Space Station Science Highlights: Week of Oct 22, 2018

ISS – Expedition 57 Mission patch.

Oct. 29, 2018

The three Expedition 57 crew members aboard the International Space Station spent the week conducting science and preparing for the return of Japan’s HTV-7 and for the arrival of next month’s Northrup Grumman’s Cygnus space freighter, which will take a three-day trip in space before it is captured with the Canadarm2 and berthed to the station’s Unity module.

Here’s a look at some of the science conducted this week aboard the orbiting lab:

Protein crystallization experiment comes to a close

Proteins are important biological molecules that can be crystallized to provide better views of their structure, which helps scientists understand how they work. Proteins crystallized in microgravity are often higher in quality than those grown on Earth. The Effect of Macromolecular Transport on Microgravity Protein Crystallization (LMM Biophysics 4) studies why this is the case, examining the movement of single protein molecules in microgravity.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: NASA

Following an overall successful conclusion of the Biophysics-4 experiment run, the Biophysics-4 plate was removed from the LMM and stowed.

Growth cycle begins for space-grown kale and lettuce

Future long-duration missions into the solar system will require a fresh food supply to supplement crew diets, which means growing crops in space.

The Veg-03 investigation expands on previous validation tests of the new Veggie hardware, which crew members used to grow cabbage, lettuce and other fresh vegetables in space. This investigation marked the first time that two grow-outs have been initiated using two Veggie facilities in parallel aboard the space station.

Animation above: NASA astronaut Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor set up and installed Plant Pillows to initiate the VEG-03G experiment within the Veggie facility. Animation Credit: NASA.

This week, the crew installed a Root Mat and Plant Pillows and set light intervals for the experiment. They then filled the Plant Pillows and Root Mat with water to initiate the Veg-03G experiment. This is the first day of a 28-day growth cycle for the Red Russian Kale and Dragoon Lettuce plants.

Educational experiment begins 64th mission

Not everyone can go to space, but everyone can see Earth from an astronaut’s perspective with the Sally Ride Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (Sally Ride EarthKAM) program. Students can remotely control a digital camera mounted on the space station and use it to take photographs of coastlines, mountain ranges and other features and phenomena. The images are posted online where the public and participating classrooms can view Earth from the station’s unique vantage point.

Image above: The city of Chicago, captured by the SallyRide EarthKAM camera. Image Credit: NASA.

This week, the crew prepared and initiated Mission 64 of the program. At the start of the week, the Sally Ride EarthKAM program had served more than 19,000 students from 34 countries. By the end of the week, more than 20,000 students from 37 different countries were involved.

See recent EarthKAM images here: https://www.earthkam.org/ek-images

Sequencing investigation identifies bacteria on station surfaces

Biomolecule Extraction and Sequencing Technology (BEST) seeks to advance use of sequencing in space in three ways: identifying microbes aboard the space station that current methods cannot detect, assessing microbial mutations in the genome because of spaceflight and performing direct RNA sequencing.

This week, crew members initiated Experiment 1 of the BEST investigation. The goal of this experiment is to identify bacteria directly from space station surfaces through the swabbing and subsequent extraction of DNA from the swab using the miniPCR.

Other work was done on these investigations:

– Food Acceptability examines changes in how food appeals to crew members during their time aboard the station. Acceptability of food – whether crew members like and actually eat something – may directly affect crew caloric intake and associated nutritional benefits: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7562

– BCAT-CS studies dynamic forces between sediment particles that cluster together: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7668

– ACME E-FIELD Flames establishes an electric field between the burner and a mesh electrode. Measurements are made of electric-field strength, the ion current passing through the flame, and flame characteristics, leading to a new understanding and the potential development of less polluting and more efficient combustion technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=2058

– BPC-1 seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of conducting protein crystal growth in real time aboard: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7729

– Meteor is a visible spectroscopy instrument used to observe meteors in Earth orbit: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1174

– Team Task Switching studies whether or not crew members have difficulty in switching tasks and determines the impacts of these switches in order to both reduce any negative consequences and improve individual and team motivation and effectiveness: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7538

Space to Ground: Neutron Dance: 10/26/2018

Related links:

Expedition 57: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition57/index.html

LMM Biophysics 4: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7741

Veggie: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Facility.html?#id=374

Veg-03: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1159

Sally Ride EarthKAM: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=87

BEST: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7687

Spot the Station: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov/

Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html

International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html

Images (mentioned), Animations (mentioned), Video (NASA), Text, Credits: NASA/Jenny Howard/Vic Cooley, Lead Increment Scientist Expeditions 57/58.

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