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By NASA
A Satellite for Optimal Control and Imaging (SOC-i) CubeSat awaits integration at Firefly’s Payload Processing Facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California on Thursday, June 6, 2024. SOC-i, along with several other CubeSats, will launch to space on an Alpha rocket during NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) 43 mission as part of the agency’s CubeSat Launch Initiative and Firefly’s Venture-Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 contract.NASA NASA is collaborating with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force to offer a set of hands-on learning engagements that will help higher education institutions, faculty, and students learn more about what it takes to build small satellites and enhance the potential to be selected for flight opportunities.
Teams selected for the University Nanosatellite Program Mission Concept 2025 Summer Series will receive systems engineering training that prepares them for the industrial workforce while developing small satellite expertise at U.S. universities. The program, which runs from May through August 2025, also enhances students’ potential to be selected for flights to space as part of NASA’s CSLI (CubeSat Launch Initiative) and the U.S. Air Force University Nanosatellite Program.
“Part of NASA’s mission is to inspire the next generation,” said Liam Cheney, CSLI mission manager at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. “The CubeSat Launch Initiative is providing opportunities for students and educators to experiment with technology and send their missions to space.”
The program allows faculty and students to form teams for the summer program without using university resources, and includes travel funding for kickoff, final event, and any in-person reviews, among other benefits.
All U.S colleges and universities are eligible, and teams at minority-serving institutions and Historically Black Colleges and Universities are strongly encouraged to apply for the Mission Concepts 2025 Summer Series in accordance with the criteria in the request for proposal. The solicitation opened on Jan. 6, with a deadline to apply by Monday, Feb. 3.
The agency’s collaboration with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force helps broaden access to space and strengthen the capabilities and knowledge of higher education institutions, faculty, and students.
NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative provides opportunities for CubeSats built by U.S. educational institutions, and non-profit organizations, including informal educational institutions such as museums and science centers to fly on upcoming launches. Through innovative technology partnerships NASA provides these CubeSat developers a low-cost pathway to conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations in space, thus enabling students, teachers, and faculty to obtain hands-on flight hardware design, development, and build experience.
For more information, visit: Solicitation – UNP
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By NASA
6 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
In-person participants L-R standing: Dave Francisco, Joanne Kaouk, Dr. Richard Moon, Dr. Tony Alleman, Dr. Sean Hardy, Sarah Childress, Kristin Coffey, Dr. Ed Powers, Dr. Doug Ebersole, Dr. Steven Laurie, Dr. Doug Ebert; L-R seated: Dr. Alejandro Garbino, Dr. Robert Sanders, Dr. Kristi Ray, Dr. Mike Gernhardt, Dr. Joseph Dervay, Dr. Matt Makowski). Not pictured: Dr. Caroline Fife In June 2024, the NASA Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer (OCHMO) Standards Team hosted an independent assessment working group to review the status and progress of research and clinical activities intended to mitigate the risk of decompression sickness (DCS) related to patent foramen ovale (PFO) during spaceflight and associated ground testing and human subject studies.
Decompression sickness (DCS) is a condition which results from dissolved gases (primarily nitrogen) forming bubbles in the bloodstream and tissues. It is usually experienced in conditions where there are rapid decreases in ambient pressure, such as in scuba divers, high-altitude aviation, or other pressurized environments. The evolved gas bubbles have various physiological effects and can obstruct the blood vessels, trigger inflammation, and damage tissue, resulting in symptoms of DCS. NASA presently classifies DCS into two categories: Type I DCS, which is less severe, typically leads to musculoskeletal symptoms including pain in the joints or muscles, or skin rash. Type II DCS is more severe and commonly results in neurological, inner ear, and cardiopulmonary symptoms. The risk of DCS in spaceflight presents during extravehicular activities (EVAs) in which astronauts perform mission tasks outside the spaceflight vehicle while wearing a pressurized suit at a lower pressure than the cabin pressure. DCS mitigation protocols based on strategies to reduce systemic nitrogen load are implemented through the combination of habitat environmental parameters, EVA suit pressure, and breathing gas procedures (prebreathe protocols) to achieve safe and effective mission operations. The pathophysiology of DCS has still not been fully elucidated since cases occur despite the absence of detected gas bubbles but includes right to left shunting of venous gas emboli (VGE) via several potential mechanisms, one of which is a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO).
From: Dr. Schochet & Dr. Lie, Pediatric Pulmonologists
Reference OCHMO-TB-037 Decompression Sickness (DCS) Risk Mitigation technical brief for additional information.
A PFO is a shunt between the right atrium and the left atrium of the heart, which is a persisting remnant of a physiological communication present in the fetal heart. Post-natal increases in left atrial pressure usually force the inter-septal valve against the septum secundum and within the first 2 years of life, the septae permanently fuse due to the development of fibrous adhesions. Thus, all humans are born with a PFO and approximately 75% of PFOs fuse following childbirth. For the 25% of the population’s whose PFOs do not fuse, ~6% have what is considered by some to be a large PFO (> 2 mm). PFO diameter can increase with age. The concern with PFOs is that with a right to left shunt between the atria, venous emboli gas may pass from the right atrium (venous) to the left atrium (arterial) (“shunt”), thus by-passing the normal lung filtration of venous emboli which prevent passage to the arterial system. Without filtration, bubbles in the arterial system may lead to a neurological event such as a stroke. Any activity that increases the right atrium/venous pressure over the left atrium/arterial pressure (such as a Valsalva maneuver, abdominal compression) may further enable blood and/or emboli across a PFO/shunt.
From: Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences
The purpose of this working group was to review and provide analysis on the status and progress of research and clinical activities intended to mitigate the risk of PFO and DCS issues during spaceflight. Identified cases of DCS during NASA exploration atmosphere ground testing conducted in pressurized chambers led to the prioritization of the given topic for external review. The main goals of the working group included:
Quantification of any increased risk associated with the presence of a PFO during decompression protocols utilized in ground testing and spaceflight EVAs, as well as unplanned decompressions (e.g., cabin depressurization, EVA suit leak). Describe risks and benefits of PFO screening in astronaut candidates, current crewmembers, and chamber test subjects. What are potential risk reduction measures that could be considered if a person was believed to be at increased risk of DCS due to a PFO? What research and/or technology development is recommended that could help inform and/or mitigate PFO-related DCS risk? The working group took place over two days at NASA’s Johnson Space Center and included NASA subject matter experts and stakeholders, as well as invited external reviewers from areas including cardiology, hypobaric medicine, spaceflight medicine, and military occupational health. During the working group, participants were asked to review past reports and evidence related to PFOs and risk of DCS, materials and information regarding NASA’s current experience and practices, and case studies and subsequent decision-making processes. The working group culminated in an open-forum discussion where recommendations for current and future practices were conferred and subsequently summarized in a final summary report, available on the public NASA OCHMO Standards Team website.
The following key findings are the main take-aways from the OCHMO independent assessment:
In an extreme exposure/high-risk scenario, excluding individuals with a PFO and treating PFOs does not necessarily decrease the risk of DCS or create a ‘safe’ environment. It may create incremental differences and slightly reduce overall risk but does not make the risk zero. There are other physiological factors that also contribute to the risk of DCS that may have a larger impact (see 7.0 Other Physiological Factors in the findings section). Based on the available evidence and the risk of current decompression exposures (based on current NASA protocols and NASA-STD-3001 requirements to limit the risk of DCS), it is not recommended to screen for PFOs in any spaceflight or ground testing participants. The best strategy to reduce the risk of DCS is to create as safe an environment as possible in every scenario, through effective prebreathe protocols, safety, and the capability to rapidly treat DCS should symptoms occur. Based on opinion, no specific research is required at this time to further characterize PFOs with DCS and altitude exposure, due to the low risk and preference to institute adequate safe protocols and ensuring treatment availability both on the ground and in spaceflight. For engineering protocols conducted on the ground, it should be ensured that the same level of treatment capability (treatment chamber in the immediate vicinity of the testing) is provided as during research protocols. The ability to immediately treat a DCS case is critical in ensuring the safety of the test subjects. The full summary report includes detailed background information, discussion points from the working group, and conclusions and recommendations. The findings from the working group and resulting summary report will help to inform key stakeholders in decision-making processes for future ground testing and spaceflight operations with the main goal of protecting crew health and safety to ensure overall mission success.
Summary Report About the Author
Sarah D. Childress
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Last Updated Dec 31, 2024 Related Terms
Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer (OCHMO) Human Health and Performance Humans in Space International Space Station (ISS) Explore More
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By European Space Agency
On 4 December 2024, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) signed an agreement that will see ESA provide ground station support to the missions in ISRO’s Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme.
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By NASA
4 min read
Expanded AI Model with Global Data Enhances Earth Science Applications
On June 22, 2013, the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8 captured this false-color image of the East Peak fire burning in southern Colorado near Trinidad. Burned areas appear dark red, while actively burning areas look orange. Dark green areas are forests; light green areas are grasslands. Data from Landsat 8 were used to train the Prithvi artificial intelligence model, which can help detect burn scars. NASA Earth Observatory NASA, IBM, and Forschungszentrum Jülich have released an expanded version of the open-source Prithvi Geospatial artificial intelligence (AI) foundation model to support a broader range of geographical applications. Now, with the inclusion of global data, the foundation model can support tracking changes in land use, monitoring disasters, and predicting crop yields worldwide.
The Prithvi Geospatial foundation model, first released in August 2023 by NASA and IBM, is pre-trained on NASA’s Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2 (HLS) dataset and learns by filling in masked information. The model is available on Hugging Face, a data science platform where machine learning developers openly build, train, deploy, and share models. Because NASA releases data, products, and research in the open, businesses and commercial entities can take these models and transform them into marketable products and services that generate economic value.
“We’re excited about the downstream applications that are made possible with the addition of global HLS data to the Prithvi Geospatial foundation model. We’ve embedded NASA’s scientific expertise directly into these foundation models, enabling them to quickly translate petabytes of data into actionable insights,” said Kevin Murphy, NASA chief science data officer. “It’s like having a powerful assistant that leverages NASA’s knowledge to help make faster, more informed decisions, leading to economic and societal benefits.”
AI foundation models are pre-trained on large datasets with self-supervised learning techniques, providing flexible base models that can be fine-tuned for domain-specific downstream tasks.
Crop classification prediction generated by NASA and IBM’s open-source Prithvi Geospatial artificial intelligence model. Focusing on diverse land use and ecosystems, researchers selected HLS satellite images that represented various landscapes while avoiding lower-quality data caused by clouds or gaps. Urban areas were emphasized to ensure better coverage, and strict quality controls were applied to create a large, well-balanced dataset. The final dataset is significantly larger than previous versions, offering improved global representation and reliability for environmental analysis. These methods created a robust and representative dataset, ideal for reliable model training and analysis.
The Prithvi Geospatial foundation model has already proven valuable in several applications, including post-disaster flood mapping and detecting burn scars caused by fires.
One application, the Multi-Temporal Cloud Gap Imputation, leverages the foundation model to reconstruct the gaps in satellite imagery caused by cloud cover, enabling a clearer view of Earth’s surface over time. This approach supports a variety of applications, including environmental monitoring and agricultural planning.
Another application, Multi-Temporal Crop Segmentation, uses satellite imagery to classify and map different crop types and land cover across the United States. By analyzing time-sequenced data and layering U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Crop Data, Prithvi Geospatial can accurately identify crop patterns, which in turn could improve agricultural monitoring and resource management on a large scale.
The flood mapping dataset can classify flood water and permanent water across diverse biomes and ecosystems, supporting flood management by training models to detect surface water.
Wildfire scar mapping combines satellite imagery with wildfire data to capture detailed views of wildfire scars shortly after fires occurred. This approach provides valuable data for training models to map fire-affected areas, aiding in wildfire management and recovery efforts.
Burn scar mapping generated by NASA and IBM’s open-source Prithvi Geospatial artificial intelligence model. This model has also been tested with additional downstream applications including estimation of gross primary productivity, above ground biomass estimation, landslide detection, and burn intensity estimations.
“The updates to this Prithvi Geospatial model have been driven by valuable feedback from users of the initial version,” said Rahul Ramachandran, AI foundation model for science lead and senior data science strategist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “This enhanced model has also undergone rigorous testing across a broader range of downstream use cases, ensuring improved versatility and performance, resulting in a version of the model that will empower diverse environmental monitoring applications, delivering significant societal benefits.”
The Prithvi Geospatial Foundation Model was developed as part of an initiative of NASA’s Office of the Chief Science Data Officer to unlock the value of NASA’s vast collection of science data using AI. NASA’s Interagency Implementation and Advanced Concepts Team (IMPACT), based at Marshall, IBM Research, and the Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Forschungszentrum, Jülich, designed the foundation model on the supercomputer Jülich Wizard for European Leadership Science (JUWELS), operated by Jülich Supercomputing Centre. This collaboration was facilitated by IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society.
For more information about NASA’s strategy of developing foundation models for science, visit https://science.nasa.gov/artificial-intelligence-science.
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Last Updated Dec 04, 2024 Related Terms
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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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