Media Invited to Science Webinar on Projects Launching to Space Station on Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus Spacecraft

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., July 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory will host a science webinar to discuss upcoming investigations launching on Northrop Grumman’s 21^st Commercial Resupply Services mission to the orbiting outpost. This webinar will showcase some of the innovative research that will be conducted in the unique environment of the space station. The webinar is slated to take place Friday, July 26 at 1 p.m. EDT. 

Investigators leading projects sponsored by NASA and the ISS National Lab, including some funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), will participate in the webinar. Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft is slated to take flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in early August.

Davide Marotta, ISS National Lab program director for in-space biomanufacturing, and Meghan Everett, NASA’s deputy chief scientist for the International Space Station Program, will join the webinar with the following expected speakers:

• Susan Margulies, assistant director of the NSF Directorate for Engineering: Margulies leads the NSF Directorate for Engineering, which has an annual budget of nearly $800 million, supporting research to generate new knowledge and problem-driven science to identify new solutions to societal challenges. NSF has collaborated with the ISS National Lab since 2015 to award more than 70 projects that advance fundamental knowledge in space for the benefit of life on Earth, and Margulies will expand on the importance of this partnership.
• Alicia Boymelgreen, assistant professor at Florida International University: Boymelgreen will discuss an NSF-funded investigation leveraging microgravity to improve models of active colloids, which are groups of suspended particles that move within a liquid or gel medium. Results could lead to improvements in a broad range of technologies—from biosensing and drug delivery to water desalination and photothermal therapies for cancer treatment.
• Anthony Atala, director of Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine: Atala will highlight an investigation studying the behavior of engineered liver tissue constructs containing blood vessels in microgravity. Results could advance space-based tissue engineering and eventually lead to the in-space production of tissues for organ transplants on Earth. This project originally stemmed from NASA’s Vascular Tissue Challenge before evolving into a spaceflight investigation.
• Clive Svendsen, executive director of the Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center: Svendsen will discuss a project aiming to establish methods that support the in-space manufacturing of stem cells that can be matured into a wide variety of tissues to improve regenerative medicine on Earth.
• Michele Hooks, education project manager for NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement: Hooks will present a STEMonstration on the Screaming Balloon activity launching on this mission. STEMonstrations are three- to five-minute educational video shorts developed through NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement Next Gen STEM Project. For this STEMonstration, astronauts onboard the space station will inflate two balloons, one with a penny inside and one with a hex nut inside, and will demonstrate the differences in centripetal force in microgravity.
• Pubudu Handakumbura, team leader in biology at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory: Handakumbura will discuss a NASA-sponsored investigation examining the carbon dioxide capture mechanisms of two types of grasses, Brachypodium distachyon and Setaria viridis. Results could show how photosynthesis and overall plant metabolism change in space. This knowledge could support the development of ways to use carbon-metabolizing plants in bioregenerative life-support systems on future missions.

The webinar will be available on Zoom for media. Members of the media who would like to participate are required to register for Zoom access no later than one hour in advance.

The public can participate by submitting their question by using #ISSNationalLab on social media before the webinar to ask questions. A recording will be available on the ISS National Lab YouTube channel shortly afterward. Additional information about ISS National Lab-sponsored projects on this mission will be made available to the media and public in the coming days.

Join us to learn more about the exciting investigations heading to the space station and how they could advance science and benefit humanity.

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About the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory:
The International Space Station (ISS) is a one-of-a-kind laboratory that enables research and technology development not possible on Earth. As a public service enterprise, the ISS National Laboratory^® allows researchers to leverage this multiuser facility to improve quality of life on Earth, mature space-based business models, advance science literacy in the future workforce, and expand a sustainable and scalable market in low Earth orbit. Through this orbiting national laboratory, research resources on the ISS are available to support non-NASA science, technology, and education initiatives from U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space^™ (CASIS^™) manages the ISS National Lab, under Cooperative Agreement with NASA, facilitating access to its permanent microgravity research environment, a powerful vantage point in low Earth orbit, and the extreme and varied conditions of space. To learn more about the ISS National Lab, visit our website.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, CASIS accepts corporate and individual donations to help advance science in space for the benefit of humanity. For more information, visit our donations page.

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SOURCE International Space Station National Lab