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By Space Force
The changes are part of an ongoing effort to streamline and modernize Total Force enlisted development following the separation of DAFI 36-2670, Total Force Development, into more specialized instructions.
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By NASA
NASA has selected four new crew members to participate in the final simulated mission to Mars in 2024 inside the agency’s Human Exploration Research Analog. From left are Kristen Magas, Anderson Wilder, Obaid Alsuwaidi, and Tiffany Snyder.Credit: C7M4 Crew NASA selected a crew of four research volunteers to participate in its last simulated mission to Mars in 2024 within a habitat at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Obaid Alsuwaidi, Kristen Magas, Tiffany Snyder, and Anderson Wilder will step into the 650-square-foot HERA (Human Exploration Research Analog) facility on Friday, Nov. 1. Once inside, the team will live and work like astronauts for 45 days. The crew will exit the facility on Monday, Dec. 16, after simulating their return to Earth. Jordan Hundley and Robert Wilson also were named as alternate crew members.
Scientists use HERA studies to examine how crew members adapt to isolation, confinement, and remote conditions before NASA sends astronauts on deep space missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond. The studies provide data about human health and performance in an enclosed environment over time with crews facing different challenges and tasks.
The four volunteers will carry out scientific research and operational tasks throughout their simulated mission, including raising shrimp, growing vegetables, and “walking” on the surface of Mars using virtual reality. They will also experience communication delays lasting up to five minutes as they “near” Mars, allowing researchers to see how crews may respond to the type of delays astronauts will encounter in deep space. Astronauts traveling to the Red Planet may encounter one-way communication delays lasting as long as 20 minutes.
As with the previous HERA missions, crew members will conduct 18 human health studies during the mission through NASA’s Human Research Program. Collectively, the work helps scientists understand how a spaceflight-like environment contributes to the physiological, behavioral, and psychological health of crew members. Insights gleaned from the studies will allow researchers to develop and test strategies aimed at helping astronauts overcome obstacles on deep space missions.
Primary Crew
Obaid Alsuwaidi
Obaid Alsuwaidi serves as captain engineer for the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Ministry of Defense. In this role, he provides guidance in civil and marine engineering and addresses challenges facing the organization. Previously, Alsuwaidi worked as a project manager for the defense ministry, helping to streamline productivity, establish high standards of professionalism, and build a team of experts to serve the UAE’s needs.
Alsuwaidi earned a bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Western Sydney University in Australia, followed by a master’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from George Washington University in Washington.
In his free time, Alsuwaidi enjoys horseback riding, swimming, and running.
Kristen Magas
Kristen Magas is an educator and engineer, currently teaching at Tri-County Regional Vocational Technical High School in Franklin, Massachusetts. She also mentors students involved in a NASA design and prototyping program, helping them develop and fabricate products to improve life in space on both International Space Station and Artemis missions. Magas was a finalist for the 2025 Massachusetts State Teacher of the Year.
Magas received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She also holds a master’s degree in Vocational Education from Westfield State University in Massachusetts. She has worked as a community college professor as well as a design engineer in municipal water and wastewater treatment.
In her spare time, Magas enjoys coaching robotics and track and field, hiking, biking, and staying connected with her community. She has two children and resides in North Attleboro, Massachusetts with her husband of 25 years.
Tiffany Snyder
Tiffany Snyder is a supervisor for the Cybersecurity Mission Integration Office at NASA, helping to ensure agency missions are shielded against cybersecurity threats. She has more than 20 years of information technology and cybersecurity experience, working with the Air National Guard and as a special agent with the Defense Counterintelligence Security Agency. She joined NASA in 2018 as an IT specialist, and later served as the deputy chief information security officer at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, providing cybersecurity oversight.
Snyder holds a bachelor’s degree in Earth Science from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a master’s degree in Digital Forensics from the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
In her spare time, she enjoys playing with her dogs — Artemis and Apollo, gardening, running, and visiting the beach with her family.
Anderson Wilder
Anderson Wilder is a Florida Institute of Technology graduate student working on his doctorate in Psychology. His research focuses on team resiliency and human-machine interactions. He also works in the campus’s neuroscience lab, investigating how spaceflight contributes to neurobehavioral changes in astronauts.
Wilder previously served as an executive officer and engineer for an analog mission at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah. There, he performed studies related to crew social dynamics, plant growth, and geology.
Wilder received his bachelor’s degrees in Linguistics and in Psychology from Ohio State University in Columbus. He also holds master’s degrees in Space Studies from International Space University in Strasbourg, France, and in Aviation Human Factors from the Florida Institute of Technology. He is completing another master’s degree in Cognitive Experimental Psychology at Cleveland State University in Ohio.
Outside of school, Wilder works as a parabolic flight coach, teaching people how to fly in reduced gravity environments. He also enjoys chess, reading, video games, skydiving, and scuba diving. On a recent dive, he explored a submerged section of the Great Wall of China.
Alternate Crew
Jordan Hundley
Jordan Hundley is a senior consultant at a professional services firm, offering federal agencies technical and programmatic support. Prior to his current position, he focused on U.S. Department of Defense clients, performing model-based system engineering and serving as a subject matter expert for related operations.
Hundley was commissioned into the U.S. Air Force through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. While on active duty, he served as an intercontinental ballistic missile operations officer. He later joined the U.S. Air Force Reserve. Currently, he is a space operations officer with experience in space battle management and electromagnetic warfare.
Hundley earned a master’s degree in Engineering Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida. He is currently pursuing a second master’s degree in Systems Engineering at the university.
Hundley holds a private pilot license and is a certified rescue diver. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking and camping, researching theology, and learning musical instruments.
Robert Wilson
Robert Wilson is a senior researcher and project manager at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. He leads work enhancing human-machine collaborations, developing human prediction models, and integrating that technology into virtual reality and robotic systems designed to operate in isolated, constrained, and extreme environments. His human-machine teaming expertise also extends into responsible artificial intelligence development. He recently participated in a United Nations Roundtable discussion about artificial intelligence in security and defense.
Wilson received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Biomedical Engineering from Purdue University in 2013 and 2015, respectively. He earned his doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2020.
Outside of work, Wilson is an avid outdoors enthusiast. He enjoys scuba diving, winter camping, backcountry skiing, and hiking through the woods or mountains throughout the year. At home, he also likes to tinker in computer networking and self-hosted systems.
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NASA’s Human Research Program pursues the best methods and technologies to support safe, productive human space travel. Through science conducted in laboratories, ground-based analogs, commercial missions, and the International Space Station, the program scrutinizes how spaceflight affects human bodies and behaviors. Such research continues to drive NASA’s mission to innovate ways that keep astronauts healthy and mission-ready as human space exploration expands to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
For more information about human research at NASA, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/hrp
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4 min read NASA to Embrace Commercial Sector, Fly Out Legacy Relay Fleet
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By NASA
NASA and its international partners are launching scientific investigations on SpaceX’s 31st commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station including studies of solar wind, a radiation-tolerant moss, spacecraft materials, and cold welding in space. The company’s Dragon cargo spacecraft is scheduled to launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Read more about some of the research making the journey to the orbiting laboratory:
Measuring solar wind
The CODEX (COronal Diagnostic EXperiment) examines the solar wind, creating a globally comprehensive data set to help scientists validate theories for what heats the solar wind – which is a million degrees hotter than the Sun’s surface – and sends it streaming out at almost a million miles per hour.
The investigation uses a coronagraph, an instrument that blocks out direct sunlight to reveal details in the outer atmosphere or corona. The instrument takes multiple daily measurements that determine the temperature and speed of electrons in the solar wind, along with the density information gathered by traditional coronagraphs. A diverse international team has been designing, building, and testing the instrument since 2019 at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Multiple missions have studied the solar wind, and CODEX could add important pieces to this complex puzzle. When the solar wind reaches Earth, it triggers auroras at the poles and can generate space weather storms that sometimes disrupt satellite and land-based communications and power grids on the ground. Understanding the source of the solar wind could help improve space-weather forecasts and response.
A worker prepares the CODEX (COronal Diagnostic EXperiment) instrument for launch.NASA Antarctic moss in space
A radiation tolerance experiment, ARTEMOSS, uses a live Antarctic moss, Ceratodon purpureus, to study how some plants better tolerate exposure to radiation and to examine the physical and genetic response of biological systems to the combination of cosmic radiation and microgravity. Little research has been done on how these two factors together affect plant physiology and performance, and results could help identify biological systems suitable for use in bioregenerative life support systems on future missions.
Mosses grow on every continent on Earth and have the highest radiation tolerance of any plant. Their small size, low maintenance, ability to absorb water from the air, and tolerance of harsh conditions make them suitable for spaceflight. NASA chose the Antarctic moss because that continent receives high levels of radiation from the Sun.
The investigation also could identify genes involved in plant adaptation to spaceflight, which might be engineered to create strains tolerant of deep-space conditions. Plants and other biological systems able to withstand the extreme conditions of space also could provide food and other necessities in harsh environments on Earth.
A Petri plate holding Antarctic moss colonies is prepared for launch at Brookhaven National Laboratory. SETI Institute Exposing materials to space
The Euro Material Ageing investigation from ESA (European Space Agency) includes two experiments studying how certain materials age while exposed to space. The first experiment, developed by CNES (Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales), includes materials selected from 15 European entities through a competitive evaluation process that considered novelty, scientific merit, and value for the material science and technology communities. The second experiment looks at organic samples and their stability or degradation when exposed to ultraviolet radiation not filtered by Earth’s atmosphere. The exposed samples are recovered and returned to Earth.
Predicting the behavior and lifespan of materials used in space can be difficult because facilities on the ground cannot simultaneously test for all aspects of the space environment. These limitations also apply to testing organic compounds and minerals that are relevant for studying comets, asteroids, the surface of Mars, and the atmospheres of planets and moons. Results could support better design for spacecraft and satellites, including improved thermal control, and the development of sensors for research and industrial applications.
Preparation of one of the Euro Material Ageing’s experiments for launch.Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales Repairing spacecraft from the inside
Nanolab Astrobeat investigates using cold welding to repair perforations in the outer shell or hull of a spacecraft from the inside. Less force is needed to fuse metallic materials in space than on Earth, and cold welding could be an effective way to repair spacecraft.
Some micrometeoroids and space debris traveling at high velocities could perforate the outer surfaces of spacecraft, possibly jeopardizing mission success or crew safety. The ability to repair impact damage from inside a spacecraft may be more efficient and safer for crew members. Results also could improve applications of cold welding on Earth as well.
The investigation also involves a collaboration with cellist Tina Guo with support from New York University Abu Dhabi to store musical compositions on the Astrobeat computer. Investigators planned to stream this “Music from Space” from the space station to the International Astronautical Congress in Milan and to Abu Dhabi after the launch.
The Nanolab Astrobeat computer during assembly prior to launch.Malta College of Arts, Science & Technology/ Leonardo Barilaro Download high-resolution photos and videos of the research mentioned in this article.
Melissa Gaskill
International Space Station Research Communications Team
Johnson Space Center
Keep Exploring Discover More Topics From NASA
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By NASA
4 Min Read NASA to Embrace Commercial Sector, Fly Out Legacy Relay Fleet
An artist's concept of commercial and NASA space relays. Credits: NASA/Morgan Johnson NASA is one step closer on its transition to using commercially owned and operated satellite communications services to provide future near-Earth space missions with increased service coverage, availability, and accelerated science and data delivery.
As of Friday, Nov. 8, the agency’s legacy TDRS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite) system, as part of the Near Space Network, will support only existing missions while new missions will be supported by future commercial services.
“There have been tremendous advancements in commercial innovation since NASA launched its first TDRS satellite more than 40 years ago,” said Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator of NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program. “TDRS will continue to provide critical support for at least the next decade, but now is the time to embrace commercial services that could enhance science objectives, expand experimentation, and ultimately provide greater opportunities for discovery.”
TDRS will continue to provide critical support for at least the next decade, but now is the time to embrace commercial services."
Kevin Coggins
Deputy Associate Administrator for NASA’s SCaN
Just as NASA has adopted commercial crew, commercial landers, and commercial transport services, the Near Space Network, managed by NASA’s SCaN, will leverage private industry’s vast investment in the Earth-based satellite communications market, which includes communications on airplanes, ships, satellite dish television, and more. Now, industry is developing a new space-based market for these services, where NASA plans to become one of many customers, bolstering the domestic space industry.
NASA’s Communications Services Project is working with industry through funded Space Act Agreements to develop and demonstrate commercial satellite communications services that meet the agency’s mission needs, and the needs of other potential users.
In 2022, NASA provided $278.5 million in funding to six domestic partners so they could develop and demonstrate space relay communication capabilities.
Inmarsat Government Inc. Kuiper Government Solutions (KGS) LLC SES Government Solutions Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) Telesat U.S. Services LLC Viasat Incorporated Read More About the CSP Partners An artist’s concept of commercial relay satellites. NASA/Morgan Johnson A successful space-based commercial service demonstration would encompass end-to-end testing with a user spacecraft for one or more of the following use cases: launch support, launch and early operations phase, low and high data rate routine missions, terrestrial support, and contingency services. Once a demonstration has been completed, it is expected that the commercial company would be able to offer their services to government and commercial users.
NASA also is formulating non-reimbursable Space Act Agreements with members of industry to exchange capability information as a means of growing the domestic satellite communications market. The Communications Services Project currently is partnered with Kepler Communications US Inc. through a non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement.
As the agency and the aerospace community expand their exploration efforts and increase mission complexity, the ability to communicate science, tracking, and telemetry data to and from space quickly and securely will become more critical than ever before. The goal is to validate and deliver space-based commercial communications services to the Near Space Network by 2031, to support future NASA missions.
NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay System
While TDRS will not be accepting new missions, it won’t be retiring immediately. Current TDRS users, like the International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope, and many other Earth- and universe-observing missions, will still rely on TDRS until the mid-2030s. Each TDRS spacecraft’s retirement will be driven by individual health factors, as the seven active TDRS satellites are expected to decline at variable rates.
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An artist's concept of the International Space Station using NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) fleet to transmit data to Earth. NASA The TDRS fleet began in 1983 and consists of three generations of satellites, launching over the course of 40 years. Each successive generation of TDRS improved upon the previous model, with additional radio frequency band support and increased automation.
The first TDRS was designed for a mission life of 10 years, but lasted 26 years before it was decommissioned in 2009. The last in the third generation – TDRS-13 –was launched Aug. 18, 2017.
The TDRS constellation has been a workhorse for the agency, enabling significant data transfer and discoveries.”
DAve Israel
Near Space Network Chief Architect
“Each astronaut conversation from the International Space Station, every picture you’ve seen from Hubble Space Telescope, Nobel Prize-winning science data from the COBE satellite, and much more has flowed through TDRS,” said Dave Israel, Near Space Network chief architect. “The TDRS constellation has been a workhorse for the agency, enabling significant data transfer and discoveries.”
NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite 13 (TDRS-13) atop an Atlas V rocket at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida before launch. NASA/Tony Gray and Sandra Joseph The Near Space Network and the Communications Services Project are funded by NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) program office at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The network is operated out of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and the Communications Services Project is managed out of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
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Last Updated Oct 16, 2024 EditorGoddard Digital TeamContactKatherine Schauerkatherine.s.schauer@nasa.govMolly KearnsLocationGoddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
Communicating and Navigating with Missions Glenn Research Center Goddard Space Flight Center Space Communications & Navigation Program The Future of Commercial Space Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) Explore More
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