NASA SpaceX’s 27th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) mission is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in March. Science experiments and technology demonstrations conducted by the unmanned Dragon spacecraft explore how the heart changes in space, test a student-designed camera mount, compare surfaces that drive biofilm formation, and more.
A helping hand for the heart
The Tissue Chips in Space program, a collaboration between the National Center for Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health and the ISS National Lab, is sending its latest two studies. Both are second-flight heart-related investigations using tissue chips, tiny devices that mimic the functions of human organs.
Cardinal Heart 2.0 builds on the investigation of Cardinal Heart. This study, according to Dilip Thomas, a postdoctoral researcher at the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, confirmed the hypothesis that microgravity can adversely affect artificial heart muscle tissues. “This second study aims to test whether clinically approved drugs alleviate the signs of abnormal processes observed in the first flight,” he says.
Principal investigator Joseph Wu, director of the institute, says a follow-up study could provide a deeper understanding of how major types of heart cells respond to drugs in the space environment. This understanding could guide drug development strategies on Earth to more effectively treat patients with diseases such as heart failure.
The first Engineered Heart Tissues research looked for changes at the cellular and tissue level that could provide an early indication of the development of heart disease.
Engineered Heart Tissues-2 is testing whether new therapies prevent these negative effects from occurring. This research could help predict and prevent cardiovascular risks and lead to countermeasures to protect future space explorers. Since the response of the cardiovascular system to microgravity resembles age-related diseases on Earth, these studies could help patients at risk of developing heart disease on Earth as well.
Both of these investigations use adaptable experimental hardware developed by BioServe Space Technologies.
“We’ve been able to develop or modify hardware and expand the types of projects that can be supported in orbit,” said BioServe Director Stefanie Countryman. “The Tissue Chips experiments really opened the doors to a wide range of research that was not possible on the station until then. It enables more comprehensive science and could inspire other researchers to think about what is possible.”
Student innovation for stable images
The High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware (HUNCH) program allows students to build real products for NASA while applying science, technology, engineering, math and art skills. The HUNCH Ball Clamp monopod is testing a platform for keeping cameras stable while tracking targets on the ground or taking pictures and videos inside the space station. The device, which attaches cameras to the space station’s handrails, could make photography operations easier and faster for the crew and has the potential to support photography applications on Earth as well.
Students from Cypress Woods High School, Clear Creek High School and Conroe High School participated in the project.
“The highlight of my experience was going through the entire structural design process to ultimately achieve a personal long-term goal,” said Shane Johnson, Cypress Woods High School, who designed the wing screw used on the Ball Clamp. Johnson heard about the HUNCH program on his first day in high school and decided to get something he did on the space station. “In the following years, I fell in love with the process of starting with an idea, then brainstorming, prototyping and constantly tweaking until I had the perfect product. When I got the call that my hardware was cleared to fly, I was absolutely euphoric.”
Mike Bennett, HUNCH Flight Configuration Project Manager, points out that the project offers students real-world experience in many areas such as design and manufacturing, giving them the experience to take a project from an idea through various iterations to creating the parts needed for a refined and the finished item.
Life in space
Tanpopo-5, a research project by JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), is studying the response to space exposure in radiation-resistant microbes, moss spores and biochemical compounds including amino acids. Amino acids have been detected in extraterrestrial bodies such as meteorites and are possible precursors to life on Earth. Tanpopo-5 follows four earlier experiments seeking insight into how organisms respond to space exposure.
“Today, the Earth’s ozone layer shields most of the ultraviolet radiation, but the space environment can be considered a model for the primitive Earth,” said lead researcher Hajime Mita of the Fukuoka Institute of Technology. “The space station provides an accessible exposure facility where we can reach a spectrum as broad as solar ultraviolet radiation and a combination of cosmic and ultraviolet radiation in space.”
These investigations could inform strategies to protect other planets from human contamination and to safely return samples from other planets to Earth. Tanpopo-5 could provide insight into whether Earth life can survive in space and help scientists understand the key ingredients that ignited life on Earth. The results may also help support agricultural activities and planetary quarantine strategies for human activities on the Moon and Mars.
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