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Advancing Human Spaceflight Safety
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By NASA
NASA has awarded Bastion Technologies Inc., of Houston, the Center Occupational Safety, Health, Medical, System Safety and Mission Assurance Contract (COSMC) at the agency’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.
The COSMC contract is a hybrid cost-plus-fixed-fee and firm-fixed-price contract, with an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity component and maximum potential value of $53 million. The contract phase-in begins Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, followed by a one-year base period that begins Feb. 14, 2025, and options to extend performance through Aug. 13, 2030.
Under this contract, the company will provide support for occupational safety, industrial hygiene, health physics, safety and health training, emergency response, safety culture, medical, wellness, fitness, and employee assistance. The contractor also will provide subject matter expertise in several areas including system safety, software safety and assurance, quality assurance, pressure system safety, procurement quality assurance, and range safety. Work will primarily be performed at NASA Ames and NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, as needed.
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov
-end-
Tiernan Doyle
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
tiernan.p.doyle@nasa.gov
Rachel Hoover
Ames Research Center, Silicon Valley, Calif.
650-604-4789
rachel.hoover@nasa.gov
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By NASA
NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) will transport the next astronauts that land on the Moon, including the first woman and first person of color, beginning with Artemis III. For safety and mission success, the landers and other equipment in development for NASA’s Artemis campaign must work reliably in the harshest of environments.
The Hub for Innovative Thermal Technology Maturation and Prototyping (HI-TTeMP) lab at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, provides engineers with thermal analysis of materials that may be a prototype or in an early developmental stage using a vacuum chamber, back left, and a conduction chamber, right. NASA/Ken Hall Engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, are currently testing how well prototype insulation for SpaceX’s Starship HLS will insulate interior environments, including propellant storage tanks and the crew cabin. Starship HLS will land astronauts on the lunar surface during Artemis III and Artemis IV.
Marshall’s Hub for Innovative Thermal Technology Maturation and Prototyping (HI-TTeMP) laboratory provides the resources and tools for an early, quick-check evaluation of insulation materials destined for Artemis deep space missions.
“Marshall’s HI-TTeMP lab gives us a key testing capability to help determine how well the current materials being designed for vehicles like SpaceX’s orbital propellant storage depot and Starship HLS, will insulate the liquid oxygen and methane propellants,” said HLS chief engineer Rene Ortega. “By using this lab and the expertise provided by the thermal engineers at Marshall, we are gaining valuable feedback earlier in the design and development process that will provide additional information before qualifying hardware for deep space missions.”
A peek inside the conductive test chamber at NASA Marshall’s HI-TTeMP lab where thermal engineers design, set up, execute, and analyze materials destined for deep space to better understand how they will perform in the cold near-vacuum of space. NASA/Ken Hall On the Moon, spaceflight hardware like Starship HLS will face extreme temperatures. On the Moon’s south pole during lunar night, temperatures can plummet to -370 degrees Fahrenheit (-223 degrees Celsius). Elsewhere in deep space temperatures can range from roughly 250 degrees Fahrenheit (120 degrees Celsius) in direct sunlight to just above absolute zero in the shadows.
There are two primary means of managing thermal conditions: active and passive. Passive thermal controls include materials such as insulation, white paint, thermal blankets, and reflective metals. Engineers can also design operational controls, such as pointing thermally sensitive areas of a spacecraft away from direct sunlight, to help manage extreme thermal conditions. Active thermal control measures that could be used include radiators or cryogenic coolers.
Engineers use two vacuum test chambers in the lab to simulate the heat transfer effects of the deep space environment and to evaluate the thermal properties of the materials. One chamber is used to understand radiant heat, which directly warms an object in its path, such as when heat from the Sun shines on it. The other test chamber evaluates conduction by isolating and measuring its heat transfer paths.
NASA engineers working in the HI-TTeMP lab not only design, set up, and run tests, they also provide insight and expertise in thermal engineering to assist NASA’s industry partners, such as SpaceX and other organizations, in validating concepts and models, or suggesting changes to designs. The lab is able to rapidly test and evaluate design updates or iterations.
NASA’s HLS Program, managed by NASA Marshall, is charged with safely landing astronauts on the Moon as part of Artemis. NASA has awarded contracts to SpaceX for landing services for Artemis III and IV and to Blue Origin for Artemis V. Both landing services providers plan to transfer super-cold propellant in space to send landers to the Moon with full tanks.
With Artemis, NASA will explore more of the Moon than ever before, learn how to live and work away from home, and prepare for future human exploration of Mars. NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, exploration ground systems, and Orion spacecraft, along with the HLS, next-generation spacesuits, Gateway lunar space station, and future rovers are NASA’s foundation for deep space exploration.
For more on HLS, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/human-landing-system
News Media Contact
Corinne Beckinger
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.544.0034
corinne.m.beckinger@nasa.gov
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By European Space Agency
In emergency evacuations, access to reliable information can mean the difference between life and death. As our world faces growing challenges from natural disasters and conflicts, the need for rapid, accurate data during evacuations is vital.
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By European Space Agency
Video: 00:02:18 At ESA, through the Advanced Research in Telecommunications Systems programme, we’re addressing solutions for when safety and security of communication services cannot be guaranteed by the terrestrial networks alone. With our programme Space systems for Safety and Security, or 4S, we are pioneering cutting-edge development of secure and resilient satellite communication systems, technologies and services to improve life on Earth.
Picture a world where our critical infrastructure is protected from cyber threats, and where communication links work when the world around them doesn't. A transportation network where safety is not just a priority, but a guarantee. Where air traffic flows completely efficiently, reliable and connected. Railways operate without interruption, and shipping can navigate safely and securely.
Imagine that our first responders are coordinating via seamless communications, and institutional agencies are acting rapidly and decisively when there's a crisis. All thanks to secure and safe satellite communication systems, orbiting above the planet. This is the future we're building with the 4S programme. A future where space systems safeguard our security, making sure that connectivity remains our greatest strength. Join us as we continue to push the boundaries of innovation.
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By NASA
Parallels between spaceflight and the aging process may extend to encompass frailty.
Figure Left: Venn diagram of differentially expressed frailty genes in rodent and human samples shows the common differentially expressed genes between the two species.
Figure Right: Schematic of the Inspiration4 experiments and samples.
This study relied on data from the OSDR, including 7 rodent spaceflight datasets, 2 human space analog datasets, astronaut data from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Inspiration4. Data on sarcopenia were mined from National Center for Biotechnology Information’s Gene Expression Omnibus. Spaceflight accelerates the symptoms of aging in astronaut bodies by inducing genomic instability, mitochondrial dysfunction, and increased inflammation. This is the first study to comprehensively examine biomarkers and pathways associated with spaceflight and terrestrial aging, frailty, and sarcopenia.
Main Findings:
Spaceflight induced notable changes in gene expression patterns related to frailty and muscle loss indicative of a frailty-like condition. Exposure to the space environment leads to changes related to inflammation, muscle wasting, and other age-related features observed in both mice and humans. Parallels between spaceflight and the aging process may extend to also encompass frailty. Impact: This work reveals the need for a frailty index to monitor development of frailty-related astronaut health risks during spaceflight. The results provide insights into potential avenues for developing countermeasures to combat frailty-related health risks for both astronauts and aging populations on Earth.
This study was part of the 44-article Space Omics and Medical Atlas (SOMA) package published in Nature. It demonstrates the effectiveness of open science combined with robust data submission, standards, and curation. The study began within and was organized through the Analysis Working Groups (AWGs) of NASA’s Open Science Data Repository (OSDR).
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