A Lab Aloft (International Space Station Research) – Page 6 – International Space Station research and technology topics

Top Space Station Research Results Countdown: Five, Pathway for Bacterial Pathogens to Become Virulent

In today’s A Lab Aloft entry, International Space Station Program Scientist Julie Robinson, Ph.D., continues her countdown to the top ten research results from the space station, recently presented at the International Astronautical Conference in Beijing, China. Be sure to check back for daily postings of the entire listing.

We’re at the halfway point for my top ten research results for the International Space Station. As we kick off the second portion, I hope you have already learned something new to take home about our amazing orbiting laboratory.

Number five on our countdown is the pathway for bacterial pathogens to become virulent, in this case Salmonella. This is a topic that you may have heard about, because it was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It has been heavily discussed by some of our stakeholders; the original discovery came from some human research focused investigations.

An example of Salmonella invading cultured human cells. (Rocky Mountain Laboratories, NIAID, NIH)

There was some indication from ground research that certain bacteria might become more pathogenic (more able to cause disease) when they went into space, in particular Salmonella bacteria. Salmonella infections results in 15,000 hospitalizations and 400 deaths annually in the United States. Cheryl Nickerson, Ph.D., from Arizona State University proposed to NASA that it may be good to look at this to find out if there was an increased risk for food borne illnesses in astronauts. NASA’s human research program funded the first study to fly these bacteria into space.

What researchers found was that the bacteria did become more able to cause this disease. More importantly, however, they identified the genetic pathway that was turning on in the bacteria, allowing the increased virulence in microgravity. This pathway had to do with the way that ions pass through the culture media. In a later study funded by NASA’s space life and physical sciences project, Nickerson was able to fly media that did not have those ions, and then control whether or not that bacteria became more or less virulent.

A photomicrograph of Salmonella bacteria. (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory)

Astronaut Shane Kimbrough works with a Group Activation Pack (GAP) aboard the space shuttle Endeavour during an assembly mission to the International Space Station. (NASA)

This is a great piece of scientific research showing the importance of doing biology experiments in this unique environment. There was a time when I would have had one of my top results be the possibility of developing vaccines on the ground—a private company did some additional studies in this area on the space station. Developing new medical treatments can take years, though, and have a lot of ups and downs. Right now that doesn’t appear to be developing as quickly as one might have hoped, so the jury is still out on the final benefit. Still, the core discovery here remains significant.

Scientists are working through other species of bacteria now, trying to understand if this is a common pathway. If so, how can we use it to increase or return benefits back to Earth, and can this new knowledge be used to help fight disease? Nickerson and colleagues continue to work on these questions, using the important discovery of this new pathway found through space station investigation.

Julie A. Robinson, Ph.D.
International Space Station Program Scientist

Top Space Station Research Results Countdown: Six, New Process of “Cool Flame” Combustion

In today’s A Lab Aloft entry, International Space Station Program Scientist Julie Robinson, Ph.D., continues the countdown of her top ten research results from the space station, recently presented at the International Astronautical Conference in Beijing, China. Be sure to check back for daily postings of the entire listing.

Number six on my countdown of the top ten International Space Station research results is an exciting finding for a new process of cool flame combustion. Cool flame combustion is an interesting term, because to a scientist a hot flame is in the range of thousands of degrees, while a cool flame is in the range of hundreds of degrees—600 to 800 degrees Celsius.

Aboard the space station, we use a facility called the Combustion Integrated Rack (CIR) for experiments where we burn droplets of fuel. In the image below you can see what that looks like in microgravity during the Flame Extinguishing Experiment (FLEX and FLEX 2) investigations. FLEX principal investigator Vedha Nayagam, Ph.D., National Center for Space Exploration Research/Case Western Reserve University, was honored with an award in recognition of this cool flame discovery at this year’s International Space Station Research and Development Conference.

A heptane combustion event (left) as seen during a Flame Extinguishing Experiment (FLEX) experiment run. In the time between the two photos, the flame quenches and goes dark. This is then followed by an afterglow (right)—the first evidence of a cool flame event. (F. Williams, University of California San Diego/NASA)

On the left you see a droplet of heptane fuel burning. You can see it burns in a sphere and doesn’t look like a candle flame at all, because there is no density or buoyancy-driven convection on the space station. This means warm air does not rise in the same way as it would on Earth, so instead you get this blue, spherical flame. What’s really interesting is what happens after the combustion quenches.

At a certain point in time, the combustion products start suffocating the oxidation reaction—the flame goes out. What was discovered with FLEX was that after a period of time, researchers saw an unexpected afterglow. In the right hand picture above you can see that event enhanced photographically.

That afterglow, it turns out, is combustion continuing at a much lower temperature (600 degrees Celsius or 1,112 degrees Fahrenheit—still hot enough to burn you!); a “cool flame.” This was previously an unknown process, so it is too soon to say what the application of this finding will be over time. This first discovery was published in Combustion and Flame, but a lot of analysis and modeling will need to be done to include this new process in our understanding of combustion without gravity. I think it’s obvious to see, however, that if you can learn about a new property of combustion that was not in the models before, there should definitely be applications to help in the design of more efficient combustion in processes on the ground. It just may take a while before we see them come to fruition.

The amount of combustion research done aboard the space station far exceeds all the combustion studies done in space over the last 50 years. Having a 24/7/365 laboratory makes all the difference in making discoveries.

Julie A. Robinson, Ph.D.
International Space Station Program Scientist

Top Space Station Research Results Countdown: Seven, Colloid Self Assembly Using Electrical Fields for Nanomaterials

In today’s A Lab Aloft entry, International Space Station Program Scientist Julie Robinson, Ph.D., continues the countdown of her top ten research results from the space station, recently presented at the International Astronautical Conference in Beijing, China. Be sure to check back for daily postings of the entire listing.

Number seven on my countdown, colloid self-assembly using magnetic fields for development of nanomaterials, is a dramatic shift in research discipline from our previous item. I picked this area of physical science study because many people don’t realize how space research can be used to advance the field of nanotechnology. This set of studies looks at colloid arrangements at a nanoscale using electrical fields. The finding was significant enough to net an award this summer at the 2013 International Space Station Research and Development Conference. Eric Furst, Ph.D., University of Delaware, received this recognition for outstanding results on Colloid Self Assembly as a top space station application.

Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson works with the Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions-2 (InSPACE-2) study using the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) in the U.S. Laboratory/Destiny. (NASA)

Colloids are tiny particles suspended in a solution, which are critical in household products such as lotions, medications and detergents, as well as in industrial processes. But in this case, we are talking about a unique type of colloid studied in the Investigating the Structure of Paramagnetic Aggregates from Colloidal Emulsions (InSPACE) collection of experiments. Specifically, these are what we call Magnetorheological (MR) fluids—fluids that change their viscosity in an electric field, and can even be induced to change their arrangement at the nanoscale.

These suspensions of paramagnetic particles, meaning they are attracted to magnetic forces, can quickly solidify when exposed to a magnetic field. They return to their original state when the influence ends. This solidification process produces useful viscoelastic properties that can be harnessed for a variety of mechanical devices, from intricate robotic motions to strong braking and clutch mechanisms.

Microgravity study aboard the space station slows down the movement of these colloidal mixtures, allowing researchers to understand how they interact, and then use this knowledge to control the tiny particles on the ground. You can’t do these experiments on Earth because the nanoparticles would settle out too quickly due to gravity.

Structure evolution in an MR fluid over time while an alternating magnetic field is applied, from one of the early InSPACE runs. The far left image shows the fluid after 1 second of exposure to a high-frequency-pulsed magnetic field. The suspended particles form a strong network. The images to the right show the fluid after 3 minutes, 15 minutes, and 1 hour of exposure. The particles have formed aggregates that offer little structural support and are in the lowest energy state. (E. Furst, University of Delaware/NASA)

When the InSPACE study began, it identified a pulsing phenomenon that had never been seen before. This was a serendipitous result that astronaut Peggy Whitson previously discussed in this blog entry. Work continued with (InSPACE-2 and -3) investigations to further look at how magnetic fields impact colloidal self-assembly phase transitions. By better understanding how these fluids “bundle” themselves into solid-like states in response to magnetic pulses, researchers have insight into phase separation. This may lead them to new nanomaterials from these tiny building blocks for use on Earth.

This is really an exciting and continued area of endeavor on the space station, with the most recent results on nanomaterials structures of colloids published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, USA. It is so simple—you have to do these studies in space because on Earth the particles settle out too quickly. However, the results are far from simple, with the most recent studies having moved far beyond the original investigation.

Julie A. Robinson, Ph.D.
International Space Station Program Scientist

Top Space Station Research Results Countdown: Eight, Hyperspectral Imaging for Water Quality in Coastal Bays

In today’s A Lab Aloft entry International Space Station Program Scientist Julie Robinson, Ph.D., continues the countdown to her top ten research results from the space station, recently presented at the International Astronautical Conference in Beijing, China. Be sure to check back for daily postings of the entire listing.

Number eight on my list of the top ten research results from the International Space Station is hyperspectral imaging for water quality in coastal bays. This is an important research result because it shows the value of the space station as an Earth remote sensing platform. In this case, the space station hosts an instrument called the Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO).

Data from the Hyperspectral Imager for Coastal Oceans (HICO)—pictured here as installed on the Japanese Experiment Module Exposed Facility—used in concert with field data can help researchers better understand and communicate coastal water quality. (NASA)

This imager gets data on the wavelengths of light that it measures reflecting back from the surface of the Earth. It is particularly tuned to get hundreds of bands, much more than the eight different bands you would usually get from a remote sensing instrument like Landsat. These hundreds of different bands can be teased apart for details and information that you can’t get from normal remote sensing data.

For example, using HICO you can distinguish between sediment and chlorophyll in the water column. Chlorophyll, which is a sign of algae, is an indicator that nitrogen is flowing in—say from fertilizers on the land. That is an important marker of water quality issues. In a sediment-laden bay, however, it can be really difficult to differentiate between the two—often called the “brown water” problem by ocean remote sensing experts.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) findings may allow coastal ecosystem researchers to keep up with changes in water quality in near real time using HICO's data, instead of having to send scientists into the field, as pictured here. (EPA/Darryl Keith) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) findings may allow coastal ecosystem researchers to keep up with changes in water quality in near real time using HICO’s data, instead of having to send scientists into the field, as pictured here. (EPA/Darryl Keith)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) used HICO to develop a proof-of-concept to help monitor and protect our water supplies as required by the nation’s Clean Water Act. The work was originally funded by the EPA under a Pathfinder Innovation Project Award. The results were honored with a top research application award at the 2013 International Space Station Research and Development Conference. Darryl Keith, Ph.D., accepted the award on behalf of his research team regarding their work using HICO to gather imagery for ocean protection for the EPA.

EPA researchers went out and timed collections of their field observations with an over-flight of the space station. The scientists were able to put the data together to get better measurements for dissolved organic matter and chlorophyll A. This allowed them to develop models that suggest the presence of algal blooms, which present a danger to the health of sea life.

Map of chlorophyll-a for Pensacola Bay derived from HICO data. Higher values (yellow and red) indicate high chlorophyll concentrations in the water that suggest algal blooms are present. (EPA/Darryl Keith)

With the HICO proof-of-concept in hand, EPA researchers now are interested in using these models to develop an app that anyone can use to obtain real-time water quality information. The goal is to have algorithms that don’t require coordinating the space station or satellites with field data. The success of such a venture would mean real-time updates without anyone having to go into the field. This kind of an application developed by another government agency is really important for showing the broad value of the space station.

HICO has been converted into a space station facility, with open access for both users funded by NASA’s Earth Science Division, and also commercial users sponsored by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) to use space station as a National Laboratory. Both organizations have announced opportunities to use the instrument. This is just the first of a number of remote sensing instruments headed for the space station that will transform the way this orbiting laboratory serves our need for data about the Earth below.

Julie A. Robinson, Ph.D.
International Space Station Program Scientist

Top Space Station Research Results Countdown: Nine, Understanding Mechanisms of Osteoporosis and New Drug Treatments

In today’s A Lab Aloft entry International Space Station Program Scientist Julie Robinson, Ph.D., continues her countdown of the top ten research results from the space station, recently presented at the International Astronautical Conference in Beijing, China. Be sure to check back for daily postings of the entire listing.

The next item in my top ten research results from the International Space Station countdown is related to its predecessor. The topic for number nine is understanding mechanisms of osteoporosis and new ways to treat it. In this case, however, we focus not on the humans as subjects, but on studies done with mice.

The pharmaceutical company, AMGEN, flew mice to and from the space station on three different assembly missions. These missions shed light on the impact of the space environment on bone health and related treatments. This study, called the Commercial Biomedical Testing Module (CBTM): Effects of Osteoprotegerin on Bone Maintenance in Microgravity, showed that mice treated with osteoprotegerin decreased bone resorption compared to untreated mice.

The Animal Enclosure Module above contains mice participating in the Commercial Biomedical Testing Module (CBTM) Effects of Osteoprotegerin on Bone Maintenance in Microgravity study on a shuttle assembly flight docked to the International Space Station. (NASA) — The Animal Enclosure Module above contains mice participating in the Commercial Biomedical Testing Module (CBTM) Effects of Osteoprotegerin on Bone Maintenance in Microgravity study during a space shuttle assembly flight docked to the International Space Station. (NASA)

The results from these studies have started to make their way to publication and to patients on Earth. As you can see in the images below from CBTM, the X-rays of the bones of the mice are quite telling. On the left is a ground control, in the middle is a mouse treated with an osteoprotegerin candidate drug, and on the right is a mouse in flight that’s not treated. You don’t have to be a sophisticated scientist to see those differences in the bone mass density—you can see them right on the X-ray.

X-rays of mouse bones from the CBTM study showing a ground control (left), as treated with Osteoprotegerin in microgravity (middle), and with no drug treatment during spaceflight (right). (L. Stodieck, Bioserve and T. Bateman, University of North Carolina)

The space experiment with osteoprotegerin, which was already developed and in clinical trials on the ground, was done to run tests in orbit to better understand the drug and how it functions. Those data were included in the development of the new drug applications by AMGEN, and that drug—called Prolia—came to market several years ago.

I’ve been meeting more and more women who are taking this drug to treat their osteoporosis; it can, of course, have serious side effects, but provides an alternative for some people who cannot take bisphosphonate drugs for their symptoms. The CBTM-2 and CBTM-3 studies look at bone and muscle loss in mice flown in space treated with other drugs working their way through clinical trials. It is gratifying to see a drug in patient care use today that comes from one of the first spaceflights of animals, and exciting to see pharmaceutical companies using the unique environment of spaceflight to improve health here on Earth.

I’m looking forward to the results that keep coming out from this research and the new expanded rodent capability beginning on the space station next year. The National Academy of Sciences have reported that rodent research is one of the most important areas for ensuring that the space station maximizes its benefits to the nation in scientific discovery and improving human health—you can see why!

Julie A. Robinson, Ph.D.
International Space Station Program Scientist

Top Ten Space Station Research Results Countdown: Ten, Preventing Loss of Bone Mass in Space Through Diet and Exercise

In today’s A Lab Aloft entry, International Space Station Program Scientist Julie Robinson, Ph.D., continues her countdown of the top ten research results from the space station, recently presented at the International Astronautical Conference in Beijing, China. Be sure to check back for daily postings of the entire listing.

This topic of research is the culmination of years of study, starting with the very first International Space Station flight investigation into the loss of bone by astronauts. During the first part of space station history, astronauts were losing about one and a half percent of their total bone mass density per month. That’s a rate similar to a post-menopausal woman’s bone loss for an entire year—which is really significant.

Quantitative computed tomography (QCT) images of hip bones. (T. Lang, University of California, San Francisco)

Early space station researchers first identified this loss rate. Then they found that the exercises we were having the crew perform were not really providing the right forces to counter the bone mass reduction. Scientists started looking at crew member diet and exercise routines, along with the addition of upgraded exercise hardware. This progression culminated in the September 2012 publication in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

Scientists found that the correct mixture of set durations of high-intensity resistive exercise, combined with the right amount of dietary supplementation for vitamin D and specific caloric intake were key for bone health. With all of these things together, the astronauts could return to Earth after living in space without having lost significant bone mass. This is just one solution; there may be others. But this is a viable answer to an issue identified clear back during the Gemini missions, addressing a huge problem when humans go into space and lose gravity loading on their bodies.

Astronaut Lee Archambault, commander of the STS-119 mission, conducts an Advanced Resistive Exercise Device (ARED) workout in the Unity node aboard the International Space Station. (NASA)

With this research, we can better understand how bone changes throughout life, in growth and aging, and how to prevent outcomes such as age-related bone fractures. This topic received an award at this year’s International Space Station Research and Development Conference, recognizing the community of NASA and academic scientists for carrying out research to define the extent and characteristics of bone loss in spaceflight, and for developing exercise- and drug-based approaches to attack the problem. Thomas Lang, Ph.D., professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the University of California San Francisco, was the recipient of the team award in recognition of outstanding results on preventing bone loss in long-duration spaceflight.

This is important of course for future exploration by astronauts, but also for patients on the ground. The paper made the cover of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, due to the fact that it provides a very different way of looking at bone loss from what is typical in the osteoporosis research community.

When most women are diagnosed with osteoporosis, the next thing their doctor will tell them is: “Well, stay active, go walking, but don’t do anything too rigorous.” We found that by doing rigorous exercise, however, astronauts that don’t have other kinds of health issues were able to protect their bone. It’s going to take some time for the medical community to absorb how these results with astronauts might be applicable to others, especially those on the ground. This is a compelling result for the whole world, because it gives us insights into how bone is formed and maintained in the human body that could not have been obtained any other way.

Julie A. Robinson, Ph.D.
International Space Station Program Scientist

Could You Choose Just One? Top International Space Station Research Results Countdown

In today’s A Lab Aloft entry International Space Station Program Scientist Julie Robinson, Ph.D., begins her countdown of top research results from the space station, recently presented at the International Astronautical Conference in Beijing, China.

There’s a reason top ten lists exist—it’s almost impossible to choose just one when presented with an assortment of worthy and valuable topics in a given theme. Likewise, I struggled when J. D. Bartoe and the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) challenged me to share my top ten research results from the International Space Station to present at this year’s International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Beijing, China. With so many notable investigations, it was hard to pare it down for this list.

For those who could not attend the event, I am counting down my choices with you here in a mini-blog entry per day for each of the ten research results. There were many strong competitors, and I chose these based on specific criteria—each of which could have its own top ten, based on those categories alone. For this collection I looked at the quality of the scientific journals, identification by peer scientists, the novel nature of the information, and the ultimate potential for human benefits.

The International Space Station includes investigations include those in the areas of biology and biotechnology, human research, physical sciences, technology demonstration, astrophysics, Earth science and education. (NASA) — The International Space Station includes investigations in the areas of biology and biotechnology, human research, physical sciences, technology demonstration, astrophysics, Earth science and education. (NASA)

Humans explore to push our boundaries and make discoveries, but also to expand economic interests, obtain resources and develop cutting edge technology. When it comes to the space station, we can look back on the engineering feats of new technologies and achievements from development, assembly and operations. It is also important to reflect on the international achievements from peaceful cooperation in space—69 countries having participated in some aspect of station utilization to date. Finally we have the research realizations to acknowledge as we use this orbiting laboratory for results that could not have come about in any other way. Research is now at full speed in both science and technology development.

While findings are inspirational, it’s the application—developed during the decades that follow—that leads to recognized value in our daily lives. Focusing on scientific discovery, Earth benefits and knowledge to enable future space exploration, this list shows that these areas are not mutually exclusive. Rather, the potential for overlap expands the benefits of the space station as they build on each other for generations to come.

An illustration of the overlapping aspects of recognized returns from International Space Station research in the areas of discovery, Earth benefits and space exploration. (NASA)

I hope you will enjoy this list and I challenge you to take home at least one item here that touches you. By sharing some of the top ten research results from the space station with the people in your orbit, we can continue the exploration. With that said, let’s get started. Check back soon for the first of ten amazing space station results!

Julie A. Robinson, Ph.D.
International Space Station Program Scientist

Julie A. Robinson, Ph.D., is NASA’s International Space Station Program Scientist. As such she is the chief scientist for the program, representing all space station research and scientific disciplines. Robinson provides recommendations regarding research on the space station to NASA Headquarters. Her background is interdisciplinary in the physical and biological sciences. Robinson’s professional experience includes research activities in a variety of fields, such as virology, analytical chemistry, genetics, statistics, field biology, and remote sensing. She has authored more than 50 scientific publications and earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Utah State University, as well as a Doctor of Philosophy in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology from the University of Nevada Reno.

Sowing the Seeds for Space-Based Agriculture – Part 2

In today’s A Lab Aloft, Charlie Quincy, research advisor to the International Space Station Ground Processing and Research director at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, continues to share the growing potential of plants in space and the new plant habitat that will help guide researchers.

As astronauts continue to move away from Earth, our ties back to our planet are going to be strained. We won’t have the capability to jump into a return capsule and be back to Earth in 90 minutes.

To move further away from Earth, we have to continue to develop more autonomous systems in our spacecraft that supply our fundamental needs for oxygen production and carbon dioxide (CO₂) removal, clean water and food. The genetic coding in plants to perform these functions has been refined and improved for the past 3-4 billion years as plants have continually evolved on Earth. So the code is pretty good. As long as we can provide biological organisms like plants or algae with the nutrients and support systems they need, they will pretty much know what to do. What they will do is clean water, change CO₂ into oxygen and generate food. From a life support system, that’s kind of what you want to happen.

There are some interesting things about plants that we’ll have to deal with in space. For instance, we don’t have bumblebees in orbit, so who does the pollination? Who goes from flower to flower? We’ve actually had astronauts using cotton swabs to move pollen from one flower to another, in particular when we were growing strawberries a few years back. As we get more and more into it, we need to figure out how to do this without using the crew, since it would not be efficient to have them pollinating a field with cotton swabs.

View of willow trees in an Advanced Biological Research System (ABRS) incubator for the Advanced Plant Experiments on Orbit – Cambium (APEX-Cambium) experiment aboard the International Space Station during Expedition 21. (NASA)

We have quite a number of things going on and coming to fruition on the International Space Station. We currently have a small habitat called the Advanced Biological Research System (ABRS) in orbit performing fundamental studies of plant growth in the microgravity environment. It has two independent chambers that are tightly controlled and have LED lights. We can manage moisture delivery, CO₂ and trace gases inside those chambers and do some real hard science investigations. The Russian segment has a habitat, too, called the Lada greenhouse.

The Advanced Plant Habitat (APH) is a similar chamber under development, but that one will be larger. The APH will enable us to use larger plants and different species, all of which will be tightly controlled during growth investigations.

Another really exciting new system launching to the space station probably around the middle of next year is the Vegetable Production System (Veggie). It will begin bridging the gap between a pure science facility and a food production system. We are in the ground testing phase of the flight unit to assure it is safe for operation aboard the station with the help of the facility’s builder, Orbital Technologies Corporation of Madison, Wis. Orbitec. They also will manufacture the APH.

The beauty of the Veggie unit is that it’s really just a light canopy with a fan and a watering mat for growing plants, using the cabin atmosphere aboard the space station. The crew will have an opportunity to farm about two and a half square feet, which is a pretty good sized growing area. This system also has great potential as a platform for educational programs at the high school level, where students could grow the same plants in similar systems in their classrooms.

The Veggie greenhouse will fit into an EXPRESS Rack on the International Space Station for use with plant investigations in orbit. (NASA)

We’re going to start growing lettuce plants in Veggie next year as a test run, because lettuce is well suited for this initial testing. Lettuce is a good first crop selection because it is a rapid growing plant, with a high edible content, and generally has a small micro flora content. We will be using specially designed seed pillows to contain the below ground portion of the lettuce plant containing the roots, rooting media, and moisture delivery system. The plants will sprout and grow up through those pillows. Ultimately scientists will be able to grow larger plants like dwarf tomatoes or peppers.

We are continuing to do the testing associated with making sure the food grown in the closed environment of the space station is safe to eat for the crew. We hope that within a short period we will be able to augment the astronauts’ diets with herbs and spices and maybe onions, peppers or tomatoes, something to give the crunch factor. Ultimately, we hope to move to even larger chambers to begin producing more of the staple crops, such as potatoes or beans.

All of these new plant systems should be up and running in the very near future. Veggie should be aboard station next year, and by the middle of 2015 we expect to deploy the APH, completing the suite of plant facilities in orbit.

When talking about life-support systems for spaceflight, there’s obviously a more complicated viewpoint that says the systems that connect all that together are pretty elaborate and cumbersome. There are reservoirs, hoppers and a vast array of other things that have to be in place to operate a bioregenerative system, which makes them big and, in some cases, energy intensive. On short-duration missions we would probably do better packing a picnic lunch and taking only the support systems we need. The further we are away from Earth, and the longer it takes us to get back, however, drives systems planning in the regenerative direction. What we’re doing is laying the groundwork that will enable those kinds of decisions to be made for long-duration exploration.

NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, Expedition 28 flight engineer, inspects a new growth experiment on the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2 (Plants-2) payload with its Lada-01 greenhouse in the Zvezda service module of the International Space Station. (NASA)

There’s a more near-term thing that we’re also looking at, which is the therapeutic aspects of growing plants. People have been exercising their “green thumbs” for this reason for years. They plant their little gardens, and the aromas of plants have a very positive impact on the way these people feel about things. The psychological effects of keeping plants are still somewhat unknown, and we’re hoping to get better insight into that. These effects include the nurturing aspects of watching something grow and caring for it. During spaceflight, far from Earth or on a long-duration mission, a totally sterile environment may not be what is desired. While you can’t have a pet dog or cat to make your living space a little more homey, perhaps you could have a pet plant to care for, as it provides oxygen and sustenance.

Charlie Quincy has been the Space Biology project manager at Kennedy Space Center for the past 13 years. His efforts include both flight and ground research aimed at expanding the current science knowledge base, solving issues associated with long-duration spaceflight and distributing knowledge to Earth applications. He is a registered professional engineer and has a master’s degree in Space Technologies.

Sowing the Seeds for Space-Based Agriculture – Part 1

In today’s A Lab Aloft, Charlie Quincy, research advisor to the International Space Station Ground Processing and Research director at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, shares the growing potential of plants in space and the new plant habitat that will help guide researchers. The blog continues in Part 2.

There are forces that work together on this planet that we take for granted when it comes to how plants grow and thrive. Here at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center we are in the process of identifying those things and how we can engineer facilities that replicate them in the closed system environment of a space vehicle or habitat, such as the International Space Station.

Within closed systems, there is limited or no exchange with the broader environment, we are specifically interested in closing the water, oxygen, and carbon loops for long duration space flight. We have found that plants have well defined processes to perform the conversions necessary to close loop when supplied with light energy.

The wonderful thing about plants is that they pretty much know what they are supposed to do, as long as you give them an atmosphere they like. There are a couple of things that microgravity makes a little more tricky. There’s no convection mixing, for instance, in the atmosphere aboard the space station—which has a carbon dioxide (CO₂) level of around 10 times what we see on Earth.

Crops tested in Vegetable Production System (Veggie) plant pillows (pictured here) include lettuce, Swiss chard, radishes, Chinese cabbage and peas. (NASA)

Plants take in CO₂ and give off oxygen. This process occurs at the stomata on the bottom of the leaf; without convection mixing or wind, you get high concentrations of oxygen around the stoma and no CO₂ coming in. We need to learn how much air movement in the chamber is necessary to force the oxygen away from the leafs and allow the CO₂ to replace it.

Also, plants and their fruiting are very sensitive to various trace gases. Any time you have a closed system with little new makeup air being added, like aboard the space station, you have a buildup of trace gases. The gases, such as ethylene, that have a regulatory effect on plant growth need to be removed so plants can progress through their normal maturing process.

Without the force of gravity acting on the plant, we also have to make provisions to ensure the stems grow toward the light and the roots grow toward the water. The secondary capabilities of plants to orient themselves are still being worked out in basic science investigations.

Crew image of the Advanced Plant Experiments on Orbit — Transgenic Arabidopsis Gene Expression System (APEX-TAGES) study during Expedition 23. (NASA)

Thinking about how this work relates to what we grow on Earth, Ray Wheeler, another NASA scientist, and I were in Chicago at a commercial activity called “The Plant” to see how the people there incorporate the concepts of bioregenerative farming into their operation. This is a group of people who took an old building, formerly a meat packing house, and are trying to create a closed ecological system. They use this environment to grow plants, produce products for their store, restaurant and production facilities, and they use the waste products to generate energy for the growth facility.

NASA is interested in these facilities because they are a large venture compared to our space station operations, facing similar but different challenges. We are basically trying to do the same thing on a small scale; somewhere in the middle is what might be on a space habitat. We are setting up systems in balance and to make this balance we need to incorporate buffers and reservoirs and manage energy needs.

We are looking for opportunities where people are having success in creating these balanced systems. Working with organizations like The Plant, we learn together and push information back and forth to achieve our mutual and specific goals. Urban farming is becoming more and more common around the world and our closed system space flight goals to manage energy use and producing fresh food have much in common. Working together with this broader community will bring more solutions into play and help to uncover the best options.

Farming is no longer isolated to rural areas and the agriculture industry is growing to include urban farms. If you look at a city like New York, you’ll see little greenhouses on the roofs of almost every building. Many of those greenhouses are associated with the restaurants located on the first floor. If you have a Jamaican restaurant, for instance, they’ll have herbs and spices they’ve brought from Jamaica that they grow on their roofs. Farming for immediate use is exactly what we’re doing and we can learn from each other.

This New York-based rooftop greenhouse is an example of a closed ecological system here on Earth. (Credit: Ari Burling)

Within our ground research activities at Kennedy we have tested a broad range of crops and support systems in our growth chambers over the years. We have published hundreds of papers on our results, many of which have broad application for the agriculture industry. We also have seen and published results on the impacts of trace gases on food production, as well as different colored lighting and photo periods on plant performance. This type of information can have a tremendous impact on our global agriculture industry.

It’s really interesting how everything ties together. By pushing the boundaries and adding to our understanding of plant life we can continue to learn from each other and share benefits. We can help plants on the ground and in orbit do what they do best: grow!

A Marriage of Minds Meets Earth and Space Clean Water Needs

In today’s A Lab Aloft, mWater co-founder John Feighery recalls how his background as an environmental engineer in the International Space Station Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston led to a novel approach to global clean water monitoring.

My wife Annie and I share a passion for humanitarian concerns, though our individual approaches may appear at first to be quite different. My career began in environmental engineering with aerospace projects for NASA, while she worked as a behavioral health scientist in East Africa. Through our mutual work, we began to see crossover potential where Earth needs could find answers from space applications. Specifically in regard to the precious resource of clean water for people living in low-resource regions or remote environments, NASA technologies developed for the extreme environment of space could help those impacted by contaminated water sources.

Annie and John Feighery, the husband and wife team behind the creation of mWater, and app. used for clean water monitoring on a global scale. (Credit: Ellen Fenter) — Annie and John Feighery, the husband and wife team behind the creation of the mWater mobile application used for clean water monitoring on a global scale. (Credit: Ellen Fenter)

We came up with the idea to provide an open source water and sanitation technology that would be mobile, accessible and inexpensive. Combining our desire to help improve the lives of others, we brought this dream into reality by founding mWater, an organization that uses low-cost kits for water testing in tandem with the mWater mobile phone app that can read the water tests.

The app communicates water source locations and their safety status on a map that water users can use to find safe water around them. Water source managers also can use the app to identify the biggest health risks in their community. Our co-founder, software engineer Clayton Grassick, designed the app in 2011, after we pitched him the challenge during the Random Hacks of Kindness Hackathon in Montreal Canada. We launched a beta version in August 2012, piloting the water test and app technology in Mwanza, Tanzania with funding from UN Habitat. With an investment grant from USAID Development Innovation Ventures, we began in June to train Mwanza’s water managers and environmental health workers to test water sources and monitor them with the mobile phone app.

Clayton Grassick, co-founder and software designer for the mWater app. (Credit: mWater)

The origin of this global resource has its roots in the work I did for the people leaving our planet—astronauts bound for the International Space Station. My efforts as the lead engineer for air and water equipment on the space station focused on requirements for efficient and highly portable testing capabilities that did not require incubators or other laboratory equipment to check for contamination in drinking water sources. The technology that mWater uses for testing for the presence of E. coli in 100 ml samples was inspired by the Microbial Water Analysis Kit (MWAK) that I helped develop to provide NASA with a simple water quality test. MWAK is part of the CHeCS EHS suite of hardware for environmental monitoring aboard the space station.

View of the Microbial Water Analysis Kit (MWAK) during flight tests aboard the International Space Station. (NASA)

The solutions I helped deliver to the station crew also applied to the needs I saw in my volunteer efforts on Earth. During a stint with the NASA Johnson Space Center chapter of Engineers Without Borders in El Salvador I was struck by the lack of clean water and the vision came together for me. I realized that I could help not only the crews bound for orbit, but also the billions of people here on Earth with the basic human need for a clean water supply.

The key innovation that came from my time at NASA was proving through the MWAK project that these types of tests can work at near ambient temperatures. This was essential for testing in the field, especially in developing countries, as incubators are expensive and require electricity. The mWater tests, however, can be done easily by anyone at room temperature.

Part of the problem with water testing up to this point was the expense of microbiology labs and the need to make the data accessible to the public quickly and efficiently. In essence, mWater works by combining an online global map of water sources reflecting inputs from an open, scalable and secure cloud-based database; inexpensive (only $5 per kit) and accurate water testing kits; and the cross-platform mobile phone app that reports test results and records water sources.

The first assembled mWater kit. (Credit: mWater)

The app itself works with the phone’s camera and GPS to record the location of the sample and the results from the test kits, uploading the information to the free, mapped database. The water source gets its own unique numeric identifier, which governments, health workers, and citizens can use to check the health of their local supplies. The app, available for free on the Google Play Store, can function offline and is also compatible with iPhone, Windows, Android and Blackberry phones through their Web browsers.

We verified the app in real-time via a UN Habitat study that took place in Mwanza, Tanzania. The success of this validation testing allowed us to move forward to implement our tool for users around the world. What’s even better is that as people continue to use this resource, they share the water results in an open source forum online. We are building an open source/open access global water quality database that anyone can put into operation to better understand water safety across geography and time.

The ease of the app is another carryover from my days at NASA, mimicking the lessons learned from writing training plans for the crew of the space station to learn to use such a tool. We focused on simplicity and ease of use to reduce human error in the user interface. More than 1,000 Android users on the Google Play Store have downloaded the app during the beta release phase. Now, less than two years later, mWater has grown to fully implementing water quality monitoring and mobile surveys with the investment grant from USAID.

The mWater app running on an Android phone. (Credit: mWater)

Scientists and concerned citizen groups from around the world are downloading the app because the technology reduces the cost of conducting large water studies. We have also collaborated with Riverkeeper, a non-profit organization in New York City, to monitor water here at home in the Hudson River Valley.

We have used this simple and affordable tool to test water in Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, and we are expanding to Ethiopia later this year. These countries represent areas where people have access to the fewest safe water sources in the world. Diarrheal disease is the second leading cause of child mortality worldwide, behind lung infections. Drinking unsafe water also leads to malnutrition and stunting and lost wages for those who are ill and those who care for them.

In our research, most families choose between three water sources on average for their water each day. mWater’s app can help them make the safest choice available and inform them when they need to expend their precious resources on fuel to boil unsafe water. We can generate reports of water source status for communities that need assistance lobbying for government funding. Most importantly, in our view, we create a sustainable capacity for affordably monitoring water that can exist after we leave each community.

John Feighery helping to check water in Tanzania. (Credit: Annie Feighery)

John Feighery is a social entrepreneur working to bring low-cost water monitoring to under-resourced communities, using mobile phone and mapping technology to share the results and respond rapidly to contamination. He will graduate this year with a doctorate in Earth and environmental engineering from Columbia University, where he measured and modeled microbial contamination of groundwater and drinking water in Bangladesh. Before returning to Columbia for his Ph.D., Feighery worked for NASA as manager of the Environmental Health System for the International Space Station and also helped develop advanced life support technology.