NASA’s 21st Northrop Grumman Mission Launches Scientific Studies to Station

NASA · July 23, 2024

NASA and its international partners are sending scientific investigations to the International Space Station on Northrop Grumman’s 21st commercial resupply services mission. Flying aboard the company’s Cygnus spacecraft are tests of water recovery technology and a process to produce stem cells in microgravity, studies of the effects of spaceflight on microorganism DNA and liver tissue growth, and live science demonstrations for students. The mission is scheduled to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida by early August.

Read more about some of the research making the journey to the orbiting laboratory:

Testing materials for packed systems

Packed bed reactors are systems that use materials such as pellets or beads “packed” inside a structure to increase contact between different phases of fluids, such as liquid and gas. These reactors are used for various applications including water recovery, thermal management, and fuel cells. Scientists previously tested the performance in space of glass beads, Teflon beads, a platinum catalyst, and other packing materials. Packed Bed Reactor Experiment: Water Recovery Series evaluates gravity’s effects on eight additional test articles.

Results could help optimize the design and operation of packed bed reactors for water filtration and other systems in microgravity and on the Moon and Mars. Insights from the investigation also could lead to improvements in this technology for applications on Earth such as water purification and heating and cooling systems.

A suitcase-sized piece of equipment sitting on a blue tabletop has a copper-colored frame and a metal box on the closest end with multiple nozzles and cords. A clear tube the length of the hardware is filled with small white beads. A person wearing a white lab coat and blue gloves is visible from the shoulders down behind the equipment.

Hardware for the packed bed water recovery reactor experiment. The packing media is visible in the long clear tube.

NASA

Giving science a whirl

STEMonstrations Screaming Balloon uses a balloon, a penny, and a hexagonal nut (the kind used to secure a bolt) for a NASA STEMonstration performed and recorded by astronauts on the space station. The penny and the nut are whirled separately inside an inflated balloon to compare the sounds they make. Each STEMonstration illustrates a different scientific concept, such as centripetal force, and includes resources to help teachers further explore the topics with their students.

NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps prepare for a STEMonstration on the International Space Station.

NASA

More, better stem cells

In-Space Expansion of Hematopoietic Stem Cells for Clinical Application (InSPA-StemCellEX-H1) continues testing a technology to produce human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in space. HSCs give rise to blood and immune cells and are used in therapies for patients with certain blood diseases, autoimmune disorders, and cancers.

The investigation uses a system called BioServe In-space Cell Expansion Platform, or BICEP, which is designed to expand HSCs three hundredfold without the need to change or add new growth media, according to Louis Stodieck, principal investigator at the University of Colorado Boulder. “BICEP affords a streamlined operation to harvest and cryopreserve cells for return to Earth and delivery to a designated medical provider and patient,” said Stodieck.

Someone in the United States is diagnosed with a blood cancer such as leukemia about every three minutes. Treating these patients with transplanted stem cells requires a donor-recipient match and long-term repopulation of transplanted stem cells. This investigation demonstrates whether expanding stem cells in microgravity could generate far more continuously renewing stem cells.

“Our work eventually could lead to large-scale production facilities, with donor cells launched into orbit and cellular therapies returned to Earth,” said Stodieck.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio works on the first test of methods for expanding stem cells in space, StemCellEX-H Pathfinder. The InSPA-StemCellEX-H1 investigation continues this work.

NASA

DNA repair in space

Rotifer-B2, an ESA (European Space Agency) investigation, explores how spaceflight affects DNA repair mechanisms in a microscopic bdelloid rotifer, Adineta vaga. These tiny but complex organisms are known for their ability to withstand harsh conditions, including radiation doses 100 times higher than human cells can survive. The organisms are dried, exposed to high radiation levels on Earth, and rehydrated and cultured in an incubator on the station.

“Previous research indicates that rotifers repair their DNA in space with the same efficiency as on Earth, but that research provided only genetic data,” said Boris Hespeels, co-investigator, of Belgium’s Laboratory of Evolutionary Genetics and Ecology. “This experiment will provide the first visual proof of survival and reproduction during spaceflight,” said Hespeels

Results could provide insights into how spaceflight affects the rotifer’s ability to repair sections of damaged DNA in a microgravity environment, and could improve the general understanding of DNA damage and repair mechanisms for applications on Earth.

A cell phone-sized blue box with a barcode label and a white button floats in the space station. A closed laptop and several storage boxes are visible in the background and a black camera is mounted in the foreground.

A culture chamber for the Rotifer-B2 investigation aboard the International Space Station.

NASA

Growing liver tissue

Maturation of Vascularized Liver Tissue Construct studies the development in space of bioprinted liver tissue constructs that contain blood vessels. Constructs are tissue samples grown outside the body using bioengineering techniques. Scientists expect the microgravity environment to allow improved cellular distribution throughout tissue constructs.

“We are especially keen on accelerating the development of vascular networks,” said James Yoo, principal investigator, at the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine. “The experimental data from microgravity will provide valuable insights that could enhance the biomanufacturing of vascularized tissues to serve as building blocks to engineer functional organs for transplantation.”

This image has three boxes. In the first is a white cube on a blue background with sides about a half-inch long and multiple open spaces like Swiss cheese. The second box shows a solid, reddish gelatinous cube on a white background. The third has a diagram of a small tissue chamber with three cells, a cylindrical reddish medium container, a black square micropump, and a round black bubble trap all connected in a loop.

Image A shows a vascularized tissue construct with interconnected channels, and image B shows a bioprinted human liver tissue construct fabricated with a digital light projection printer. Image C shows the tissue construct connected to a perfusion system, a pump that moves fluid through it.

Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

This mission also delivers plants for the APEX-09 investigation, which examines plant responses to stressful environments and could inform the design of bio-regenerative support systems on future space missions.

Melissa Gaskill
International Space Station Research Communications Team
NASA’s Johnson Space Center

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