Mar 24 2016

From The Space Library

MEDIA ADVISORY M16-033 NASA Highlights Array of Experiments Launching on Next SpaceX Cargo Mission

NASA will host a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, March 28, to discuss cutting edge science investigations launching aboard the upcoming SpaceX commercial resupply flight to the International Space Station. Experiments include the demonstration of an expandable space habitat, a student-designed DNA investigation, and other research that will inform NASA’s journey to Mars.

The briefing will include:

• Julie Robinson, chief scientist for the International Space Station Program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, will provide an overview of the more than 250 valuable science investigations that will take place during Expeditions 47 and 48.
• Rajib Dasgupta, NASA project and technical integration manager for the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) at Johnson, and Lisa Kauke, BEAM deputy program manager at Bigelow Aerospace in Las Vegas, will discuss BEAM -- a technology demonstration to study the radiation protection, thermal performance and general operations of expandable habitats in space.

Future astronauts will require highly reliable habitation systems to keep them healthy and productive during missions that take them farther from Earth than humans have ever gone before. Through public-private partnerships with U.S. industry, NASA is investigating habitation concepts that can support astronauts who are living and working in the harsh environment of deep space. Expandable habitats are one such concept under consideration.

More about BEAM

• Kenneth Savin, Kristofer Gonzalez-DeWhitt, Michael Hickey and Rosamund Smith, of Eli Lilly and Company in Indianapolis, will discuss life science investigations focusing on musculoskeletal changes in space, which could provide insight into muscle-wasting diseases on Earth, and protein crystallization in microgravity, which could enhance the development and potency of therapeutic drugs.
• Kasthuri Venkateswaran, principal investigator for Microbial Observatory-1 at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will discuss tracking and monitoring changes to microbial flora on the space station over time, which could help us understand how such microbes could affect crew health during future long duration missions.
• Gioia Massa, principal investigator for Veg-03 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, will explain how the Veggie plant growth facility will cultivate cabbage as part of the Pick-and-Eat Salad initiative to develop a sustainable food supplement for long-duration spaceflight.
• Clay Wang, principal investigator for Micro-10 at the University of Southern California School Of Pharmacy in Los Angeles, will discuss this study of fungi in space for the purpose of potentially developing new medicine for use both in space and on Earth.
• Anna-Sophia Boguraev, student researcher, and Scott Copeland, ISS Research, Systems & Specialty Engineering manager for The Boeing Company in Pasadena, Texas, will discuss Genes in Space-1, a student-designed experiment to test whether the polymerase chain reaction -- a fast and relatively inexpensive technique that can amplify or “photocopy” small segments of DNA -- could be used to study DNA alterations that astronauts experience during spaceflight.

The SpaceX Dragon capsule is targeted to launch at 4:43 p.m. Friday, April 8 on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The spacecraft will carry crew supplies, scientific research and hardware to the orbital laboratory to support the Expedition 47 and 48 crews.

This launch is the eighth contracted mission by SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.