Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Two members of NASA Glenn Research Center’s senior leadership retired on Dec. 30, 2023.
Timothy McCartney
Credit: NASA
Timothy P. McCartney, director of Aeronautics, retired with 38 1/2 years of NASA service. He was responsible for the project management, workforce planning, budget oversight, and executive leadership of NASA Glenn’s aeronautics research and development activities in support of the agency’s Aeronautics Research Mission.
Dr. Ajay Misra
Credit: NASA
Dr. Ajay Misra, deputy director of Research and Engineering, retired with 29 years of NASA service. He shared responsibility with the director of Research and Engineering for leading and managing approximately 1,000 scientists, engineers, and administrative staff supporting NASA’s missions. He led a team dedicated to NASA Glenn’s research and development in propulsion, communications, power, and materials and structures for extreme environments.
Crew members on the International Space Station have a lot of company – millions of bacteria and other microbes. The human body contains 10 times more microbes than human cells, and bacteria and fungi grow in and on just about everything around us on Earth.
Most bacteria are harmless, and many are beneficial or even essential to human functioning and well-being. But microgravity can make some microbes more likely to cause disease and bacteria and fungi may affect the function of spacecraft systems, by, for example, corroding metal. These organisms also could contaminate other planetary bodies that spacecraft and humans land on.
Some microbes inevitably come along for the ride on crew members and cargo traveling to the space station, and it is important to identify and control those that may be harmful – especially in a closed environment like a spacecraft. Multiple investigations have tracked, identified, and analyzed the station’s tiniest residents to help keep crew members and equipment – and even other planets – safe from any potential threats.
A current investigation, ISS Boeing Antimicrobial Coating, tests surface coatings designed to inhibit the growth of microbes to protect crew members and equipment on a spacecraft. On Earth, such coatings could help reduce diseases transmitted from touching surfaces in aircraft cabins, health care facilities, public transportation, and other settings.
NASA astronaut Megan McArthur documents touch panels installed for the ISS Boeing Antimicrobial Coating investigation.
NASA
Microbial Observatory-1 was one of the first investigations to monitor the types of microbes present on the space station. Researchers produced the genomes of multiple microorganisms, including some that may act as pathogens and cause disease. Published results include a comprehensive catalog of bacteria and fungi1 deposited into the NASA GeneLab system.
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly collects samples for Microbial Observatory-1.
NASA
The Microbial Tracking-2 investigation continued a series monitoring the types of microbes on the space station and attempted to catalog and characterize any with disease-causing potential. Researchers produced whole-genome sequences of 94 fungal strains2 and 96 bacterial strains of 14 species3. The data also revealed that Staphylococcus and Malassezia species were the most common bacteria and fungi, respectively, on the space station and that, overall, microorganisms associated with the human skin dominated the surface microbiome4.
A Microbial Tracking-2 device collects air samples.
NASA
BioRisk-MSV, a long-running Roscosmos investigation, examined physical and genetic changes in bacteria and fungi on interior and exterior surfaces of the space station. Researchers found that microorganisms not only survive in this extreme environment but retain their reproductive ability as well. Most microorganisms also exhibited increased biochemical activity and resistance to antibiotics5. These findings have implications for developing planetary quarantine methods and biomedical safety systems for future missions.
The TEST investigation from Roscomos examined samples from the exterior surface of the space station and in life support systems. This work demonstrated that it was possible to collect data on viable microorganisms from open space and identified specific non-spore-forming bacteria found there6. Researchers also found land and marine bacteria in cosmic dust samples collected during a spacewalk. These microbes may transfer from the upper atmosphere via the global electric circuit (a continuous movement of electric charge carriers such as ions) or they may have originated in space7.
NASA’s ISS External Microorganisms plans to continue this work, collecting samples near life support system vents outside the station to examine whether the spacecraft releases microorganisms and, if so, how many and how far they may travel.
Myco, an investigation from JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), evaluated whether fungi inhaled by crew members or that adhere to their skin can act as allergens. The data revealed an increased relative abundance of a common fungus associated with seborrheic dermatitis (an itchy skin rash), and the presence of several types of fungi not common on the skin8. Results also showed an abundance of a yeast that may have adhered to the skin of some crew members preflight, suggesting that a specific or uncommon microorganism can proliferate in a closed environment. This study was the first to reveal changes over time in the skin fungal microbiota of astronauts9.
NASA astronaut Cady Coleman processes samples for the Myco Experiment.
NASA
JAXA also conducted a series of experiments, Microbe-I, Microbe-III, and Microbe-IV, monitoring the abundance and diversity of fungi and bacteria in Kibo, the station’s Japanese Experiment module. This work resulted in multiple publications reporting on the type and numbers of microorganisms detected10,11.
ISS Internal Environments provided a baseline of the contaminants on the space station. These data provide insight into the microbes present from the initial stages of construction through ongoing habitation of the orbiting lab.
This and other research on the microorganisms in and around the space station are helping to ensure that crew members remain in safe company on current and future missions.
John Love, ISS Research Planning Integration Scientist Expedition 70
Citations:
1 Checinska Sielaff A, Urbaniak C, Mohan GB, Stepanov VG, Tran Q, Wood JM, Minich J, McDonald D, Mayer T, Knight R, Karouia F, Fox GE, Venkateswaran KJ. Characterization of the total and viable bacterial and fungal communities associated with the International Space Station surfaces. Microbiome. 2019 April 8; 7(1): 50. DOI: 10.1186/s40168-019-0666-x.
2 Simpson AC, Urbaniak C, Bateh JR, Singh NK, Wood JM, Debieu M, O’Hara NB, Houbraken J, Mason CE, Venkateswaran KJ. Draft genome sequences of fungi isolated from the International Space Station during the Microbial Tracking-2 experiment. Microbiology Resource Announcements. 2021 September 16; 10(37): e00751-21. DOI: 10.1128/MRA.00751-21.
3 Simpson AC, Urbaniak C, Singh NK, Wood JM, Debieu M, O’Hara NB, Mason CE, Venkateswaran KJ. Draft genome sequences of various bacterial phyla isolated from the International Space Station. Microbiology Resource Announcements. 2021 April 29; 10(17): e00214-21. DOI: 10.1128/MRA.00214-21.
4 Urbaniak C, Morrison MD, Thissen J, Karouia F, Smith DJ, Mehta SK, Jaing C, Venkateswaran KJ. Microbial Tracking-2, a metagenomics analysis of bacteria and fungi onboard the International Space Station. Microbiome. 2022 June 29; 10(1): 100. DOI: 10.1186/s40168-022-01293-0.
6 Deshevaya EA, Shubralova EV, Fialkina SV, Guridov AA, Novikova ND, Tsygankov OS, lianko PS, Orlov OI, Morzunov SP, Rizvanov AA, Nikolaeva IV. Microbiological investigation of the space dust collected from the external surfaces of the International Space Station. BioNanoScience. 2020 March 1; 10(1): 81-88. DOI: 10.1007/s12668-019-00712-1.
7 Grebennikova TV, Syroeshkin AV, Shubralova EV, Eliseeva OV, Kostina LV, Kulikova NY, Latyshev OE, Morozova MA, Yuzhakov AG, Zlatskiy IA, Chichaeva MA, Tsygankov OS. The DNA of bacteria of the world ocean and the Earth in cosmic dust at the International Space Station. The Scientific World Journal. 2018 20187360147. DOI: 10.1155/2018/7360147.
8 Sugita T, Yamazaki TQ, Cho O, Furukawa S, Mukai C. The skin mycobiome of an astronaut during a 1-year stay on the International Space Station. Medical Mycology. 2021 January; 59(1): 106-109. DOI: 10.1093/mmy/myaa067.PMID: 32838424.
9 Sugita T, Yamazaki TQ, Makimura K, Cho O, Yamada S, Ohshima H, Mukai C. Comprehensive analysis of the skin fungal microbiota of astronauts during a half-year stay at the International Space Station. Medical Mycology. 2016 March; 54(3): 232-239. DOI: 10.1093/mmy/myv121.
10 Yamaguchi N, Ichijo T, Nasu M. Bacterial monitoring in the International Space Station-“Kibo” based on rRNA gene sequence. Transactions of the Japan Society for Aeronautical and Space Sciences, Aerospace Technology Japan. 2016 14(ists30): Pp_1-Pp_4. DOI: 10.2322/tastj.14.Pp_1. 11 Satoh K, Alshahni MM, Umeda Y, Komori A, Tamura T, Nishiyama Y, Yamazaki TQ, Makimura K. Seven years of progress in determining fungal diversity and characterization of fungi isolated from the Japanese Experiment Module KIBO, International Space Station. Microbiology and Immunology. 2021 November; 65(11): 463-471. DOI: 10.1111/1348-0421.12931.
NASA Invests in Small Business Tech to Advance Alternative Fuels, More
4 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
Dr. Darayas Patel (left), professor of mathematics and computer science at Oakwood University, and four Oakwood University students record data related to their NASA STTR research.
Oakwood University
Transitioning cutting-edge research from the lab to life-changing technology in the market is no easy feat and the cost of failure is high, especially for small businesses. One of the ways NASA helps is through its Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, which supports small businesses, and their research institution partners during early-stage research and development on a range of technologies that can benefit all.
After proving their concepts during Phase I, and finalizing negotiations, NASA announced Thursday 21 small businesses will receive Phase II awards worth up to $850,000 each. The funds will go toward developing, demonstrating, and delivering innovative technologies over the next 24 months, bringing them one step closer to infusion into a NASA mission or commercialization in the marketplace.
Each small business will collaborate with a research institution such as a university or Federally Funded Research and Development Center on their work—a requirement of STTR and a key differentiator from its sister program, Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR).
“The STTR program exists to unlock the power and innovative thinking enabled by partnership between small businesses and research institutions, said Jenn Gustetic, director of Early Stage Innovation and Partnerships under the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) at the NASA Headquarters in Washington. “NASA is committed to creating equitable opportunities and removing barriers for underrepresented audiences, so we’re proud that in this batch of awards, one-third of the partnering research institutions are Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs).”
One of the awardees is SSS Optical Technologies, LLC, a Huntsville, Alabama, small business partnering with Oakwood University, a Historically Black Colleges and University also based in Huntsville. Together they will use the Phase II award to develop an innovative protective coating that absorbs damaging UV radiation and converts it into energy to power solar cells. The team prepared for their journey by participating in M-STTR—now the MUREP Partnership Learning Award Notification (MPLAN)—an initiative that connects MSIs with NASA to maximize the potential for long term collaborations and enhance future funding opportunities. Building off that early success, they won an STTR Phase I award, during which they demonstrated a 5% gain in efficiency while reducing radiation damage by 400%. The team will now focus their Phase II period on optimizing coating factors (composition, structure, and application method) for better efficiency and operational lifetime. If successful, their technology could find use in NASA’s Advanced Solar Sailing Technologies arena or in solar panels used in the commercial market.
“Our program is in a unique position to support small businesses and their research institution partners to de-risk their technologies with funding and guidance,” said Jason L. Kessler, program executive for NASA’s SBIR/STTR program. “We want these awards to give each team the backing needed to showcase the impact the technologies can have inside and outside NASA’s walls.”
This includes small businesses like Air Company Holdings, whichwas selected for a Phase II award to develop an alternative to fossil fuels. Based in Brooklyn, New York, the company is partnering with New York University to create a carbon dioxide hydrogenation technology that NASA can use to produce sustainable rocket fuel. The team will use their Phase II period to expand on the process model created in Phase I and optimize their fuel production and downstream processing, ensuring the produced fuel meets international standards. In addition to use as rocket fuel, this sustainable fuel could be used on Earth to address greenhouse gas emissions in the aviation industry or on Mars to produce a stable and storable fuel in-situ—using only the Martian atmosphere, water, and solar photovoltaic electricity—which could be used to power habitats, and more.
The NASA SBIR/STTR program is part of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate and is managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. To learn more about the NASA SBIR/STTR program, visit:
As NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) constellation approaches retirement, partnerships with commercial industry will play a critical role in the development of future space communications and navigation architecture. Over the next decade, NASA missions will transition towards adopting commercial space-based relay services to fulfil their near-Earth communications needs.
The Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program is working to ensure that future missions will continue to have reliable, resilient space and ground communications and navigation infrastructure. Wideband polylingual terminals could become a key technology supporting that infrastructure, by providing seamless roaming capabilities that could allow missions to receive communication signals from multiple SATCOM service providers through the use of software defined radios (SDR). Developed over the last decade, SDR technology enables waveform change in-orbit, allowing for the adoption of new and evolving commercial services by missions as they become available.
Near Space Network antennas at the Alaska Satellite Facility in Fairbanks, Alaska.
NASA
Interoperability to Advance Science
The goal of NASA’s Wideband User Terminal project is to provide interoperability between government and commercial owned networks for near-Earth services in the near-term by leveraging traditional NASA assets with new commercial infrastructure.
Cellphone providers adopted roaming technology long ago, allowing devices to jump from network to network without interrupting service. Wideband terminals aim to enable similar roaming capabilities for space communications applications, a capability that has not been available to missions in the past.
Wideband interoperability technology was developed and tested at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio, where the first successful test of roaming between multiple network providers was conducted in 2021.
Commercialization Transition
Interoperability between industry and government owned network providers could play a key role in NASA’s transition towards commercialization. NASA has relied on the TDRS system to provide near-constant communication links between the ground and satellites in low-Earth orbit for almost 40 years, but the infrastructure was not originally designed for interoperability between networks.
SCaN is developing wideband technology to help the mission user community transition towards relying on commercial providers, by providing the safeguard option of connecting to the reliable TDRS network while private industry continue to develop and mature their space-based services over the next decade.
There are numerous potential benefits of providing missions with interoperability between NASA’s legacy TDRS networks and new commercial satcom services, including reducing the risk of data loss and communication delays. Providing missions with a selection of network providers can also help avoid vendor lock-in and keep mission execution on schedule when unexpected circumstances arise.
PExT Demonstration
The Polylingual Experimental Terminal at Johns Hopkins University
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
NASA’s Wideband Terminal Project is collaborating with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory to test the prototype Polylingual Experimental Terminal (PExT). Mission objectives include demonstrating interoperability through contact and link management, and forward and return link data flow while roaming between NASA’s TDRS network and three commercial relay networks. The PExT Wideband Terminal will be the first flight demonstration of roaming across government and commercial networks from a single terminal.
PExT will be integrated with a York Space Systems S-class Bus and launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 Transporter-11 flight, currently planned for June 2024.
The terminal will demonstrate various mission scenarios during its six-month testing period, including:
self-pointing capabilities
long-term schedule execution
intra-/inter-network link handoff
waveform adaptation and reloading
command stack protection (crypto)
link fault recovery
The Wideband Project is currently providing opportunities for the mission user community to take part in extended operation experiments using Wideband technology. Please contact Wideband Technology Lead marie.t.piasecki@nasa.gov for more information.
PExT Key Features
Wide frequency covers the entire range of commercial and government Ka-Band allocations, including 17.7 GHz to 23.55 GHz Forward, and 27 GHz to 31 GHz Return
Initial data rates reach up to 90 Mbps Forward and 375 Mbps Return. Future data rates are projected up to 490 Mbps Forward and 1 Gbps Return
Supports both NASA and commercial waveforms – including DVB-S2 and CCSDS TDRSS
The body-mounted 0.6-meter antennas are scalable for other missions
Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) 46.21 dBW minimum
Gain to Noise G/T ration approximately 6dB/K
Team members from the Polylingual Experimental Terminal project and Applied Physics Laboratory stand next to PExT after preparing the terminal for vibration testing.
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
NASA Continues Artemis Moon Rocket Engine Tests with 1st Hot Fire of 2024
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
NASA completed a full-duration, 500-second hot fire of an RS-25 certification engine Jan. 17, continuing a critical test series to support future SLS (Space Launch System) missions to the Moon and beyond as NASA explores the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all.
NASA/Danny Nowlin
NASA completed a full-duration, 500-second hot fire of an RS-25 certification engine Jan. 17, continuing a critical test series to support future SLS (Space Launch System) missions to the Moon and beyond as NASA explores the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all.
NASA/Danny Nowlin
NASA completed a full-duration, 500-second hot fire of an RS-25 certification engine Jan. 17, continuing a critical test series to support future SLS (Space Launch System) missions to the Moon and beyond as NASA explores the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all.
NASA/Danny Nowlin
NASA completed a full-duration, 500-second hot fire of an RS-25 certification engine Jan. 17, continuing a critical test series to support future SLS (Space Launch System) missions to the Moon and beyond as NASA explores the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all.
NASA/Danny Nowlin
NASA continued a critical test series for future flights of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket in support of the Artemis campaign on Jan. 17 with a full-duration hot fire of the RS-25 engine on the Fred Haise Test Stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi.
Data collected from the test series will be used to certify production of new RS-25 engines by lead contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne, an L3Harris Technologies company, to help power the SLS rocket on future Artemis missions to the Moon and beyond, beginning with Artemis V.
Teams are evaluating the performance of several new engine components, including a nozzle, hydraulic actuators, flex ducts, and turbopumps. The current series is the second and final series to certify production of the upgraded engines. NASA completed an initial 12-test certification series with the upgraded components in June 2023.
During the Jan. 17 test, operators followed a “test like you fly” approach, firing the engine for the same amount of time – almost eight-and-a-half minutes (500 seconds) – needed to launch SLS and at power levels ranging between 80% to 113%.
The Jan. 17 test comes three months after the current series began in October. During three tests last fall, operators fired the engine for durations from 500 to 650 seconds. The longest planned test of the series occurred on Nov. 29 when crews gimbaled, or steered, the engine during an almost 11-minute (650 seconds) hot fire. The gimbaling technique is used to control and stabilize SLS as it reaches orbit.
Each SLS flight is powered by four RS-25 engines, firing simultaneously during launch and ascent to generate over 2 million pounds of thrust.
The first four Artemis missions with SLS are using modified space shuttle main engines that can power up to 109% of their rated level. The newly produced RS-25 engines will power up to the 111% level to provide additional thrust. Testing to the 113% power level provides an added margin of operational safety.
With the completion of the test campaign in 2024, all systems are expected to be “go” for production of 24 new RS-25 engines for missions beginning with Artemis V.
Through Artemis, NASA will establish a long-term presence at the Moon for scientific exploration with commercial and international partners, learn how to live and work away from home, and prepare for future human exploration of Mars.
Photo cutline (use the same cutline for all four images): NASA completed a full-duration, 500-second hot fire of an RS-25 certification engine Jan. 17, continuing a critical test series to support future SLS (Space Launch System) missions to the Moon and beyond as NASA explores the secrets of the universe for the benefit of all. Photo Credit: NASA/Danny Nowlin
For information about NASA’s Stennis Space Center, visit:
