ISS - Expedition 65 Mission patch.
May 21, 2021
Crew members aboard the International Space Station conducted scientific investigations during the week of May 17 that included studies of how microgravity affects human arteries, time perception, and sleep.
The space station has been continuously inhabited by humans for 20 years, supporting many scientific breakthroughs. The orbiting lab provides a platform for long-duration research in microgravity and for learning to live and work in space, experience that supports Artemis, NASA’s program to go forward to the Moon and on to Mars.
Image above: ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet is pictured inside the space station cupola. Behind him, outside the space station, is the Cygnus space freighter with one of its cymbal-shaped UltraFlex solar arrays (right), and just to his left, the Soyuz MS-17 crew ship. Image Credit: NASA.
Here are details on some of the microgravity investigations currently taking place:
Analyzing aging in arteries
When astronauts return to Earth, their carotid arteries often appear to have aged beyond the time spent on orbit. This “accelerated aging” could represent significant cardiovascular risk in the long term and daily sessions of exercise may be insufficient to counteract it. Vascular Aging, an investigation by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), analyzes these changes in crew members using artery ultrasounds, blood samples, oral glucose tolerance testing, and wearable sensors. Results could point to mechanisms for reducing this risk and also may identify and detect blood biomarkers that predict early signs of cardiovascular aging. During the week, crew members conducted various data gathering activities for the investigation.
Keeping track of time
Scientists know that a person’s perception of the space around them is altered during spaceflight – for example, astronauts may under-estimate distances. Their perception of time also may change: crew members take about 50% more time to execute an experiment procedure in orbit as they did on Earth. While on the space station, crew members also experience lack of sleep, disrupted circadian rhythms, and stress, potentially affecting their time perception. Finally, the crew deals with a number of different time zones, including Greenwich Mean, Houston and Moscow times. But time perception is fundamental to motion perception, sound localization, speech, and fine motor coordination, and altered perception could affect safety and performance. An investigation from ESA (European Space Agency), Time Perception, quantifies the subjective changes in time perception in humans during and after long-duration exposure to microgravity. Crew members conducted sessions for the investigation during the week.
International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: NASA
Sweet dreams
Sleep plays a major role in human health and well-being and sleep disruption can impair performance of tasks and increase the risk of developing medical conditions such as cardiovascular diseases. Dreams from ESA demonstrates a technology, the Dry-EEG Headband, to monitor astronaut sleep quality during long duration spaceflight. A crew member wears the headband while sleeping and the next morning, the device imports data to a dedicated iPad app. The headband can monitor sleep anywhere and wearers can number of awakenings. All raw data are available to research teams for analysis. During the week, crew members set up the headband and wore it for recording periods during sleep.
Ten-year search for dark matter
As of May 19, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02 (AMS-02) on the exterior of the space station marked 10 years of contributing to the search to understand dark matter. Many researchers theorize stars, planets, and the molecules of which they are made represent less than five percent of the mass-energy content of the universe and the rest is either dark matter or dark energy, which cannot be directly detected but only inferred. AMS-02 records the number (175-billion-plus to date) and type of cosmic particles that pass through its detectors along with characteristics such as particle mass, velocity, charge, and direction of travel. Originally designed for a three-year mission, AMS was repaired and upgraded via a series of spacewalks in 2019 and 2020. It extended life allows scientists to collect data over a complete solar cycle of 11 years, providing more information about the potential radiation exposure for astronauts headed to Mars.
Other investigations on which the crew performed work:
Image above: NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough sets up for a SUBSA investigation that examines the mechanisms behind solidification of brazing alloys in microgravity. Image Credit: NASA.
- SUBSA-BRAINS examines the mechanisms behind solidification of brazing alloys in microgravity, a technique that could provide a tool for constructing human space habitats and manufactured systems and for repairing space vehicles and habitats.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8295
- ESA’s AstroPi uses two computers equipped with a variety of sensors and cameras to support an education program for schools across Europe to compete on a number of thematic software and hardware challenges.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7534
- An investigation from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Probiotics studies the effects of beneficial bacteria on immune function and the intestinal microbiota of crew members.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=2047
- Celestial Immunity evaluates the effects of gravity on functional immune response and the role of age in regulating immune pathways. Results could support development of new vaccines and drugs to prevent and treat existing and emerging human diseases.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7818
- Antimicrobial Coatings tests a coating to control microbial growth on several different materials that represent high-touch surfaces. Some microbes change characteristics in microgravity, potentially creating new risks to crew health and spacecraft.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8352
- Standard Measures collects a set of core measurements from astronauts before, during, and after long-duration missions to create a data repository to monitor and interpret how humans adapt to living in space.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7711
- Food Physiology examines the effects of an enhanced spaceflight diet on immune function, the gut microbiome, and nutritional status indicators, with the aim of documenting how dietary improvements may enhance adaptation to spaceflight.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7870
- Food Acceptability looks at how the appeal of food changes during long-duration missions. Whether crew members like and actually eat foods directly affects caloric intake and associated nutritional benefits.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7562
- ISS Ham Radio provides students, teachers, parents, and others the opportunity to communicate with astronauts using HAM radio units. Before a scheduled call, students learn about the station, radio waves, and other topics, and prepare a list of questions on topics they have researched.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=337
Image above: This image taken from the space station cupola shows part of the island nation of New Zealand. Crew member photographs for the CEO investigation record how the planet is changing over time and provide data to help researchers understand these changes. Image Credit: NASA.
- For the CEO investigation, crew members take photographs of Earth each week, recording human-caused changes and natural events such as hurricanes, floods and volcanic eruptions. CEO imagery provides researchers on Earth with key data to better understand the planet.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=84
Space to Ground: Crew Call: 05/21/2021
Related links:
Expedition 65: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition65/index.html
Vascular Aging: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7644
Time Perception: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7504
Dreams: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=8344
Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02 (AMS-02): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=729
ISS National Lab: https://www.issnationallab.org/
Spot the Station: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/
Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/overview.html
International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html
Images (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Video (NASA), Text, Credits: NASA/Ana Guzman/John Love, ISS Research Planning Integration Scientist Expedition 65.
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