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By NASA
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NASA has announced the winners of it’s 31st Human Exploration Rover Challenge . The annual engineering competition – one of the agency’s longest standing student challenges – wrapped up on April 11 and April 12, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA NASA has announced the winning student teams in the 2025 Human Exploration Rover Challenge. This year’s competition challenged teams to design, build, and test a lunar rover powered by either human pilots or remote control. In the human-powered division, Parish Episcopal School in Dallas, Texas, earned first place in the high school division, and the Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina, captured the college and university title. In the remote-control division, Bright Foundation in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, earned first place in the middle and high school division, and the Instituto Tecnologico de Santa Domingo in the Dominican Republic, captured the college and university title.
The annual engineering competition – one of NASA’s longest standing student challenges – wrapped up on April 11 and April 12, at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The complete list of 2025 award winners is provided below:
Human-Powered High School Division
First Place: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas Second Place: Ecambia High School, Pensacola, Florida Third Place: Centro Boliviano Americano – Santa Cruz, Bolivia Human-Powered College/University Division
First Place: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina Second Place: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Third Place: University of Alabama in Huntsville Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division
First Place: Bright Foundation, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada Second Place: Assumption College, Brangrak, Bangkok, Thailand Third Place: Erie High School, Erie, Colorado Remote-Control College/University Division
First Place: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Second Place: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina Third Place: Tecnologico de Monterey – Campus Cuernvaca, Xochitepec, Morelos, Mexico Ingenuity Award
Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada Phoenix Award
Human-Powered High School Division: International Hope School of Bangladesh, Uttara, Dhaka, Bangladesh College/University Division: Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Bright Foundation, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada College/University Division: Southwest Oklahoma State University, Weatherford, Oklahoma Task Challenge Award
Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Assumption College, Bangrak, Bangkok, Thailand College/University Division: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Project Review Award
Human-Powered High School Division: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas College/University Division: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Bright Foundation, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada College/University Division: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Featherweight Award
Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina Safety Award
Human-Powered High School Division: Parish Episcopal School, Dallas, Texas College/University Division: University of Alabama in Huntsville Crash and Burn Award
Universidad de Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico (Human-Powered Division) Team Spirit Award
Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (Human-Powered Division) STEM Engagement Award
Human-Powered High School Division: Albertville Innovation School, Albertville, Alabama College/University Division: Instituto Tecnologico de Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Instituto Salesiano Don Bosco, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic College/University Division: Tecnologico de Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico Social Media Award
Human-Powered High School Division: International Hope School of Bagladesh, Uttara, Dhaka, Bangladesh College/University Division: Universidad Catolica Boliviana “San Pablo” La Paz, Bolivia Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: ATLAS SkillTech University, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India College/University Division: Instituto Salesiano Don Bosco, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Most Improved Performance Award
Human-Powered High School Division: Space Education Institute, Leipzig, Germany College/University Division: Purdue University Northwest, Hammond, Indiana Remote-Control Middle School/High School Division: Erie High School, Erie, Colorado College/University Division: Campbell University, Buies Creek, North Carolina Pit Crew Award
Human-Powered High School Division: Academy of Arts, Career, and Technology, Reno, Nevada College/University Division: Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada Artemis Educator Award
Fabion Diaz Palacious from Universidad Catolica Boliviana “San Pablo” La Paz, Bolivia Rookie of the Year
Deira International School, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
More than 500 students with 75 teams from around the world participated in the 31st year of the competition. Participating teams represented 35 colleges and universities, 38 high schools, and two middle schools from 20 states, Puerto Rico, and 16 other nations. Teams were awarded points based on navigating a half-mile obstacle course, conducting mission-specific task challenges, and completing multiple safety and design reviews with NASA engineers.
NASA expanded the 2025 challenge to include a remote-control division, Remote-Operated Vehicular Research, and invited middle school students to participate.
“This student design challenge encourages the next generation of scientists and engineers to engage in the design process by providing innovative concepts and unique perspectives,” said Vemitra Alexander, who leads the challenge for NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall. “This challenge also continues NASA’s legacy of providing valuable experiences to students who may be responsible for planning future space missions, including crewed missions to other worlds.”
The rover challenge is one of NASA’s eight Artemis Student Challenges reflecting the goals of the Artemis campaign, which will land Americans on the Moon while establishing a long-term presence for science and exploration, preparing for future human missions to Mars. NASA uses such challenges to encourage students to pursue degrees and careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The competition is managed by NASA’s Southeast Regional Office of STEM Engagement at Marshall. Since its inception in 1994, more than 15,000 students have participated – with many former students now working at NASA, or within the aerospace industry.
To learn more about the Human Exploration Rover Challenge, please visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/roverchallenge/home/index.html
News Media Contact
Taylor Goodwin
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.544.0034
taylor.goodwin@nasa.gov
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By NASA
Deputy Integration and Testing Manager – Goddard Space Flight Center
Mike Drury began at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, as a temporary technician — a contractor hired for six weeks to set up High Capacity Centrifuge tests. Six weeks then turned into three months and, eventually, over 40 years.
Mike Drury, the deputy integration and testing manager for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, stands inside a clean room in front of Roman’s primary support structure and propulsion system. The “bunny suit” that he’s wearing protects the telescope from contaminants like dust, hair, and skin.NASA/Chris Gunn Now, Mike is the deputy integration and testing manager for NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. In this role, Mike oversees both Roman’s assembly and the many verification processes that ensure it is ready for launch.
“It’s a privilege to work here. There’s really no regrets,” Mike says. “This is a big place, and it is what you make it. You can really spread your wings and go into a lot of different areas and do different things.”
When Mike first began at Goddard, only government-employed technicians could work on space flight hardware. However, times were changing. The “old-timers,” as Mike affectionately calls them, soon began training a small group of contractors, including Mike, for flight hardware work. Mike credits these “old-timers” for the mindset he still carries decades later.
“They taught me how to approach things and execute, and that helped me through my entire career,” Mike says. “It’s that approach — making sure things are done right, without cutting any corners — that I always liked about working here.”
Not everyone can say that they worked on space missions while in college, but Mike can. Mike took advantage of a program through his contract that paid for classes. For 10 years, Mike studied at Anne Arundel Community College while continuing full-time work at Goddard, eventually earning an associate’s degree in mathematics.
While in community college, Mike also stocked up on several physics and calculus credits which helped prepare him to study thermal engineering at Johns Hopkins University. After seven more years of night classes, Mike completed a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.
“Night school was really difficult between full-time work and traveling because I was working on several missions,” Mike says. “You needed that perseverance to just keep going and working away at it. So I just hung in there.”
In this 1989 picture, Mike works on NASA’s BBXRT (Broad Band X-ray Telescope) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. BBXRT flew on the space shuttle Columbia in 1990.NASA In his 17 years of night school, Mike worked on seven missions, expanding his skill set from test set-up, to clean room tech work, to training astronauts. While working on the Hubble Space Telescope, Mike helped to train astronauts for their in-orbit tech work to install various instruments.
“Every mission I’ve worked on I’ve learned something,” Mike says. “Every test you learn more and more about other disciplines.”
After graduating from Johns Hopkins, Mike worked for a short time as an engineer before becoming an integration supervisor. In 2006, Mike took on the position of James Webb Space Telescope ISIM (Integrated Science Instrument Module) integration and test manager. After Webb’s ISIM was integrated with the Optical Telescope Element, Mike became the OTIS (Optical Telescope Element and Integrated Science Instrument Module) integration and testing manager.
“It was a tough eight to 10 years of work,” Mike says. “Loading the OTIS into the shipping container to be sent to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for further testing was a great accomplishment.”
To ensure that Webb’s ISIM would thrive in space, Mike was involved in more than three months of round-the-clock thermal vacuum testing. During this time, a blizzard stranded Mike and others on-site at Goddard for three days. Mike spent his nights overseeing thermal vacuum tests and his days driving test directors and operators to their nearby hotel rooms with his four-wheel-drive truck — a winter storm savior in short supply.
In this 1992 picture, Mike works alongside another technician on DXS (Diffuse X-Ray Spectrometer) in the shuttle bay at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. DXS was a University of Wisconsin-Madison experiment flown during the January 1993 flight of NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavor.NASA For Mike, the hard work behind space missions is well worth it.
“As humans, we want to discover new things and see things. That’s what keeps me coming back — the thought of discovery and space flight,” Mike says. “I get excited talking to some of the Hubble or Webb scientists about the discoveries they’ve made. They answer questions but they also find themselves asking new ones.”
Some of these new questions opened by Hubble and Webb will be addressed by Mike’s current project — Roman.
“This team I would say is the best I’ve ever worked with. I say that because it’s the Goddard family. Everyone here on Roman has the same agenda, and that’s a successful, on-time launch,” Mike says. “My ultimate goal is to be staying on the beach in Florida after watching Roman blast off. That would be all the icing on the cake.”
Mike is also focusing on laying the groundwork for the next era at Goddard. He works hard to instill a sense of import, intention, and precision in his successors, just as the “old-timers” instilled in him 40 years ago.
“I talk to a lot of my colleagues that I’ve worked with for years, and we’re all excited to hand it off to the next generation,” Mike says. “It’s so exciting to see. I’m the old guy now.”
By Laine Havens
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
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By NASA
NASA has selected 12 student teams to develop solutions for storing and transferring the super-cold liquid propellants needed for future long-term exploration beyond Earth orbit.
The agency’s 2025 Human Lander Challenge is designed to inspire and engage the next generation of engineers and scientists as NASA and its partners prepare to send astronauts to the Moon through the Artemis campaign in preparation for future missions to Mars. The commercial human landing systems will serve as the primary mode of transportation that will safely take astronauts and, later, large cargo from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon and back.
For its second year, the competition invites university students and their faculty advisors to develop innovative, “cooler” solutions for in-space cryogenic, or super cold, liquid propellant storage and transfer systems. These cryogenic fluids, like liquid hydrogen or liquid oxygen, must stay extremely cold to remain in a liquid state, and the ability to effectively store and transfer them in space will be increasingly vital for future long-duration missions. Current technology allows cryogenic liquids to be stored for a relatively short amount of time, but future missions will require these systems to function effectively over several hours, weeks, and even months.
The 12 selected finalists have been awarded a $9,250 development stipend to further develop their concepts in preparation for the next stage of the competition.
The 2025 Human Lander Challenge finalist teams are:
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, “THERMOSPRING: Thermal Exchange Reduction Mechanism using Optimized SPRING” Colorado School of Mines, “MAST: Modular Adaptive Support Technology” Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, “Electrical Capacitance to High-resolution Observation (ECHO)” Jacksonville University, “Cryogenic Complex: Cryogenic Tanks and Storage Systems – on the Moon and Cislunar Orbit” Jacksonville University, “Cryogenic Fuel Storage and Transfer: The Human Interface – Monitoring and Mitigating Risks” Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “THERMOS: Translunar Heat Rejection and Mixing for Orbital Sustainability” Old Dominion University, “Structural Tensegrity for Optimized Retention in Microgravity (STORM)” Texas A&M University, “Next-generation Cryogenic Transfer and Autonomous Refueling (NeCTAR)” The College of New Jersey, “Cryogenic Orbital Siphoning System (CROSS)” The Ohio State University, “Autonomous Magnetized Cryo-Couplers with Active Alignment Control for Propellant Transfer (AMCC-AAC) University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, “Efficient Cryogenic Low Invasive Propellant Supply Exchange (ECLIPSE)” Washington State University, “CRYPRESS Coupler for Liquid Hydrogen Transfer” Finalist teams will now work to submit a technical paper further detailing their concepts. They will present their work to a panel of NASA and industry judges at the 2025 Human Lander Competition Forum in Huntsville, Alabama, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, in June 2025. The top three placing teams will share a total prize purse of $18,000.
“By engaging college students in solving critical challenges in cryogenic fluid technologies and systems-level solutions, NASA fosters a collaborative environment where academic research meets practical application,” said Tiffany Russell Lockett, office manager for the Human Landing System Mission Systems Management Office at NASA Marshall. “This partnership not only accelerates cryogenics technology development but also prepares the Artemis Generation – the next generation of engineers and scientists – to drive future breakthroughs in spaceflight.”
NASA’s Human Lander Challenge is sponsored by the agency’s Human Landing System Program within the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate and managed by the National Institute of Aerospace.
For more information on NASA’s 2025 Human Lander Challenge, including team progress, visit the challenge website.
News Media Contact
Corinne Beckinger
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256.544.0034
corinne.m.beckinger@nasa.gov
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By NASA
5 Min Read NASA Langley’s Legacy of Landing
The first image of the Moon taken by the cameras on the Lunar Orbiter in 1966. Credits: NASA Landing safely on the surface of another planetary body, like the Moon or Mars, is one of the most important milestones of any given space mission. From the very beginning, NASA’s Langley Research Center has been at the heart of the entry, descent and landing (EDL) research that enables our exploration. Today, NASA Langley’s legacy of landing continues at the forefront of present day lunar missions and as NASA prepares for future travel to more distant worlds.
Project Mercury: 1958
Project Mercury was the United States’ first human-in-space program, led by NASA’s Space Task Group located at NASA Langley. There were five major programs of study and experimentation.
An airdrop study that helped us understand the characteristics of the Mercury capsule as it returned to Earth. A group of study focused on the escape systems, ultimately becoming known as the launch abort system. Exhaustive wind-tunnel studies of the blunt-nosed capsule design and its aerodynamic stability at various altitudes and speeds and angles of reentry, all with a focus on making the capsule safe and stable. A study on the problem of landing impact, resulting in the development of absorption systems that minimized the shock of impact to the capsule’s pilot. Studies into the use of drogue parachutes and their characteristics at high altitudes and speeds, ensuring that they would be able to stabilize and slow the capsule’s descent for a safe landing. All of this research went on to inform the subsequent Gemini and Apollo programs. All of this research went on to inform the subsequent Gemini and Apollo programs.
Apollo Program: 1962
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy committed to putting Americans on the surface of the Moon and shortly after that historic declaration, NASA’s Apollo program was born. In the years that followed, the original team of NASA astronauts completed their basic training at NASA Langley’s Lunar Landing Research Facility (LLRF). When Apollo 11 successfully landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969, NASA Langley had played a pivotal role in the monumental success.
Lunar Orbiter: 1966
The Lunar Orbiter missions launched with the purpose of mapping the lunar surface and identifying potential landing sites ahead of the Apollo landings. From 1966 to 1967, the five successful Lunar Orbiter missions, led and managed by Langley Research Center, resulted in 99% of the moon photographed and a suitable site selected for the upcoming human landings.
Viking: 1976
After the success of Apollo, NASA set its sights further across the solar system to Mars. Two Viking missions aimed to successfully place landers on the Red Planet and capture high resolution images of the Martian surfaces, assisting in the search for life. Langley Research Center was chosen to lead this inaugural Mars mission and went on to play key roles in the missions to Mars that followed.
HIAD: 2009 – Present
Successful landings on Mars led to more ambitious dreams of landing larger payloads, including those that could support future human exploration. In order to land those payloads safely, a new style of heat shield would be needed. Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) technology was positioned as an answer to the payload problem, enabling missions to use inflatable heat shields to slow down and protect a payload as it enters a planet’s atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.
IRVE – 2009-2012
Two successful Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiments (IRVE) proved the capability of inflatable heat shield technology and opened the door for larger iterations.
LOFTID – 2022
The Low Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) followed in the footsteps of its predecessor IRVE with a larger aeroshell that could be deployed to a scale much larger than the shroud. The 2022 successful test of this technology further proved the capability of HIAD technology.
MEDLI 1 and 2: 2012 & 2020
As a part of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission, NASA Langley’s Mars Entry, Descent and Landing Instrument (MEDLI) was designed to gather data from the MSL entry vehicle’s heatshield during its entry and descent to the surface of Mars. MEDLI2 expanded on that groundbreaking data during the Mars 2020 mission which safely landed the Perseverance rover after successfully entering the planet’s arid atmosphere, and enabling improvements on the design for future entry systems.
Curiosity Rover
Curiosity was the largest and most capable rover ever sent to Mars when it launched in 2011. Leading up the mission, Langley engineers performed millions of simulations of the entry, descent and landing phase — or the so-called “Seven Minutes of Terror” — that determines success or failure. Curiosity continues to look for signs that Mars once was – or still is – a habitable place for life as we know it.
CLPS: 2023 – Present
The Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative takes the Artemis mission further by working with commercial partners to advance the technology needed to return humans to the Moon and enable humanity to explore Mars.
NDL
Navigation Doppler Lidar (NDL) technology, developed at Langley Research Center, uses lasers to assist spacecraft in identifying safe locations to land. In 2024, NDL flew on the Intuitive Machines’ uncrewed Nova-C lander, with its laser instruments designed to measure velocity and altitude to within a few feet. While NASA planetary landers have traditionally relied on radar and used radio waves, NDL technology has proven more accurate and less heavy, both major benefits for cost and space savings as we continue to pursue planetary missions.
SCALPSS
Like Lunar Orbiter and the Viking missions before it, Stereo Cameras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS) set out to better understand the surface of another celestial body. These cameras affixed to the bottom of a lunar lander focus on the interaction between the lander’s rocket plumes and the lunar surface. The SCALPSS 1.1 instrument captured first-of-its-kind imagery as the engine plumes of Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander reached the Moon’s surface. These images will serve as key pieces of data as trips to the Moon increase in the coming years.
About the Author
Angelique Herring
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Last Updated Apr 03, 2025 EditorAngelique HerringContactJoseph Scott Atkinsonjoseph.s.atkinson@nasa.govLocationNASA Langley Research Center Related Terms
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By NASA
5 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
In-person participants (L-R) – Back row: Jason Lytle, Stuart Lee, Eric Bershad, Ashot Sargsyan, Aaron Everson, Philip Wells, Sergi Vaquer Araujo, Steven Grover, John A. Heit, Mehdi Shishehbor, Laura Bostick; Middle row: Sarah Childress Taoufik, Stephan Moll, Brandon Macias, Kristin Coffey, Ann-Kathrin Vlacil, Dave Francisco; Front row: James Pavela, Doug Ebert, Kathleen McMonigal, Esther Kim, Emma Hwang; Not pictured: Tyson Brunstetter, J. D. Polk
Online participants: Stephen Alamo, Mark Crowther, Steven Nissen, Mark Rosenberg, Jeffrey Weitz, R. Eugene Zierler, Serena Aunon, Tina Bayuse, Laura Beachy, Becky Brocato, Daniel Buckland, Jackie Charvat, Diana Cruz Topete, Quinn Dufurrena, Robert Haddon, Joanne Kaouk, Kim Lowe, Steve Laurie, Karina Marshall-Goebel, Sara Mason, Shannan Moynihan, James Pattarini, Devan Petersen, Ruth Reitzel, Donna Roberts, Lucia Roccaro, Mike Stenger, Terry Taddeo, Gavin Travers, Mary Van Baalen, Liz WarrenNASA In October 2024, NASA’s Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer (OCHMO) initiated a working group to review the status and progress of research and clinical activities intended to mitigate the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) during spaceflight. The working group took place over two days at NASA’s Johnson Space Center; a second meeting on the topic was held in December 2024 at the European Space Agency (ESA) facility in Cologne, Germany.
Read More about the Risk of VTE The working group was assembled from internal NASA subject matter experts (SMEs), the NASA OCHMO Standards Team, NASA and ESA stakeholders, and external SMEs, including physicians and medical professionals from leading universities and medical centers in the United States and Canada.
Background
Spaceflight Venous Thrombosis (SVT)
Spaceflight Venous Thrombosis (SVT) refers to a phenomenon experienced during spaceflight in which a thrombus (blood clot) forms in the internal jugular vein (and/or associated vasculature) that may be symptomatic (thrombus accompanied by, but not limited to, visible internal jugular vein swelling, facial edema beyond “nominal” spaceflight adaptation, eyelid edema, and/or headache) or asymptomatic. Obstructive thrombi have been identified in a very small number of crewmembers, as shown in the figure below.
Note that the figure below is for illustrative purposes only; locations are approximate, and size is not to scale.
Approximate location of identified thrombi in crewmembers.Source: Modified from Cerebral Sinus Venous Thrombosis – University of Colorado Denver With treatment, crewmembers were able to complete their mission, and anticoagulants were discontinued several days prior to landing to minimize the risk of bleeding in the event of a traumatic injury. Some thromboses completely resolved post landing, and some required additional treatment.
Pathophysiology of Venous Thromboembolism (VTE)
The proposed pathogenesis of VTE is referred to as Virchow’s triad and suggests that VTE occurs as the result of:
Alterations in blood flow (i.e., stasis), Vascular endothelial injury/changes, and/or, Alterations in the constituents of the blood leading to hypercoagulability (i.e., hereditary predisposition or acquired hypercoagulability). Note: pathophysiology are the changes that occur during a disease process; hypercoagulability is the increased tendency to develop blood to clots.
The Virchow’s triad of risk factors for venous thrombosis.Bouchnita, 2017 Blood stasis, or venous stasis, refers to a condition in which the blood flow in the veins slows down which leads to pooling in the veins. This slowing of the blood may be due to vein valves becoming damaged or weak, immobility, and/or the absence of muscular contractions. Associated symptoms include swelling, skin changes, varicose veins, and slow-healing sores or ulcers. In terrestrial medicine, venous thrombosis is typically caused by damaged or weakened vein valves, which can be due to many factors, including aging, blood clots, varicose veins, obesity, pregnancy, sedentary lifestyle, estrogen use, and hereditary predisposition.
Spaceflight Considerations
Altered Venous Blood Flow and Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome
In addition to the terrestrial risk factors of VTE, there are physiological changes associated with spaceflight that are hypothesized to potentially play a role in the development of VTE in weightlessness. Specifically, researchers have explored the effects of the microgravity environment and subsequent observed headward fluid shifts that occur, and the potential impact on blood flow. Crewmembers onboard the International Space Station (ISS) experience weightlessness due to the microgravity environment and thus experience a sustained redistribution of bodily fluids from the legs toward the head. The prolonged headward fluid shifts during weightlessness results in facial puffiness, decreased leg volume, increased cardiac stroke volume, and decreased plasma volume.
Crewmembers have also experienced altered blood flow during spaceflight, including retrograde venous blood flow (RVBF) (the backflow of venous blood towards the brain) or stasis (a stoppage or slowdown in the flow of blood). While the causes of the observed stasis and retrograde blood flow in spaceflight participants is not well understood, the potential clinical significance of the role it may have in the development of thrombus formation warrants further investigation.
Doppler imaging of a retrograde flow in the left internal jugular vein.Yan & Seow, 2009 Other physiological concerns affected by fluid shifts are being studied to consider if any relation to VTE exists. Chronic weightlessness can cause bodily fluids such as blood and cerebrospinal fluid to move toward the head, which can lead to optic nerve swelling, folds in the retina, flattening of the back of the eye, and swelling in the brain. This collection of eye and brain changes is called “spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome,” or SANS. Some astronauts only experience mild changes in space, while others have clinically significant outcomes. The long-term health outcome from these changes is unknown but actively being investigated. The risk of developing SANS is higher during longer-duration missions and remains a top research priority for scientists ahead of a Mars mission.
Conclusions and Further Work
Based on expert opinion and the assessment of the risk factors for thrombosis, an algorithm was developed to provide guidance for in-mission assessment and treatment of thrombus formation in weightlessness. The algorithm is based on early in-flight ultrasound testing to determine the flow characteristic of the left internal jugular vein and associated vasculature.
NASA Working Group Recommendations
The working group recommended several areas for further investigation to assess feasibility and potential to mitigate the risk of thrombosis in spaceflight:
Improved detection capabilities to identify when a thrombus has formed in-flight, Pathophysiology/factors leading to thrombi formation during spaceflight, Countermeasures and treatment
For more information on the working group meeting and a complete list of references, please see the Risk of Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) During Spaceflight Summary Report.
Risk of Venous Thromboembolism (VTE) During Spaceflight Summary Report Share
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Last Updated Mar 14, 2025 EditorKim Lowe Related Terms
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