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Exposure to a weightless environment during spaceflight results in a chronic headward blood and tissue fluid shift compared with the upright posture on Earth, with unknown consequences to cerebral venous outflow. To assess internal jugular vein (IJV) flow and morphology during spaceflight and to investigate if lower body negative pressure is associated with reversing the headward fluid shift experienced during spaceflight. This prospective cohort study included 11 International Space Station crew members participating in long-duration spaceflight missions . Internal jugular vein measurements from before launch and approximately 40 days after landing were acquired in 3 positions: seated, supine, and 15° head-down tilt. In-flight IJV measurements were acquired at approximately 50 days and 150 days into spaceflight during normal spaceflight conditions as well as during use of lower body negative pressure. Data were analyzed in June 2019. Posture changes on Earth, spaceflight, and lower body negative pressure. Ultrasonographic assessments of IJV cross-sectional area, pressure, blood flow, and thrombus formation. The 11 healthy crew members included in the study (mean [SD] age, 46.9 [6.3] years, 9 [82%] men) spent a mean (SD) of 210 (76) days in space. Mean IJV area increased from 9.8 (95% CI, -1.2 to 20.7) mm2 in the preflight seated position to 70.3 (95% CI, 59.3-81.2) mm2 during spaceflight (P < .001). Mean IJV pressure increased from the preflight seated position measurement of 5.1 (95% CI, 2.5-7.8) mm Hg to 21.1 (95% CI, 18.5-23.7) mm Hg during spaceflight (P < .001). Furthermore, stagnant or reverse flow in the IJV was observed in 6 crew members (55%) on approximate flight day 50. Notably, 1 crew member was found to have an occlusive IJV thrombus, and a potential partial IJV thrombus was identified in another crew member retrospectively. Lower body negative pressure was associated with improved blood flow in 10 of 17 sessions (59%) during spaceflight. This cohort study found stagnant and retrograde blood flow associated with spaceflight in the IJVs of astronauts and IJV thrombosis in at least 1 astronaut, a newly discovered risk associated with spaceflight. Lower body negative pressure may be a promising countermeasure to enhance venous blood flow in the upper body during spaceflight.

Juno is a PI-led mission to Jupiter, the second mission in NASA’s New Frontiers Program. The 3625-kg spacecraft spins at 2 rpm and is powered by three 9-meter-long solar arrays that provide ∼500 watts in orbit about Jupiter. Juno carries eight science instruments that perform nine science investigations (radio science utilizes the communications antenna). Juno’s science objectives target Jupiter’s origin, interior, and atmosphere, and include an investigation of Jupiter’s polar magnetosphere and luminous aurora.

Brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies aim to provide a bridge between the human brain and external devices. Prior research using non-invasive BCI to control virtual objects, such as computer cursors and virtual helicopters, and real-world objects, such as wheelchairs and quadcopters, has demonstrated the promise of BCI technologies. However, controlling a robotic arm to complete reach-and-grasp tasks efficiently using non-invasive BCI has yet to be shown. In this study, we found that a group of 13 human subjects could willingly modulate brain activity to control a robotic arm with high accuracy for performing tasks requiring multiple degrees of freedom by combination of two sequential low dimensional controls. Subjects were able to effectively control reaching of the robotic arm through modulation of their brain rhythms within the span of only a few training sessions and maintained the ability to control the robotic arm over multiple months. Our results demonstrate the viability of human operation of prosthetic limbs using non-invasive BCI technology.

The European Space Agency (ESA) recently selected Comet Interceptor as its first ‘fast’ (F-class) mission. It will be developed rapidly to share a launch with another mission and is unique, as it will wait in space for a yet-to-be-discovered comet.

CCDLAB was originally developed as a FITS image data reducer and viewer, and development was then continued to provide ground support for the development of the UVIT detector system provided by the Canadian Space Agency to the Indian Space Research Organization's ASTROSAT satellite and UVIT telescopes. After the launch of ASTROSAT and during UVIT's first-light and PV phase starting in 2015 December, necessity required the development of a data pipeline to produce scientific images out of the Level 1 format data produced for UVIT by ISRO. Given the previous development of CCDLAB for UVIT ground support, the author provided a pipeline for the new Level 1 format data to be run through CCDLAB with the additional satellite-dependent reduction operations required to produce scientific data. Features of the pipeline are discussed with focus on the relevant data-reduction challenges intrinsic to UVIT data.

Microorganisms are employed to mine economically important elements from rocks, including the rare earth elements (REEs), used in electronic industries and alloy production. We carried out a mining experiment on the International Space Station to test hypotheses on the bioleaching of REEs from basaltic rock in microgravity and simulated Mars and Earth gravities using three microorganisms and a purposely designed biomining reactor. Sphingomonas desiccabilis enhanced mean leached concentrations of REEs compared to non-biological controls in all gravity conditions. No significant difference in final yields was observed between gravity conditions, showing the efficacy of the process under different gravity regimens. Bacillus subtilis exhibited a reduction in bioleaching efficacy and Cupriavidus metallidurans showed no difference compared to non-biological controls, showing the microbial specificity of the process, as on Earth. These data demonstrate the potential for space biomining and the principles of a reactor to advance human industry and mining beyond Earth. Rare earth elements are used in electronics, but increase in demand could lead to low supply. Here the authors conduct experiments on the International Space Station and show microbes can extract rare elements from rocks at low gravity, a finding that could extend mining potential to other planets.

Ultracold quantum gases are ideal sources for high-precision space-borne sensing as proposed for Earth observation, relativistic geodesy and tests of fundamental physical laws as well as for studying new phenomena in many-body physics during extended free fall. Here we report on experiments with the Cold Atom Lab aboard the International Space Station, where we have achieved exquisite control over the quantum state of single 87 Rb Bose-Einstein condensates paving the way for future high-precision measurements. In particular, we have applied fast transport protocols to shuttle the atomic cloud over a millimeter distance with sub-micrometer accuracy and subsequently drastically reduced the total expansion energy to below 100 pK with matter-wave lensing techniques. Ultracold ensembles are promising sources for precision measurements when their quantum state can precisely be prepared. Here the authors achieve a quantum state engineering of Bose-Einstein condensates in space using NASA’s Cold Atom Lab aboard the International Space Station making a step forward towards space quantum sensing.

Anemia in astronauts has been noted since the first space missions, but the mechanisms contributing to anemia in space flight have remained unclear. Here, we show that space flight is associated with persistently increased levels of products of hemoglobin degradation, carbon monoxide in alveolar air and iron in serum, in 14 astronauts throughout their 6-month missions onboard the International Space Station. One year after landing, erythrocytic effects persisted, including increased levels of hemolysis, reticulocytosis and hemoglobin. These findings suggest that the destruction of red blood cells, termed hemolysis, is a primary effect of microgravity in space flight and support the hypothesis that the anemia associated with space flight is a hemolytic condition that should be considered in the screening and monitoring of both astronauts and space tourists. Biomarkers of red blood cell destruction were elevated in astronauts while on long-duration missions on the International Space Station, suggesting that hemolysis is a major contributor to space anemia.

Over the course of a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) crew members are exposed to a number of stressors that can potentially alter the composition of their microbiomes and may have a negative impact on astronauts’ health. Here we investigated the impact of long-term space exploration on the microbiome of nine astronauts that spent six to twelve months in the ISS. We present evidence showing that the microbial communities of the gastrointestinal tract, skin, nose and tongue change during the space mission. The composition of the intestinal microbiota became more similar across astronauts in space, mostly due to a drop in the abundance of a few bacterial taxa, some of which were also correlated with changes in the cytokine profile of crewmembers. Alterations in the skin microbiome that might contribute to the high frequency of skin rashes/hypersensitivity episodes experienced by astronauts in space were also observed. The results from this study demonstrate that the composition of the astronauts’ microbiome is altered during space travel. The impact of those changes on crew health warrants further investigation before humans embark on long-duration voyages into outer space.