Research Database

In partnership with the Italian race car engineering and manufacturing company Dallara, this project aims to measure the shielding capacity and effects of radiation on various advanced aerospace materials for spaceflight. The materials could be used to make components of future space stations, spacecraft, and spacesuits to help shield humans and hardware from space radiation.

Cuisine in space is important not just for nutritional purposes but also as a way to improve astronauts' quality of life. In this project from Italian food company Barilla, ready-made pasta will be heated and taste-tested in microgravity as part of an effort to develop a broader range of tasty foods in space for future space travelers.

Digital Tablet Eye Vision Test for Space Missions [Reflective Eye Test (Ax-1)] on the Axiom-1 (Ax-1) private astronaut mission (PAM) evaluates visual function before, during and after spaceflight using well-tested software on a hand-held device. Results are expected to provide information on the effects of weightlessness on visual and other brain functions.

The SASHA-3 (Space Hematopoeitic Stem Cell Aging) study, led by the University of California-San Diego (UCSD), investigates the effects of spaceflight on hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) by examining the activation of DNA and RNA-editing enzymes, APOBEC and ADAR1, which are linked to inflammatory diseases and cancer. The research aims to evaluate how these enzymes impact HSCs and their mutations during space travel. HSCs will be isolated from blood samples collected at various time points before, during, and after flight. Understanding how spaceflight influences HSC function and mutations could provide insights into the mechanisms of stem cell aging, cancer, and inflammation, with potential benefits for improving treatments for blood disorders and understanding disease processes on Earth.