Station Science Top News: Feb. 10, 2022

by ISS Program Science Office | 2022-02-14

Scientific investigations on skin aging and tumor cells, along with tests of technology for oxygen production, batteries, and growing plants, all travel on the 17th Northrop Grumman commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station.

The Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled for liftoff no earlier than Saturday, Feb. 19. Here are details on some of the experiments traveling to station on this mission:

Colgate Skin Aging evaluates cellular and molecular changes in engineered human skin cells in microgravity. Results could show that these engineered cells may serve as a model to rapidly assess products aimed at protecting skin from the aging process back on Earth.
MicroQuin 3D Tumor examines the effects of a drug on breast and prostate cancer cells. In microgravity, these cells can grow in a more natural 3D model, which makes it easier to characterize their structure, gene expression, cell signaling, and response to the drug. Results could provide new insight into the cell protein targeted by the cancer drug and help advance development of other drugs that target cancerous cells.
The OGA H2 Sensor Demo tests new sensors for the space station’s oxygen generation system (OGS). The OGS produces breathable oxygen by separating water into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is either vented overboard or recombined with waste carbon dioxide to form water. Current sensors ensure that none of the hydrogen enters the oxygen stream into the cabin, but they must be swapped out every 201 days of use. This new technology could provide more durable sensors for situations where replacement is not practical every 201 days, reducing the number of spares needed on longer space missions to the Moon or Mars.

Read more in Northrop Grumman’s 17th Resupply Mission Carries Science Experiments, Technology Demonstrations to Space Station and watch the NG-17 research highlights video below.

This image shows immunofluorescence of breast cancer cells treated with a MicroQuin therapeutic. Staining shows a normal nucleus (blue) and the therapeutic (green) localized to the cell’s endoplasmic reticulum (red). The drug forces the cytoskeleton (yellow) to collapse, inducing cell death. Credits: Scott Robinson, MicroQuin

***

During the Blind and Imagined space station study, astronauts pretended to throw and catch ball while imagining they were in microgravity and Earth-gravity conditions. The adaptation that scientists observed suggests that mental imagery training could be used to help astronauts re-adapt to gravity before landing.

Mental imagery, the representation of sensory information in the mind without direct external input, is commonly used in sports training and neurological rehabilitation. However, it had not been previously considered as a countermeasure for the readaptation of motor skills after spaceflight. In this study, researchers combined mental imagery and pantomime to examine how mental processes impact body motion and the manipulation of objects. Wearing a hand glove with sensors, astronauts pretended to throw the ball toward the ceiling above or at a bullseye in front of them, varying the throwing force applied before, during, and after spaceflight. On average, astronauts threw the ball with less force and waited longer to catch the ball in the imaginary microgravity condition than in the Earth-gravity condition, showing that astronauts adapted their behavior according to the imaginary condition. These results suggest that mental imagery training could be used to help astronauts re-adapt to gravity before landing.