LEO Economic Development: Demand

Bioengineered liver and kidney constructs flying to space will help researchers understand microgravity’s effects on vascular used tissues.

Bioengineered liver and kidney constructs flying to space will help researchers understand microgravity’s effects on vascular used tissues.

Media Credit: Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine

LEO Economic Development: Demand

To establish a robust and sustainable LEO economy, the ISS National Lab continues to demonstrate the value of space-based research and increase demand among diverse users. In FY24, nearly $25 million in external, non-NASA funding was committed to support specific R&D projects sponsored by the ISS National Lab, bringing the total amount of such funding committed to date to more than $315 million. CASIS funding for newly selected projects in FY24 was matched 2:1 by committed funding from non-NASA, third-party entities and the selected institutions themselves. More than half of the external funding committed this year was from academic and nonprofit institutions. The willingness of these institutions to put their own limited funding toward ISS National Lab-sponsored projects underscores the value of space-based research.

This year, CASIS selected 31 new projects. To support higher-impact, multiflight research, CASIS awarded more funding to fewer projects through solicitations like the inaugural Igniting Innovation: Science in Space to Cure Disease on Earth, which was issued in partnership with NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) division. CASIS also decided to select fewer projects for flight to reserve more ISS National Lab allocation for Commercial Service Providers to fly payloads from their customers.

Of the projects selected in FY24, a little more than half were through targeted ISS National Lab research announcements (NLRAs) in the following strategic focus areas:

To inform these strategic focus areas, the ISS National Lab brings together thought leaders and subject matter experts from government agencies, industry, and academia. This year, the ISS National Lab hosted two in-space production applications workshops at ISSRDC—one on advanced materials and one on biomanufacturing and workforce development—with more than 170 attendees. The advanced materials workshop highlighted successful flight projects, the transformative role of space-produced materials across industries, capital opportunities, and the importance of public-private partnerships. The biomanufacturing workshop discussed critical topics, including the regulatory expectations between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the industry for space-manufactured products, as well as digital training platforms designed to equip the future workforce for biomanufacturing in space.

The ISS National Lab continues to work closely with NASA, and in FY24, three ISS National Lab-sponsored projects were selected through NASA in-space production applications research announcements. This year, the ISS National Lab partnered with NASA BPS on the second Igniting Innovation: Science in Space to Cure Disease on Earth. This NLRA seeks projects that utilize the orbiting laboratory to address challenges that hinder progress in preventing, diagnosing, and treating some of the most challenging diseases of our time, such as cancer, cardiovascular, immune, muscle, bone, and neurodegenerative diseases.

“The Igniting Innovation solicitation is a testimony to the power of collaboration. It addresses NASA’s and ISS National Lab’s shared goals of using space to advance research in ways not possible on Earth. This research could lead to incredible leaps in treating diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative disease.

– Lisa Carnell, Division Director for NASA’S BPS Division

Over the past decade, the ISS National Lab has built robust, multiyear public-private partnerships to leverage the unique space environment to advance critical fundamental science. In FY24, CASIS continued its collaboration with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and issued two annual joint solicitations: one in tissue engineering and mechanobiology (three selected projects) and one in the physical science area of transport phenomena (six selected projects). This year, CASIS renewed its partnership with NCATS, which is part of NIH, on the Tissue Chips in Space initiative and issued a joint solicitation for translational space-based research to benefit patients on Earth.

For more than 10 years, the ISS National Lab has invested in startups and provided them with access to push the boundaries of space innovation and advance their R&D. This year, two startups were awarded the Technology in Space Prize, funded by CASIS and Boeing in partnership with the MassChallenge startup accelerator program. Symphony Biosciences is testing an implant that activates an immune response to treat solid cancerous tumors, and FluxWorks Inc. is testing a noncontact magnetic gear that could increase the lifetime of mechanical gears in extreme environments.

“We sought to send our cancer research to space because the microgravity environment of the ISS offers a unique setting that terrestrial labs can’t replicate. By accelerating the growth of cancer stem cells, microgravity enables us to test new therapies faster and observe critical mechanisms like enzyme activation and resistance development, bringing us closer to breakthrough therapies that can prevent reoccurrence and improve treatment outcomes.

– Catriona Jamieson, Director of the Sanford Stem Cell Institute at UC San Diego

In FY24, ISS National Lab solicitations successfully attracted new research communities, as nearly 75 percent of newly selected projects were from new-to-space users. These include a project from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center that will leverage microgravity to develop a 3D tumor model for cancer research, an investigation from Rendezvous Robotics to advance the development of self-assembling robotic modules designed for space exploration, and an experiment from Purdue University testing a modular semiconductor manufacturing platform in space.

Selected investigations from return users include a project from the University of Notre Dame testing whether a novel lightweight polymer composite film can maintain its superior mechanical properties in the harsh space environment, an experiment from Micro-gRX investigating microgravity’s effects on the biofabrication of vascularized organoids from stem cells to improve heart and skin tissue repair therapies, and an investigation from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute studying crystal growth and particle self-assembly to improve models for designing advanced materials for biomedical and energy applications.

(For a full list of FY24 solicitations, see the ISS National Lab Previous Opportunities page. For a full list of all selected ISS National Lab-sponsored projects, see the ISS National Lab Project Pipeline.)

“We are most excited about our regenerative medicine investigations sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory that leverage unique conditions found only in space. Our 3D printed human tissue research in microgravity is already driving innovation with the potential to improve patients’ lives by developing novel therapies and support technologies.

– Tony Atala, Director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine