View From the Cupola: Ray Lugo

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June 29, 2023 • By Ray Lugo, CEO of CASIS, manager of the ISS National Laboratory

In 1994, as a much younger self, I had the opportunity to work with a team at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) on the redesign of a space station that would serve as the world’s first orbiting laboratory. At that time, it was called Space Station Freedom, later to become the International Space Station (ISS). During this period, Henry Pohl was the director of engineering at JSC, and although he was a much more senior employee, he always made time to meet with younger staff.

I can recall a team meeting Henry joined, where, as always, we were trying to improve our space station design. He implored us not to create a space station merely as a “science project” but to design a space station to do science. That distinction sticks with me today as we take advantage of the International Space Station as a valuable platform for science to benefit humanity and look toward future commercial space stations.

What we are doing today is similar to seeding a field in the spring and harvesting the crop in the fall. The science we are doing now is an important element of securing our future. The experiments we perform today will lead to new knowledge and products that will improve life on Earth for future generations.

In this issue of Upward, you will have the chance to read about some of the groundbreaking science being done on the space station. While the results may not become commercial products in the next year, this science is crucial to increasing our understanding of the world and the physical, chemical, and biological processes underlying everything.

I find the research on the physics of flames and fire propagation fascinating. As a child, I was always interested in fire, and that curiosity continues today. Cool flames are always “cool,” but in the investigation highlighted in our cover story, “Going Cool to Go Green,” they’re very cool. Understanding the chemistry of cool flames may be the key to improving the efficiency of internal combustion engines and reducing air pollution—no small feat. Transitioning from cool flames to hot flames, this issue’s second feature on confined combustion, “Heating Things Up in Microgravity,” showcases how space station research provides valuable insight into how fire spreads. This knowledge could lead to breakthroughs in fire safety for people in confined spaces on Earth, like buildings and airplanes, as well as astronauts in spacecraft and onboard space stations.

Our third feature, “Stem Cells and Space,” tells the story of how heart cell studies in space are helping people on Earth. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 1.5 million people in the U.S. have a heart attack or stroke each year, and we spend nearly $314 billion annually treating cardiovascular disease. More importantly, most of us have at least one family member affected by heart disease, connecting this critical area of research to all of us. The use of stem cells to regenerate the heart may sound like science fiction, but results from this space station research could lead to therapies that reverse heart damage, improving the lives of patients across the globe.

These are three very different and exciting projects that represent just a small sample of the incredible work supported by the ISS National Laboratory—science in space that benefits all of us on Earth.

Download the entire issue of Upward to read more exciting ISS research results.