NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley is sending some fascinating science experiments into space on the next SpaceX resupply mission to the International Space Station. These investigations reveal how biology is different in space, and provide fundamental information about life here on Earth.
 
Members of the news media are invited to RSVP for a media availability at Ames on the morning of Monday, Dec. 11 to interview some of the scientists and project leads for those experiments. Arrival time and agendas will be worked with each media organization’s preferences and schedule.
 
The following are the four Ames-related experiments that can host media interviews and short demonstrations:
 
Rodent Research-6

Surprisingly, mice are a lot like humans, and studying them can tell us a great deal about human health. Ames developed the hardware platform that allows scientists across the country to perform this valuable research with rodents in space. Rodent Research-6 can help us learn more about how space affects the human muscular system by using a new device that will administer a drug used to treat asthma. The goal of the experiment is to study the prevention of muscle-wasting caused by microgravity, with implications for future space exploration. Discoveries from this experiment can also help us understand muscle loss on Earth, particularly with patients experiencing prolonged immobilization, injuries, cancer and aging.
 
Cell Science-Validation

Life functions differently in space, and biologists learn a lot about the impact on human health by studying cells grown in the weightless environment of the International Space Station. The Bioculture System, developed at Ames, adds a new capability to the orbiting laboratory to let scientists carry out long-term studies on a broader range of topics, using cell cultures in microgravity. This space biology hardware will allow for real-time, remote monitoring of cell cultures, and finer control over the conditions in which they grow. The first mission, Cell Science-Validation, will test the system’s engineering and life support in order to make sure it can function properly on the space station, successfully grow bone and heart cells, and produce samples ready for processing back on Earth.
 
Plant Gravity Perception
On Earth, gravity helps a plant know which way is up. Without gravity plants don’t react the same. Growing plants in space could be essential for long-duration exploration, it is important to learn more about why this happens. How much gravity does it take for a plant to sense its pull and then react? How does it know what to do? This experiment answers these questions by testing plant reaction in microgravity and at different levels of simulated gravity for comparison. Since a plant’s response to gravity influences its overall physical form, understanding how this works could help us begin developing plants that are well-adapted for growth on long-duration space missions – or to be hardier for agricultural purposes on Earth.
 
Microbial Tracking-2

Another piece to the big puzzle that is space exploration: what is naturally growing on the space station? Seeking to catalog and characterize microorganisms aboard the International Space Station, this experiment involves using swabs to collect samples on various surfaces of the astronaut’s body before, during and after flight. In addition, environmental samples from the station’s surfaces and air locations will also be collected. Afterward, the samples will be sent back down to Earth for scientists to study. Findings from this experiment will help us support future astronaut health by determining effects created by the microorganisms on the station and how these microbial types interact.
 
Members of the news media who would like to attend this availability at Ames must contact Tiffany Blake at 650-604-4789 or by email at tiffany.n.blake@nasa.gov by 5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 10.
 
For information, visit:
 
https://www.nasa.gov/ames