NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut and Expedition 72 Flight Engineer Don Pettit aboard the International Space Station.

Media Credit: NASA

R&D Progress and Successes

This was a record-setting year for publications detailing valuable results from R&D sponsored by the ISS National Lab. In FY24, 51 peer-reviewed articles related to ISS National Lab-sponsored research were published (citations in Appendix B)—the most ever identified in a single fiscal year. Furthermore, eight of these publications are in top-tier journals, which indicates the significance of the results for the scientific community. The total all-time number of peer-reviewed articles related to ISS National Lab R&D is now nearly 450, and these findings lay the groundwork for future applications that will bring value to humanity.

In FY24, 28 publications were related to projects awarded through joint solicitations with the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), with 11 on tissue engineering and mechanobiology and 17 in the physical science areas of transport phenomena such as combustion and fluid dynamics. For example:

  • Three publications related to Emory University’s research on growing and maturing cardiac muscle cells from induced pluripotent stem cells in microgravity.
  • A research team from Case Western Reserve University published results from a project that studied the spread of flames in microgravity. These findings help to improve our fundamental understanding of the effects of confinement on flame spread for applications related to building fire safety.

Six publications were related to projects awarded through joint solicitations with the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), which is part of NIH, as part of the Tissue Chips in Space initiative. For example:

  • A publication from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) detailed findings from a project that studied the effects of spaceflight on musculoskeletal disease biology using a cartilage-bone-synovium joint tissue chip model.
  • Johns Hopkins University researchers published results related to a project aimed at developing a human cardiac muscle tissue chip system to examine microgravity’s effects on heart tissue structure and function

“Leveraging the ISS National Lab allowed us to accelerate the study of osteoarthritis progression and explore its root causes more efficiently than we could on Earth alone. This project has brought us closer to developing effective interventions for post-traumatic osteoarthritis.”

– Al Grodzinsky, Biological Engineering Professor at MIT

.Other examples of FY24 publications include the following:

  • One publication is related to Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Spaceborne Computer-2 project, which tests the performance of a commercial off-the-shelf high-performance computer system over time in extreme space conditions.
  • Two publications are related to technology development projects that used the Aegis Aerospace MISSE Flight Facility: Georgia Tech Applied Research Corporation published findings from a project to evaluate changes in the optical properties of several spacecraft materials as they are exposed to the harsh conditions of space, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign published results from a project testing a new class of 3D-printed thermosetting polymers, which irreversibly harden when heated.
  • Two publications are related to the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02, a particle physics detector that seeks to advance knowledge of the universe and improve understanding of its origin by searching for antimatter and dark matter and measuring cosmic rays.
  • Chapman University published findings from an archaeological investigation aiming to fill a gap in social science by examining the human experience of long-duration spaceflight.

In FY24, one patent and one product related to ISS National Lab-sponsored research were identified:

  • Researchers from the Palo Alto Veterans Research Institute filed a patent for a skeletal muscle tissue chip platform in microgravity for muscle regeneration modeling and screening for new drugs to treat muscle loss conditions. This patent is related to the team’s ISS National Lab-sponsored research that was funded by NSF.
  • ISS Mimic, developed by Creatorspace through an ISS National Lab-sponsored education project, provides 3D print files to create a 1:100 model of the ISS that uses data and telemetry from in orbit to mimic the movement of the space station. Students can create the ISS model and display it in schools, libraries, and museums.

In-space production applications is a strategic focus area for the ISS National Lab, and FY24 achievements in advanced materials production and the biofabrication of human tissues on station represent significant progress in this area. For example, Flawless Photonics generated more than 11 km of ZBLAN optical fiber on the ISS, with the longest single pull measuring more than a kilometer—the longest fiber pull on the space station to date. Redwire Corporation successfully 3D printed live human heart tissue using its BioFabrication Facility (BFF) on station, moving closer toward the goal of one day producing human tissues in space to treat damaged tissue in patients on Earth.

Additionally, in FY24, the ISS National Lab published two issues of Upward magazine, showcasing successful results from ISS National Lab-sponsored R&D:

“Returning to the ISS for multiple projects has allowed us to continuously push the boundaries of our research. The microgravity environment has provided unique insights into bubble dynamics that are simply not possible on Earth. Each experiment builds upon the last, bringing us closer to developing ultrasensitive biosensors that could revolutionize early cancer detection. The success we’ve seen over time is a testament to the powerful collaboration between space science and healthcare innovation.”

– Tengfei Luo, Professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Notre Dame