from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"We're very excited about [moving Resilience] and we'd like to say congratulations on behalf of the whole Expedition 64 team as well as the Crew-1 Dragon team. Congratulations to the commercial crew program for 10 years. What an amazing 10 years it has been," Hopkins said during a call with Steve Stich, NASA Commercial Crew Program manager, from the space station on Friday (April 2). "To think about where you started and where we are now — and now we're getting ready to actually take this vehicle out for a little spin. … We're all very excited to be a part of it."
On March 19, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, along with two Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov, relocated the Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft from the Earth-facing port of the station's Rassvet module to the space-facing Poisk port. However, unlike the Soyuz relocation maneuver, which required manual flying, the Crew Dragon is operated autonomously.
"It's pretty cool and it is quite an amazing view to separate from your vehicle that's been your home for months and to be able to look at it from 60 meters [about 200 feet]," Rubins said during the call from the space station, which NASA shared on YouTube Friday (April 2).
In preparation for Monday's relocation, Hopkins said he would be spending his Easter Sunday making sure he cleaned everything out of the Crew Dragon spacecraft — his version of an Easter egg hunt, since he had been staying in Resilience for the last couple of months, he said during the call.
The spacecraft has been "largely quiescent" since the SpaceX Crew-1 astronauts arrived at the space station on Nov. 16. Therefore, the crew prepared for the move by verifying that Resilience's communication systems were up and running, and completing suit fit checks, which Hopkins said "went very well" during the call.
Crew-1 is scheduled to return to Earth in late April or early May, leaving the space-facing port of Harmony vacant for when a Dragon cargo spacecraft arrives with supplies and the first set of new solar arrays for the space station later this summer. Rubins and Glover began preparing the space station for the new solar arrays during a spacewalk on Feb. 28, when they installed one of two modification kits that are needed to support the new arrays. The Dragon cargo spacecraft will need to dock at the space-facing port to allow for robotic extraction of the new solar arrays from Dragon's trunk using Canadarm2, according to a statement from NASA.
While today's relocation maneuver was the first time a Crew Dragon spacecraft needed to be moved, it likely won't be the last, given the Crew-1 mission is the first of six certified crew missions NASA and SpaceX have planned as a part of the agency's Commercial Crew Program, according to the statement.
As the International Space Station orbits Earth, its four pairs of solar arrays soak up the sun's energy to provide electrical power for the numerous research and science investigations conducted every day, as well as the continued operations of the orbiting platform. The space station is the springboard to NASA's Artemis missions to the Moon, a platform to test advanced technologies for human exploration of deep space and future mission to Mars. NASA also has opened the space station for business and commercial activities, including private astronauts missions. Designed for a 15-year service life, the solar arrays have been operating continuously since the first pair was deployed in December 2000, with additional array pairs delivered in September 2006, June 2007, and March 2009. The first pair of solar arrays has now provided continuous electrical power to the station for more than 20 years as more modules were added and dozens of crews tackled thousands of scientific experiments and continued operations through hundreds of spacewalks, cargo missions, and more. Though they are functioning well, the current solar arrays are showing signs of degradation, as expected. To ensure a sufficient power supply is maintained for NASA's exploration technology demonstrations for Artemis and beyond as well as utilization and commercialization, NASA will be augmenting six of the eight existing power channels of the space station with new solar arrays.
Boeing, NASA's prime contractor for space station operations, its subsidiary Spectrolab, and major supplier Deployable Space Systems (DSS) will provide the new arrays. The combination of the eight original, larger arrays, and the smaller, more efficient new arrays will restore the power generation of each augmented array to approximately the amount generated when the original arrays were first installed, providing a 20% to 30% increase in power for space station research and operations.
The new solar arrays will be a larger version of the Roll-Out Solar Array (ROSA) technology that successfully demonstrated the mechanical capabilities of solar array deployment during its test on the space station in June 2017.
The new solar arrays will be positioned in front of six of the current arrays, and will use the existing sun tracking, power distribution, and channelization. This approach is similar to the one used to upgrade the station's external television cameras to high definition, using the existing power and control mechanisms.
The new arrays will shade slightly over half of the length of the existing arrays and will be connected to the same power system to augment the existing supply. The eight current arrays are currently capable of generating up to 160 kilowatts of power during orbital daytime, about half of which is stored in the station's batteries for use while the station is not in sunlight. Each new solar array will produce more than 20 kilowatts of electricity, eventually totaling 120 kilowatts (120,000 watts) of augmented power during orbital daytime.
In addition, the remaining uncovered solar array pair and partially uncovered original arrays will continue to generate approximately 95 kilowatts of power for a total of up to 215 kilowatts (215,000 watts) of power available to support station operations at completion. For comparison, an active computer and monitor may use up to 270 watts, and a small refrigerator uses about 725 watts.
The solar arrays will be delivered to the International Space Station in pairs in the unpressurized trunk of the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft during three resupply missions starting in 2021, when the second pair of current arrays reaches the 15th year of its design life. The installation of each solar array will require two spacewalks: one to prepare the worksite with a modification kit and another to install the new solar array.
NASA signed a modification to the ISS Vehicle Sustaining Engineering contract with Boeing to provide the six new solar arrays. Doing so provides the International Space Station with enough power to maintain normal operations and ensure adequate power for future opportunities in low-Earth orbit, whether for NASA and its international partners or commercial companies.
Boeing's Starliner spacecraft will refly its uncrewed test mission to the International Space Station (ISS) in November of this year, while the first crewed flight is planned for April 2021, a space source said. "The second flight of the Starliner spacecraft to the ISS without crew is expected in mid-November 2020, while the first flight with crew - in April 2021", the source said. In April, Boeing announced that it was going to refly its uncrewed orbital flight test after problems during its first flight in December 2019. In December 2019, the Starliner spaceship set off on its first test flight to the International Space Station, but docking was canceled after Starkiner failed to execute an orbit-insertion burn on schedule. Earlier in the day, the SpaceX rocket with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley lifted off to the International Space Station (ISS) in a second attempt, after Wednesday's launch was postponed due to bad weather conditions. The Boeing Starliner is a $4.2 billion next-gen crew capsule with a capacity of up to 7 astronauts, a free-flight operating capability of up to 60 hours, and the ability to remain docked in orbit for up to 210 days. It is designed to be launched by Atlas V non-reusable rockets, which use Russian-made RD-180 engines developed by NPO Energomash.
A Japanese cargo spacecraft loaded with experiment hardware, supplies and spare parts is scheduled to launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan to the International Space Station at 1:30 p.m. EDT Wednesday, May 20 (2:30 a.m. May 21 in Japan). The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) unpiloted H-II Transport Vehicle-9 (HTV-9) carries investigations testing a new livestreaming educational tool, microscope and telescope. Here are details about some of the scientific investigations and facilities heading to the orbiting lab on HTV-9. Coming to you live and interactive from space. A broadcasting studio is opening up in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), also known as Kibo. The JAXA-sponsored education-focused experiment known as THE SPACE FRONTIER STUDIO - KIBO enables new livestreaming capabilities on station. Terminals set up next to a window overlooking Earth in the JEM module are to be used for communication. The first round of demonstrations of the technology are set to occur this summer, testing out two-way livestreaming that allows people on the ground to communicate with the astronauts. Looking back at Earth. Rather than looking out at the stars, this telescope points at our planet. The integrated Standard Imager for Microsatellites (iSIM), a very high-resolution optical binocular telescope developed by Spanish company SATLANTIS MICROSATS S.L., takes images of Earth at less than one meter of resolution. A combination of technologies including optics, mechanics, electronics and artificial intelligence algorithms achieves a high spatial resolution at significantly lower cost compared with traditional imaging systems of similar performance.
This experiment demonstrates the technology and its functionality in the low-Earth orbit environment. The prototype is mounted to the JAXA External Facility platform on the space station, which provides sample environment and operational conditions for testing the device.
A clearer picture of biology in microgravity The Confocal Space Microscope (Confocal Microscope) is a JAXA facility launching on HTV-9 that enables fluorescence live imaging of biological samples aboard the station. Confocal microscopy eliminates out-of-focus light or glare in specimens whose thickness is greater than the immediate plane of focus.
The microscope can produce data on the fundamental nature of cellular and tissue structure and functions in real-time. When combined with the heating chamber system, the microscope enables long term 3D observation of living cells. While biological experiments are the first area of concentration, the microscope could be used for chemical studies as well.
Other investigations aboard the space station also have been exploring new types of microscopy in microgravity, including FLUMIAS-DEA, which observed samples of fixed cells and live cells using a miniaturized fluorescence microscope.
For daily updates, follow @ISS_Research, Space Station Research and Technology News or our Facebook. Follow the ISS National Lab for information on its sponsored investigations. For opportunities to see the space station pass over your town, check out Spot the Station.
A SpaceX rocket will send two American astronauts to the International Space Station on May 27, NASA announced on Friday, the first crewed spaceflight from the US in nearly a decade. "On May 27, @NASA will once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil!" Jim Bridenstine, head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said in a tweet. Since July 2011, the United States has relied on Russian Soyuz rockets to send American astronauts to the ISS. The US space agency had been aiming to conduct the crewed mission in May and is sticking with the plan despite the global coronavirus pandemic. Astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley will fly to the ISS on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft also built by SpaceX, the company founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. They will lift off at 4:32 pm (2032 GMT) on May 27 from historic launch pad 39A, the same one used for the Apollo and space shuttle missions, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA said. Behnken and Hurley have been training for years for the mission, which would move the United States closer to no longer being reliant on Russia for crewed flights. The Crew Dragon capsule is a modified version of SpaceX's Dragon capsule which has been used to send supplies to the ISS since 2012. It will take approximately 24 hours after liftoff for them to dock with the ISS. The length of their stay aboard the ISS has not been determined. One American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts are currently aboard the ISS.
The May mission will be a milestone for NASA, which has had trouble turning the page on the space shuttle era. Shuttles transported American astronauts into space for three decades but two of them also blew up.
After abandoning the shuttle, NASA turned to private industry to develop its next generation spacecraft and SpaceX and Boeing have been competing on rolling out a crewed capsule.
SpaceX came up with Crew Dragon and Boeing the Starliner but the Starliner suffered a setback in December during a test run.
SpaceX is now poised to become the first private company to send astronauts into space.
In March, Musk's Crew Dragon capsule made a round trip to the ISS, which is in orbit more than 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth, with a mannequin on board, before returning to the Atlantic after six days in space.
SpaceX has made the trip 15 times since 2012, but only to refuel the station.
The first European external commercial facility on the International Space Station arrived at its new home last week: the Columbus laboratory module. Bartolomeo, named after the younger brother of Christopher Columbus, was installed by robotic arm on the forward-facing side of the space laboratory on 2 April 2020. The platform, with blue hinges centre-right of the photo, is at the end of the Dextre attachment that is part of Canada's 16-m robotic arm for the International Space Station. In an intricate process controlled from Earth, the robotic arm took Bartolomeo from the external trunk of the Dragon cargo vessel and moved it into position on Columbus. The 20th SpaceX Dragon mission departed from the Space Station earlier this week to splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Bartolomeo is built and operated by Airbus, and hosted by ESA on the International Space Station. The facility has a clear view of Earth and the service benefits from high-speed data transfer to provide easy access to space at competitive prices. Previous spacewalks prepared Columbus' hull to receive the new host facility by adapting support pins to which Bartolomeo will connect. Astronauts will perform another spacewalk to install Bartolomeo in the next few months, together with a new terminal called ColKa that will upgrade the European space laboratory.
The photograph is taken with Earth above, the blue and white facility, space storm hunter, ASIM, can also be seen top right. This Danish-led facility is pointing down at Earth and monitoring the events that occur above thunderstorms. It celebrates its second year in orbit this month. Results coming in have already shown how lightning can affect the upper reaches of our atmosphere and much more.
Axiom Space announced it is planning history's first fully private human spaceflight to the International Space Station. Axiom has signed a contract with SpaceX for a Crew Dragon flight which will transport a commander professionally trained by Axiom alongside three private astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The mission, set to launch as soon as the second half of 2021, will allow the crew to live aboard the ISS and experience at least eight days of microgravity and views of Earth that can only be fully appreciated in the large, venerable station. "This history-making flight will represent a watershed moment in the march toward universal and routine access to space," Axiom CEO Michael Suffredini said. "This will be just the first of many missions to ISS to be completely crewed and managed by Axiom Space - a first for a commercial entity. Procuring the transportation marks significant progress toward that goal, and we're glad to be working with SpaceX in this effort." This is the first of Axiom's proposed "precursor missions" to the ISS envisioned under its 2016 Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA. Discussions with NASA are underway to establish additional enabling agreements for the private astronaut missions to ISS. Axiom plans to offer professional and private astronaut flights to ISS at a rate of up to two per year to align with flight opportunities as they are made available by NASA, while simultaneously constructing its own privately funded space station.
"Since 2012, SpaceX has been delivering cargo to the International Space Station in partnership with NASA and later this year, we will fly NASA astronauts for the first time," said SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell. "Now, thanks to Axiom and their support from NASA, privately crewed missions will have unprecedented access to the space station, furthering the commercialization of space and helping usher in a new era of human exploration."
With its team's vast experience in human spaceflight, Axiom serves as a one-stop shop overseeing all elements of its missions. In addition to contracting with SpaceX for a Crew Dragon vehicle to transport its crew to the ISS, Axiom's turnkey service for the mission - two days in transit and at least eight days aboard the ISS - includes training, mission planning, hardware development, life support, medical support, crew provisions, hardware and safety certifications, on-orbit operations and overall mission management.
NASA recently selected Axiom's proposal to attach its space station modules to the ISS beginning in the second half of 2024, ultimately creating a new 'Axiom Segment' which will expand the station's usable and habitable volume. When the ISS reaches its retirement date, the Axiom complex will detach and operate as a free-flying commercial space station.
By serving the market for immediate access to space while building the future platform for a global user base, Axiom is leading the development and settlement of low Earth orbit now and into the future.
European Space Agency (ESA) members agreed Thursday a record 14.4 billion euros budget, promising to maintain Europe's place at the top table as the United States and China press ahead and industry disruptors such as Elon Musk's Space X present new challenges. The budget is split, with 12.5 billion euros ($14.1 billion) committed for three years and the full 14.4 billion euros over five, representing an increase of some four billion euros on the previous spending plan. "Its a surprise, even more than I proposed... this is good," ESA head Jan Woerner told a nwes conference after ministers from the 22 member states met in Seville for two days. Woerner said the funding pledges meant that ESA could run a full series of programmes plus additional scientific work, citing moves to increase earth observation as part of efforts, among other things, to monitor climate change. "It is a giant step forward for Europe, fifty years after the moon landing," said Jean-Yves Le Gall, head of the French space agency. "We have beaten all records in terms of financial contributions," Le Gall added. Germany made the largest contribution to the budget, at some 3.3 billion euros, followed by France on 2.7 billion euros, Italy 2.3 billion euros and Britain with 1.7 billion euros.The ESA is not a European Union body and so Britain's position as a member remains unchanged despite Brexit.
To reinforce that message, the UK Space Agency issued a statement recalling that Britain was one of ESA's founding members, and detailing its commitments to a series of programmes including earth observation, 5G telecoms and monitoring space debris.
- Moon, Mars, science -
Among the projects ESA highlighted were the first gravitational wave detector in space, LISA, and the black hole mission Athena, designed to "enable fundamental advances in our understanding of the basic physics of the Universe."
ESA reiterated its commitment to the International Space Station until 2030 and its participation in the Gateway project, the first space station planned to orbit the Moon.
"European astronauts will fly to the Moon for the first time," it said in a closing statement, and ESA will support a "ground-breaking Mars Sample Return mission in cooperation with NASA."
In telecommunications, ESA aims to help develop flexible satellite systems integrated with 5G networks, "as well as next-generation optical technology for a fibre-like 'network in the sky,', marking a transformation in the satellite communication industry."
Ministers also endorsed the transition to the next generation of launchers, the massive Ariane 6 and the smaller Vega-C, "and have given the green light to Space Rider, ESA's new reusable spaceship."
Going into the meeting, ESA officials had said the agency was hoping to get increased funding to ensure Europe does not lag behind.
Europe has established itself as a major space player, with the Ariane 6 launcher the latest off the production line and the Galileo GPS system operational.
Critics say however that it has been slow to develop some key innovations -- notably reusable rockets pioneered by the likes of Musk.
This "New Space" evolution has seen Musk develop reusable launchers for dramatically smaller yet more powerful satellites, many designed to create and run the "connected world" of driverless cars and countless other aspects of everyday life on earth.
When a spacecraft built for humans ventures into deep space, it requires an array of features to keep it and a crew inside safe. Both distance and duration demand that spacecraft must have systems that can reliably operate far from home, be capable of keeping astronauts alive in case of emergencies and still be light enough that a rocket can launch it. Artemis Missions near the Moon will start when NASA's Orion spacecraft leaves Earth atop the world's most powerful rocket, NASA's Space Launch System. After launch from the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Orion will travel beyond the Moon to a distance more than 1,000 times farther than where the International Space Station flies in low-Earth orbit, and farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever ventured. To accomplish this feat, Orion has built-in technologies that enable the crew and spacecraft to explore far into the solar system.
Systems to Live and Breathe
As humans travel farther from Earth for longer missions, the systems that keep them alive must be highly reliable while taking up minimal mass and volume. Orion will be equipped with advanced environmental control and life support systems designed for the demands of a deep space mission. A high-tech system already being tested aboard the space station will remove carbon dioxide (CO2) and humidity from inside Orion. Removal of CO2 and humidity is important to ensure air remains safe for the crew breathing. And water condensation on the vehicle hardware is controlled to prevent water intrusion into sensitive equipment or corrosion on the primary pressure structure.
The system also saves volume inside the spacecraft. Without such technology, Orion would have to carry many chemical canisters that would otherwise take up the space of 127 basketballs (or 32 cubic feet) inside the spacecraft-about 10 percent of crew livable area. Orion will also have a new compact toilet, smaller than the one on the space station. Long duration missions far from Earth drive engineers to design compact systems not only to maximize available space for crew comfort, but also to accommodate the volume needed to carry consumables like enough food and water for the entirety of a mission lasting days or weeks.
Highly reliable systems are critically important when distant crew will not have the benefit of frequent resupply shipments to bring spare parts from Earth, like those to the space station. Even small systems have to function reliably to support life in space, from a working toilet to an automated fire suppression system or exercise equipment that helps astronauts stay in shape to counteract the zero-gravity environment in space that can cause muscle and bone atrophy. Distance from home also demands that Orion have spacesuits capable of keeping astronaut alive for six days in the event of cabin depressurization to support a long trip home.
Proper Propulsion
The farther into space a vehicle ventures, the more capable its propulsion systems need to be to maintain its course on the journey with precision and ensure its crew can get home.
Orion has a highly capable service module that serves as the powerhouse for the spacecraft, providing propulsion capabilities that enable Orion to go around the Moon and back on its exploration missions. The service module has 33 engines of various sizes. The main engine will provide major in-space maneuvering capabilities throughout the mission, including inserting Orion into lunar orbit and also firing powerfully enough to get out of the Moon's orbit to return to Earth. The other 32 engines are used to steer and control Orion on orbit.
In part due to its propulsion capabilities, including tanks that can hold nearly 2,000 gallons of propellant and a back up for the main engine in the event of a failure, Orion's service module is equipped to handle the rigors of travel for missions that are both far and long, and has the ability to bring the crew home in a variety of emergency situations.
The Ability to Hold Off the Heat
Going to the Moon is no easy task, and it's only half the journey. The farther a spacecraft travels in space, the more heat it will generate as it returns to Earth. Getting back safely requires technologies that can help a spacecraft endure speeds 30 times the speed of sound and heat twice as hot as molten lava or half as hot as the sun.
When Orion returns from the Moon, it will be traveling nearly 25,000 mph, a speed that could cover the distance from Los Angeles to New York City in six minutes. Its advanced heat shield, made with a material called AVCOAT, is designed to wear away as it heats up. Orion's heat shield is the largest of its kind ever built and will help the spacecraft withstand temperatures around 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit during reentry though Earth's atmosphere.
Before reentry, Orion also will endure a 700-degree temperature range from about minus 150 to 550 degrees Fahrenheit. Orion's highly capable thermal protection system, paired with thermal controls, will protect Orion during periods of direct sunlight and pitch black darkness while its crews will comfortably enjoy a safe and stable interior temperature of about 77 degrees Fahrenheit.
Radiation Protection
As a spacecraft travels on missions beyond the protection of Earth's magnetic field, it will be exposed to a harsher radiation environment than in low-Earth orbit with greater amounts of radiation from charged particles and solar storms that can cause disruptions to critical computers, avionics and other equipment. Humans exposed to large amounts of radiation can experience both acute and chronic health problems ranging from near-term radiation sickness to the potential of developing cancer in the long-term.
Orion was designed from the start with built in system-level features to ensure reliability of essential elements of the spacecraft during potential radiation events. For example, Orion is equipped with four identical computers that each are self-checking, plus an entirely different backup computer, to ensure Orion can still send commands in the event of a disruption. Engineers have tested parts and systems to a high standard to ensure that all critical systems remain operable even under extreme circumstances.
Orion also has a makeshift storm shelter below the main deck of the crew module. In the event of a solar radiation event, NASA has developed plans for crew on board to create a temporary shelter inside using materials on board. A variety of radiation sensors will also be on the spacecraft to help scientists better understand the radiation environment far away from Earth. One investigation called AstroRad, will fly on Artemis I and test an experimental vest that has the potential to help shield vital organs and decrease exposure from solar particle events.
Constant Communication and Navigation
Spacecraft venturing far from home go beyond the Global Positioning System (GPS) in space and above communication satellites in Earth orbit. To talk with mission control in Houston, Orion will use all three of NASA's space communications networks. As it rises from the launch pad and into cislunar space, Orion will switch from the Near Earth Network to the Space Network, made possible by the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, and finally to the Deep Space Network that provides communications for some of NASA's most distant spacecraft.
Orion is also equipped with backup communication and navigation systems to help the spacecraft stay in contact with the ground and orient itself if it's primary systems fail. The backup navigation system, a relatively new technology called optical navigation, uses a camera to take pictures of the Earth, Moon and stars and autonomously triangulate Orion's position from the photos. Its backup emergency communications system doesn't use the primary system or antennae for high-rate data transfer.
A team of food scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has developed a groundbreaking, user-friendly mathematical model for NASA to help ensure that astronauts' food remains rich in nutrients during extended missions in space. The new research, published in the journal Food Chemistry, gives NASA a time-saving shortcut to predict the degradation of vitamins in spaceflight food over time and more accurately and efficiently schedule resupplying trips. The investigation was funded with a $982,685 grant from NASA. "There was no information available from literature to directly answer the questions and concerns that NASA had," says senior author Hang Xiao, professor and Clydesdale Scholar of Food Science. "We used real-time, real-life data in our study to train the mathematical model and to determine how predictive and reliable the model would be." The researchers painstakingly prepared and stored 3,000-plus pouches of spaceflight food according to the exact NASA recipes, thermal processing and storage specifications that are used for astronauts' meals on the International Space Station. Xiao and colleagues showed for the first time how thiamine (vitamin B1) degrades over two years in three crew menu options: brown rice, split pea soup and beef brisket. Xiao says it was "quite surprising" to find that while the brown rice and split pea soup stored at 20 C demonstrated resistance to thiamine degradation, the thiamine in beef brisket was much less stable, retaining only 3 percent of the vitamin after two years. "Proving the model was as simple as comparing these measured values from two years of storage to what was predicted as early as 12 months prior," says lead author Timothy Goulette, who was a UMass Amherst food science Ph.D. student during the study period.
The model was found to be able to predict vitamin degradation over time with "high precision," Xiao says, which will enable NASA to provide astronauts with the nutrition they need without resorting to the use of supplements.
"NASA will be able to use a minimal amount of data to quickly and accurately predict the vitamin content of a given food at any given time at a reasonable temperature," Goulette says. "The tool can be used for several applications, not just vitamins but other biological compounds."
The modeling tool will be especially important as NASA plans for the first human mission to Mars. "On their longest duration missions, the need to understand the nutritional content of their foods is paramount," Goulette explains.
The researchers note that NASA emphasizes the importance of getting nutrients from food naturally. "It's preferred for better health," Xiao says. "More and more research shows that your body handles a pill of vitamins differently from real food like pea soup."
Maintaining their nutrition through familiar food has benefits for space crews beyond their physical health, especially on longer missions, Goulette notes. "NASA wants to make sure the crew gets that psychological edge of having a connection to back home on Earth. There's a great emotional and psychological pull to food when nothing around you reminds you of home."
The UMass Amherst research team, which also included co-authors Micha Peleg, David Julian McClements, Eric Decker and Mark Normand, hypothesizes that the surprisingly higher rate of vitamin degradation in the beef may be related to the lipid oxidation of fat during thermal processing or over time.
"Different foods have different physical and chemical properties that make thiamine more or less stable," Goulette says.
Test subjects in Cologne, Germany will take to their beds for 60 days from 25 March as part of a groundbreaking study, funded by European Space Agency ESA and US space agency NASA, into how artificial gravity could help astronauts stay healthy in space. Carried out at the German Aerospace Center's (DLR) :envihab facility, the long-term bedrest study is the first of its kind to be conducted in partnership between the two agencies. It is also the first to employ DLR's short-arm centrifuge as a way of recreating gravity for participants. But just how easy is it to stay in bed for 60 days and what is the relevance of adding artificial gravity for space researchers? We pull back the covers on this unique investigation as preparations get underway. Bedrest has long been used to mimic some of the changes our bodies experience in the weightlessness of space. Humans are made to live on Earth and without the constant pull of gravity it is common for muscles and bones to start wasting away. Currently, astronauts on board the International Space Station exercise for up to 2.5 hours per day and maintain a balanced diet to help mitigate microgravity's effects, but scientists believe adding a dose of artificial gravity could be key during longer-term missions. Though it may sound simple for the 8 male and 4 female volunteers involved, lying in bed for a full 60 days, plus a further 29 days of acclimatisation and recovery, is not quite as restful as it seems. Throughout the course of the study, all 24 participants will need to remain at :envihab on the DLR campus. There they will be kept in beds with the head end tilted 6 below horizontal and must ensure one of their shoulders is touching the mattress at all times.
As blood flows to their heads and muscle is lost from underuse, researchers will investigate changes and test techniques from diet to physical exercise. Artificial gravity is one of the techniques under the spotlight this time around and will see some of the participants sent spinning.
Recreating gravity Once a day, a selection of the study's participants will lie in DLR's short-arm centrifuge. There they will be spun to encourage blood to flow back towards their feet and allow researchers to understand the potential of artificial gravity in combating the effects of weightlessness.
The intensity of the centrifugal force is able to be adapted to each person according to their size. DLR can also adjust the centre of spin so that subjects are spun around their heads or their chests. Changing the position in this way could have far-reaching consequences for rehabilitation but, as this is a new domain, these consequences are currently unknown.
A number of different experiments will be carried out over the course of the study, looking at cardiovascular function, balance and muscle strength, metabolism and cognitive performance among other factors. Seven of these experiments will be conducted by European-led research groups, with a view to validating the findings on the International Space Station during future missions.
An international effort ESA team leader for research Jennifer Ngo-Anh says the international nature of the long-term bedrest study reflects the international collaboration necessary as ESA plans future missions to the Moon and beyond.
"To make these missions possible, various risks to astronaut health must be minimised. This study allows us to address the issue of muscular atrophy caused by weightlessness, but also other stressors such as cosmic radiation, isolation and spatial restrictions."
The International Space Station partners have endorsed plans to continue the development of the Gateway, an outpost around the Moon that will act as a base to support both robots and astronauts exploring the lunar surface. The Multilateral Coordination Board, which oversees the management of the Space Station, stressed its common hope for the Gateway to open up a cost-effective and sustainable path to the Moon and beyond. The announcement comes after several years of extensive study among space agencies who have developed a technically achievable design. The partnership includes European countries (represented by ESA), the United States (NASA), Russia (Roscosmos), Canada (CSA) and Japan (JAXA). "We are getting ready, together, to send humans farther into the Solar System than ever before. The lunar Gateway is the next big step in human exploration and we are working to make Europe a part of it," says David Parker, ESA's human and robotic exploration director. NASA's Orion spacecraft will transport astronauts to the Gateway. Orion is powered by the European Service Module, which will give the crewed vehicle a final push to inject it into translunar orbit. Almost 50 years after the first human landing on the Moon, the Gateway will support human and robotic access to the lunar surface. "We will extend the presence of humans one thousand times farther into space compared to today's International Space Station," adds David Parker. The Gateway will offer a platform for scientific discovery in deep space and build invaluable experience for the challenges of future human missions to Mars.
Nearly 400 000 km away from Earth, its orbit will provide excellent visibility of both the Earth and the Moon's surface allowing it to relay communications.
According to the board, the Gateway "will stimulate the development of advanced technologies, expand the emerging space economy, and continue to leverage the societal benefits of space exploration for citizens on Earth."
Canada has already confirmed its commitment to join NASA in the Gateway and contribute advanced robotics to the project, making the Canadian Space Agency the first partner agency.
ESA's potential involvement includes the ESPRIT module to provide communications and refueling of the Gateway and a science airlock for deploying science payloads and cubesats.
ESA is also studying its involvement in the international habitation module working with the international partners.
A possible commitment towards building Europe's contributions to the Gateway will be one of the key decisions to be made by Ministers at the Space19+ Conference in November 2019.
A springboard to the future
The Gateway would not be possible without the International Space Station. After two decades of successful operations in orbit and a solid partnership on Earth, the Space Station is the worlds largest cooperative programme in science and technology.
With more than 100 countries having used it for research and education activities, the partners remark that the Space Station is also nurturing a growing economy of business and services in Earth's orbit.
"This international team has not only built the Space Station and risen to the challenges of its day-to-day dynamic operation, but - most importantly - delivered tangible benefits to humanity," says the statement.
