Resupply Mission for NASA Carries Scientific Experiments to Space Station
The 18th Northrop Grumman commercial resupply services mission for NASA to the International Space Station carries scientific investigations of topics such as plant mutations and mudflow structure along with a demonstration of camera technology and small satellites from Japan, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The Cygnus spacecraft carrying these investigations to the orbiting laboratory is scheduled for liftoff no earlier than November 6 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia.
Download high-resolution photos and videos of the research mentioned in this article - https://images.nasa.gov/album/Northrop_Grumman_CRS-18_Science
Here are details on some of the scientific investigations traveling to the space station on this mission:
Bioprinting tissues
The BioFabrication Facility (BFF) successfully printed a partial human knee meniscus and a large volume of human heart cells during its first trip to space in 2019. Now the payload is returning to the microgravity laboratory with new capabilities to further human tissue printing research.
The 3D bioprinter tests whether microgravity enables the printing of tissue samples of higher quality than those printed on the ground. The long-term goal is to use 3D bioprinting technologies to help alleviate organ shortages for patients in need of transplants by printing replacement organs and tissues.
“The research being conducted with BFF has exciting implications for the future of human health," said Redwire executive vice president of In-Space Manufacturing and Operations John Vellinger. “Besides providing a clear benefit to our lives on Earth, advancing this technology on the International Space Station now is a great way to prepare for work on the commercial space stations of the future, which could be outfitted with critical research technology such as BFF.”
Launching on a future mission, BFF-Meniscus-2 will use the upgraded facility to evaluate using BFF to 3D print knee cartilage tissue using bioinks and cells. Demonstration of further capabilities for tissue fabrication in space also supports continued and expanded commercial use of the space station for fabricating tissues and organs for transplant on the ground. BFF-Meniscus-2 is sponsored by the ISS National Lab.
Assessing how plants adapt to space
Plants exposed to spaceflight undergo changes that involve the addition of extra information to their DNA, which regulates how genes turn on or off but does not change the sequence of the DNA itself. This process is known as epigenetic change. Plant Habitat-03 assesses whether such adaptations in one generation of plants grown in space can transfer to the next generation.
The long-term goal of the investigation is to understand how epigenetics can contribute to adaptive strategies plants use in space and, ultimately, to develop plants better suited for use on future missions to provide food and other services. Results also could support the development of strategies for adapting crops and other economically important plants for growth in marginal and reclaimed habitats on Earth.
In earlier experiments, researchers noticed that many genes associated with epigenetic modifications in plants were expressed differently in space. In additional studies, researchers caused plants to be deficient in key genes associated with specific epigenetic change. These plants were more affected by spaceflight than their wild-type (naturally occurring) counterparts and ground controls.
“This suggests that these changes play an important role in the physiological adaptation of plants to the spaceflight environment,” says principal investigator Anna-Lisa Paul, a professor at University of Florida. “The next question, and the subject of this experiment, is whether these spaceflight-induced epigenetic changes are carried to the next generation of plants and could confer an adaptive advantage for that environment.”
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