OK, I guess I was wrong yesterday when I said nothing happened during the meeting between President Obama and NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden. Science Magazine has now published this:
President Barack Obama will ask Congress next year to fund a new heavy-lift launcher to take humans to the moon, asteroids, and the moons of Mars, ScienceInsider has learned. The president chose the new direction for the U.S. human space flight program Wednesday at a White House meeting with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, according to officials familiar with the discussion. NASA would receive an additional $1 billion in 2011 both to get the new launcher on track and to bolster the agency’s fleet of robotic Earth-monitoring spacecraft.
If this is true, it would mean Ares would be scrapped for another, simpler heavy-lift vehicle that could be ready to fly as early as 2018. Science News also said that European countries, Japan, and Canada would be asked to work on a lunar lander and modules for a moon base, saving the U.S. several billion dollars, and commercial companies would take over the job of getting supplies to the international space station.
So, what about the “flexible path” suggested by the Augustine Commission? If this plan is implemented, U.S. partners focus on lunar exploration, and NASA — while helping out with the Moon missions, might also focus on missions to asteroids and Phobos and Deimos to prepare for a later human landing on the Red Planet in the distant future. To prepare for human visits, NASA may order additional robotic missions to the martian moons and asteroids in coming years.
Nothing’s official yet; we’ll have to wait and see what actually transpires….
US President Barack Obama’s met with NASA administrator Charlie Bolden on Wednesday at the White House. What happened? Not much, as far as anyone can tell. The meeting was short, and no real details have emerged of what might have been discussed or decided. “The two spoke about the Administrator’s work at NASA and they also discussed the Augustine Committee’s analysis,” a White House spokesman told Florida Today. “The President confirmed his commitment to human space exploration, and the goal of ensuring that the nation is on a sustainable path to achieving our aspirations in space.”
The Hunstville Times reported that the two also discussed options for how the country might improve its future human spaceflight activities.
So, no announcement on what “path” NASA will take as a result of the Augustine Commission, or if the Constellation program is staying or going.
While earlier this week, there was hope that Wednesday’s meeting might result in an announcement of NASA’s future, now there are hints that perhaps such an announcement might be part of the State of the Union Address in January, or perhaps a statement regarding the President’s decisions on NASA won’t come until sometime in February.
The U.S. Senate approved a budget of $18.7 billion that the President needs to make a decision on. But The Orlando Sentinel reported that also on Wednesday, Bolden told lawmakers and Congressional staff that the White House was now favoring a $1 billion top line increase to NASA’s budget in 2011. This would be far better than the 5 percent cut that all agencies, including NASA, were asked by the White House to prepare, but difficult to secure given the current deficit-cutting mindset in Congress.
Space Politics also reported on that on Wednesday, unfortunately, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said she was not a “big fan” of human spaceflight. “I have not been a big fan of manned expeditions to outer space, in terms of safety and cost,” she said. “But people could make the case; technology is always changing.”
Any additional spending for NASA, she said, would have to be evaluated against other programs, and “a judgment will be made as to what it does in terms of job creation.” She added that while human missions to the Moon “would be fine” but appeared to be more skeptical about “personned” missions to Mars.
Space Shuttle Atlantis sits poised for the STS 129 launch from Pad 39 A on 16 November 2009. Atlantis would likely fly a proposed new flight as STS-135. Credit: Ken Kremer
The end of the Space Shuttle Era is rapidly approaching and with it some urgent questions including, “How will the US support continued use of the ISS?” and “What would NASA do if granted an additional shuttle flight?”
Currently, only 5 flights remain on the manifest and right now, the final shuttle flight is set for September 2010. This deadline and policy was decreed by the Bush Administration and simultaneously coincides with the end of ISS assembly and the end of the Fiscal 2010 budget year. Thus far the Obama Administration has not announced any policy changes despite recurring questions from Congress and the press as the retirement approaches.
Then comes the big “gap” in US human spaceflight launch capability between the looming shuttle shutdown and the debut of the Orion capsule. Orion will not be ready until 2015 or later. So there will be a minimum 5 year “gap” when NASA cannot launch its own astronauts or even unmanned cargo supply vessels to the International Space Station which will operate until at least 2015. Hence the practical questions from the US side on “How to re-supply the ISS?”
NASA will then be utterly dependent on Russia to launch US astronauts to the ISS at a cost of some $50 million per Soyuz seat. Several companies are receiving NASA funding under the COTS program to develop cargo up-mass vehicles to the ISS and are also exploring crewed options.
For the most part, the general public is unaware of these facts. Congress has been fully aware of this quandary since 2004 when President Bush announced new NASA goals as part of the VSE or “Vision for Space Exploration” to return to the Moon and beyond to Mars. NASA’s budget has been cut in the intervening years and the “gap” has grown longer. Insufficient funding from Washington, DC directly caused a slower development pace for Orion and the Ares rocket.
One much discussed “gap” closing measure is to slightly extend the deadline for closing out the shuttle program by adding 1 or more new flights. This action requires a direct decision soon from President Obama and enabling funding from Congress.
If granted the authority to extend the Shuttle program with an additional flight, NASA officials at a very high level have already decided on paper what such a mission would entail. Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations says that the team has done some planning for what is dubbed a ‘contingency’ flight. “It sits on the manifest as a ‘contingency’ if we need to fly it. It would be prudent to have an MPLM (pressurized Multi-purpose logistics module) in there to carry spares and restock station. We originally wanted to have a back up shuttle available in case we had a situation where we needed to do a contingency crew support to keep them in orbit for some period of time.”
At the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), I spoke with Scott Higginbotham about the details of the ‘contingency’ flight. Scott is a shuttle payload mission manager at KSC, most recently for STS-129 . He told me, “If there was to be another mission then the plan is to fly another MPLM. We have two more MPLM’s but only one is flight worthy. For the call up mission, the possible new last flight, we would fly ‘Raffaello’. But NASA needs more money and work modifications to get ‘Raffaello’ ready and up to speed”. ‘Donatello’ MPLM module inside the Space Station Processing Facility at KSC. This module is being utilized for spare parts. Outer shielding is being removed. Credit: Ken Kremer
NASA has three MPLM’s total, named ‘Leonardo’, ‘Raffaello’ and ‘Donatello’ after significant engineers in Italian history and the Ninja turtles too. All were built by Alenia in Italy under contract to the European Space Agency (ESA). ‘Leonardo’ will be permanently attached on the current last flight, STS 133, after “beefing up the outside to provide extra micrometeoroid debris protection for the module. That will allow it to stay on orbit,” according to Gerstenmaier. ‘Leonardo’ would then be redesignated as a Permanent Multipurpose Module, or PMM. Initially it will be docked at a space facing port on the Harmony connecting node.
“Since the MPLM’s only go up on short sortie missions, their shielding is not as thick as the other station elements,” said Higgenbotham. ‘Leonardo’ flies once more in March 2010 and will then be modified to add shielding. “Donatello will never fly. It’s become our spare parts man to be raided if needed.” Alenia also constructed the Tranquility and Cupola long duration modules I observed recently at a ceremony inside the KSC Space Station Processing Facility (LINK). While inside the station facility, I inspected all three of the MPLM’s (see photos).
“Because of the limited number of shuttle missions left and budget constraints, it makes more sense financially to just fly ‘Leonardo’ over and over again. ‘Raffaello’ is being maintained just in case” added Higgenbotham. “We know that we would like to fly more supplies to the station and bring things home. But whether we actually go prepare ‘Raffaello’ for that contingency mission is being discussed. So we are doing some of the advanced exercises in case we get turned on.” Leonardo’ MPLM module inside the Space Station Processing Facility at KSC built by Alenia under contract to ESA and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). This module will be left attached to the ISS on the last scheduled shuttle mission, STS 133. It will be modified with additional shielding for protection against strikes by micrometeoroids. Note grapple fixture at top. Each MPLM is 21 feet long, 15 feet in diameter, weighs 4.5 tons, and can deliver up to 10 tons of cargo to the ISS. Credit: Ken Kremer
“We know the big picture of what would be included. It would include science experiments, spare parts, food, clothing, station consumables and what the crew needs to get by day to day”, he said. “So if I have the ability to launch another MPLM mission, then I can loft thousands of pounds that I don’t need to pay a commercial vendor or the Russians to do,” Higgenbotham explained. “We can save them for other items that may break down in the future.”
Large outside items would probably not go up on that mission. “The expectation is we are going to clear the house of all large external parts by the time the last mission flies. All those are planned for going up on the already manifested missions. We have analyzed what’s needed over the lifetime of the station if we extend out to 2020,” said Higgenbotham.
The station must be continually resupplied with spare parts and logistics for its remaining lifetime whether it’s 2015 or longer to 2020 which is far beyond the upcoming retirement of the Space Shuttle.
“NASA has one External Tank (ET) already built for the ‘contingency’ mission” according to Mike Moses, shuttle integration manager at KSC. Two others exist only in pieces he told me. Since it takes 3 years to build a new ET from scratch, there would be some launch delay for any further missions beyond the possible ‘contingency’ flight.
The future goals of NASA and US human and robotic spaceflight hangs in the balance awaiting critical choices by President Obama and political leaders in Washington, DC. At this point, there is no indication of when President Obama will make a decision on goals or funding. With each day’s delay, the chances to extend the shuttle program are diminished as US manufacturing production lines are shut down, more shuttle workers are layed off and their high technology skills are lost.
About 7000 shuttle workers will lose their jobs at KSC and many more across the US as the Space Shuttle program is terminated in the midst of the current recession.
An artist's rendering of the WISE satellite, which will survey the sky in the infrared. Image Credit: NASA/JPL
NASA is getting WISE to the Universe this Friday. That is, they’re launching the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, a new infrared space telescope that will survey objects in our Solar System and beyond, looking for asteroids and brown dwarfs close to home, and protoplanetary disks and newborn stars far off.
The WISE mission is another in a series of all-sky surveys that have become so very effective for research. The satellite will spend six months mapping the entire sky in the infrared, after which it will make a second, three-month pass to further refine the mapping. Rather than looking at any specific objects, the satellite will survey everything it can see with its infrared eyes, providing a detailed catalog of infrared-emitting objects for followup with telescopes like the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Herschel Space Observatory and the upcoming James Webb Space Telescope.
Infrared instruments detect heat, so the instrument must be cooled to a chilly 17 Kelvin (-265 degrees Celsius/ -445 degrees Fahrenheit). Otherwise, it would detect its own heat signature. This is accomplished by packing it in a cryostat, which is basically a large thermos filled with solid hydrogen. The cryostat is expected to keep the instrument cool enough for about 10 months of observation after the launch.
WISE is all ready to go, with the chilled instrument stowed safely in the nosecone that will fit atop a Delta II rocket. WISE will launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Friday, Dec. 11, between 9:09 a.m. and 9:23 a.m. EST. NASA will have live coverage of the launch available on NASA TV.
Objects that the WISE telescope will pick up include asteroids in our own Solar System that remain undetected because they are invisible in visible light. By doing an all-sky survey, WISE is expected to see hundreds of thousands of asteroids in our Solar System that haven’t been discovered, hundreds of them lying in the path of the Earth’s orbit. By cataloging these Earth orbit-crossing objects, astronomers can get a better idea of what threats from asteroid impact are lurking in the dark.
WISE will also be sensitive enough to pick up brown dwarfs, objects that straddle the line between planet and star. Though they are massive, they don’t quite make the cut for igniting nuclear fusion in their cores, but are warm enough to emit infrared light. It’s thought that there are quite a few of these objects in our own back yard waiting to be discovered, and WISE may double or triple the amount of star-like objects that are within 25 light-years of the Earth.
In addition to these smaller, closer finds, WISE will be able to see ultra-luminous infrared galaxies out in the distant regions of the Universe. These galaxies are bright in the infrared, but are invisible to telescopes that can only see in the visible light spectrum. The catalog may be a boon to extrasolar planet hunters, as the protoplanetary disks from which these planets form will be another object visible to the instrument.
The WISE telescope will have polar orbit with an altitude of 525 km (326 miles), and will circle the Earth 15 times each day. Snapshots of the sky will be taken every eleven seconds, allowing the instrument to image each position on the sky in the telescope’s field of view a minimum of eight times.
Be sure to check back with us for further coverage of the WISE launch on Friday!
Witnesses give statements to the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics hearing on spaceflight safety yesterday. Image Credit: Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics
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The U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Space & Aeronautics held a hearing yesterday on the issue of how to ensure the future safety of human flight into space for both commercial and governmental agencies. The hearing was attended by a number of witnesses that represented NASA, one from the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, the CEO of a risk-analysis firm, and a former astronaut. The subcommittee was chaired by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
This hearing comes on the tails of the Augustine Commission final report, which examined the future of spaceflight in the U.S. and laid out a “flexible path” plan that includes utilizing private, commercial firms for human transport into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and the International Space Station.
Yesterday’s hearing was meant to help inform members of Congress about the safety concerns presented to manned flights, and what future regulations will be needed if commercial companies start to have a larger role in human spaceflight. The hearing’s charter states as its purpose:
On December 2, 2009 the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics will hold a hearing focused on issues related to ensuring the safety of future human space flight in government and non-government space transportation systems. The hearing will examine (1) the steps needed to establish confidence in a space transportation system’s ability to transport U.S. and partner astronauts to low Earth orbit and return them to Earth in a safe manner, (2) the issues associated with implementing safety standards and establishing processes for certifying that a space transportation vehicle is safe for human transport, and (3) the roles that training and experience play in enhancing the safety of human space missions.
Witnesses at the hearing included Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance for NASA Bryan O’Connor, Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley, Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Council Member John C. Marshall, President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation Bretton Alexander, Vice President of Valador, Inc. Dr. Joseph R. Fragola, and former astronaut Lt. Gen. Thomas P. Stafford, USAF, who flew in some of the Apollo and Gemini missions.
Each witness gave statements to the panel, all of which is available in .pdf format on the committee’s site. After hearing the testimony of these witnesses, Rep. Giffords said:
“At the end of the day, I am left with the firm conviction that the U.S. government needs to ensure that it always has a safe way to get its astronauts to space and back. As I have said in the past, I welcome the growth of new commercial space capabilities in America and do not see them as competitors with, but rather complementary to the Constellation systems under development. Based on what we’ve heard today, I see no justification for a change in direction on safety-related grounds. Instead, I am very impressed with the steps that have been taken to infuse safety into the Constellation program, and want to encourage their continued efforts to make Ares and Orion as safe as possible.”
Part of the reason for the hearing was to compare the safety of commercial vehicles to the Constellation program for getting astronauts to the International Space Station after the Shuttle program is shut down. Constellation won’t be ready to go until 2015 at the earliest, so the gap of five years could potentially be filled by private contractors.
Of course, you might notice that only one of the members of the witness panel of six represents commercial interests, which has caused some critics – like the Orlando Sentinel – to call the safety hearing a “Pro-Constellation rally.” The Space Politics blog also pointed this lack of representation out.
Though commercial aerospace companies like SpaceX, Masten Space Systems and XCOR weren’t represented directly on the witness panel, they are members of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation. Bretton Alexander stressed the importance of safety in his statement, and also pointed out that private space companies could take over the majority LEO launches here at home to allow NASA and its partners the resources to go to the Moon (and beyond).
NASA’s Astronaut Glove Centennial Challenge contest was held yesterday at the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, Florida, and two contestants walked away with a total of $350,000 in prize money for their improved designs of space suit gloves. Peter Homer of Southwest Harbor, Maine, won $250,000 for his glove, and Ted Southern of Brooklyn, New York won $100,000. Both contestants had participated in the 2007 event, and Peter Homer qualified for a prize last time.
Both of the gloves performed well in the tests. The rules of the design competition specified that each glove was to undergo a burst test, in which it was filled with air in a tank full of water until it burst. Homer’s glove – which is an updated version of the one he used to win the last competition – held out to 20psi before bursting. Southern’s glove made it to 17psi.
The gloves were also tested as to how fatiguing they were to use during thirty minutes of pinching, gripping, and other tests that involved manipulating small objects and finger-flexing. The judges also awarded Homer first place in this part of the competition, but both gloves beat an “in-house” glove in all of the tests, qualifying both for prizes.
As we reported earlier this week, this year’s competition involved the added complication of designing a thermal micrometeorite garment (TMG), the outside layer of the glove that protects the astronaut’s hand from damage. This is basically a complete glove that is ready for operation in space.
“This is the first year we are testing the full unpowered glove. Having the TMG will make the glove harder to use, and will make the tests more realistic. The TMG will be evaluated according to the rules and team
agreement as published,” said Alan Hayes, Volanz Aerospace Chairman and Chief Operations Officer. Volanz Spaceflight is a non-profit educational organization that ran the competition as an allied organization to the Centennial Challenges Program.
“Both competitors improved their designs significantly from 2007, but Ted’s progress was especially impressive,” Hayes said in a NASA press release.
The Astronaut Glove Challenge is one of NASA’s Centennial Challenges Program, which offer cash prizes to private companies or individuals for innovation in space-related fields. This is the third in a series that has wrapped up these past few months, the other two being the Space Elevator Games and Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. A total of $3.65 million has been awarded this year alone.
Congratulations to the winners of the glove challenge, and all of those that participated in the events this year – it’s been a truly exciting time for space innovation!
If you’ve ever dreamed of exploring Mars, but are worried about all that pesky radiation exposure and being cramped in a capsule for the two-year flight – or about never coming back – then your dream may be realized with NASA’s “Be a Martian” web site. In the spirit of other citizen scientist collaborations such as Galazy Zoo and Stardust@Home, NASA has created a site that allows you to view and categorize images to help map the Martian surface from the safety of your own home here on Earth.
The Be a Martian site is a collaboration between NASA and Microsoft that uses the tool of crowsourcing to sift through the hundreds of thousands of photos sent back by Mars rovers and orbiters. The format of the site is much like a game, where you complete tasks to earn points and badges.
There are two types of classifying activities to do on the site: count craters and match up images. Counting craters is just like it sounds: you are presented with an image, and place markers on any craters that you see. Counting craters in small regions on the Martian surface will help scientist determine the relative age of these regions – the more craters, the older an area is likely to be.
The image mapping is a bit trickier, though, because you have to match up 2-3 small, but high resolution images onto the background of a larger, much lower resolution image. The user starts in Vallis Marinaris, but can move onto other parts of Mars from there. By helping map the surface, better maps of the surface can be made to help scientists interpret the changing conditions of Mars.
Being a Martian citizen also has some civic responsibilities, too. There is a forum on the site where one can ask questions, vote on questions and make comments to earn “Curiousity Points”. NASA Mars experts will read the questions to see what the virtual Martian community is interested, and will host town hall-type meetings in the future where members can participate.
“We really need the next generation of explorers. And we’re also accomplishing something important for NASA. There’s so much data coming back from Mars. Having a wider crowd look at the data, classify it and help understand its meaning is very important,” Michelle Viotti, from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory told BBC News.
Extras are also available on the site, including wallpapers, mission overviews, and videos. You’ll need to have Microsoft’s Silverlight application for the games and videos on the site to work.
So, if you aren’t already completely addicted to Galaxy Zoo or any other citizen scientist site, now’s your chance! Oh, and if you want your Martian name to be Marvin, too bad – I tried, and it’s already been taken!
The United States and China have agreed to discuss expanded cooperation in space exploration and science. According to a joint statement released in Beijing on Tuesday, the two counties will start a “dialogue” on human space flight and exploration, and both nations looked forward to reciprocal visits by the NASA administrator and appropriate Chinese space leaders in 2010. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, currently in Japan, said cooperation on the high frontier could pay dividends for both countries.
“I am perfectly willing, if that’s the direction that comes to me, to engage the Chinese in trying to make them a partner in any space endeavor,” Bolden said, according to AFP. “I think they’re a very capable nation.
“They have demonstrated their capability to do something that only two other nations that have done, that is, to put humans in space. And I think that is an achievement you cannot ignore.”
He said China is a nation “that is trying to really lead” and that if the two space powers cooperate, “we would probably be better off than if we would not.”
From the joint statement:
The United States and China look forward to expanding discussions on space science cooperation and starting a dialogue on human space flight and space exploration, based on the principles of transparency, reciprocity and mutual benefit. Both sides welcome reciprocal visits of the NASA Administrator and the appropriate Chinese counterpart in 2010.
The statement also said the two countries applaud the rich achievements in scientific and technological cooperation and exchanges between the two countries over the past 30 years, and agreed to further upgrade the level of exchanges and cooperation in scientific and technological innovation through the U.S.-China Joint Commission on Science and Technology Cooperation.
Astronaut Bob Crippen, along with John Young, made history on April 12, 1981 when they launched on one of the riskiest test flights ever, STS-1 on space shuttle Columbia. Crippen also commanded three other space shuttle missions (STS-7, STS-41C, STS-41G), and was the former director of the Kennedy Space Center and former President of Thiokol Propulsion. Crippen has always been a straight shooter — telling it like it is — and a strong supporter of human spaceflight. Personally, I will never forget the moving speech he gave after the Columbia accident, eulogizing the spacecraft itself. I had the chance to talk with Crippen today following the launch of STS-129.
Universe Today: You had the good fortune to be there for the launch today. It looked great on my little computer screen; how did it look live and in-person?
Bob Crippen: It was a beautiful launch here as well, one of those picture perfect launches where the countdown went smooth, there were no technical problems and the winds cooperated, thank goodness.
UT: I don’t remember a countdown that proceeded so trouble-free.
Crippen: We like it that way!
UT: You were there for the beginning of the space shuttle program. What are your thoughts now as you see this program coming to an end? Bob Crippen on board Columbia for STS-1. Credit: NASA
Crippen: I’m feeling somewhat nostalgic. It’s been a part of the better part of my life. It’s been a great vehicle and it’s done some great things, but I would very much like to see us go back to the Moon and beyond and the space shuttle is not the vehicle for doing that. But truthfully, my preference would have been to keep flying it until we had another vehicle to bring people to orbit. I’m not fond of the hiatus we’re going to have between the shuttle and whatever is going to follow it.
UT: What are your thoughts on the Augustine Commission Report.
Crippen: First, I applaud them for saying there wasn’t enough money for NASA to do what is on its plate, because I’ve thought that myself for quite some time. Some of the other things they proposed I’m a little bit uncomfortable with. My thought is that the program that was laid out, the Constellation Program, was a good program. It’s been underway now for a few years and to switch over to anything else, I believe, is going to take longer and cost more money.
UT: Do you think anything could be done to close the gap for our human spaceflight capability?
Crippen: I believe that given some additional funds, NASA could come pretty close to their projected timetable of 2015, of having the Ares ready. The Augustine Committee said it probably wouldn’t be until 2017. I think they were allowing for the normal problems you run into in programs. I don’t believe extra money would pull it back any earlier than 2015 at this particular juncture, so I think we’re still going to see at least a five year gap.
UT: How about commercial spaceflight. Can they contribute to human spaceflight?
Crippen: Sure. I’m all for commercial spaceflight. I think NASA has been supporting them with the programs to be able to bring up cargo to the International Space Station. I think it would be premature to rely on commercial to get the crews up there. Maybe someday that is going to happen, but I believe it is a ways down the road. We need to see what happens with cargo before we step up to human crews on those commercial flights.
UT: You’re at the launch today with a group from Coalition for Space Exploration. What kinds of things do you do to support them?
Crippen: The Coalition for Space Exploration is a group of individuals like myself and companies that strongly belive we ought to have an exploration initiative. I support is as one of their advisors by doing interviews and I’ve written some op-ed pieces so try and keep the issue in front of the public, the government and the powers that be that we should continue on the road we are on. The STS-1 crew of John Young and Bob Crippen. Credit: NASA UT: What are some of your favorite memories from your flights on the space shuttle.
Crippen: I’ve got some great ones. I like to use my friend (astronaut) John Young’s answer to that one: the part between takeoff and landing is the best part. It’s all great. All my missions were different, but all of them had some great aspects to them and I’ll always have fond memories of them.
If you don’t quite have the right stuff, but always thought being an astronaut would be cool, here’s a way for you to contribute to the US space program. Go to bed. With NASA. “I would absolutely recommend it. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life,” said Heather Archuletta, who has participated in three different studies for the Human Test Subject Facility (HTSF) at the Johnson Space Center. These ongoing studies use long-term bed rest to simulate the effects of micro-gravity an astronaut would experience during extended space flight. “This is a great opportunity for the general public to help NASA with their scientific research,” said John Foster, who works for Solitaire Creative Services, a company that promotes the studies.
“This is one of NASA’s biggest barriers for sending humans to Mars,” Archuletta told Universe Today. “If they can find a way around bone demineralization, wow, that would really boost the possibilities for human spaceflight.”
NASA is planning a series of studies that support the scientific needs of the space program. The studies will be conducted over the next ten years, and currently, NASA is looking to fill spots in 87-day bed rest studies and a lunar analog feasibility study. Participants in a NASA bed rest study. Credit: NASA
For the bed rest study, participants are placed in bed with the head of the bed tilted down at a minus-six-degree incline. The Lunar Analog Feasibility Study is a 21-day study to demonstrate if it is possible to simulate 1/6 G lunar gravity using bed rest.
“Participants are compensated for their time and expenses,” said Foster. “For example, a participant who completed a 60-day study was paid approximately $13,800.”
“I know they desperately need more healthy females,” Archuletta said. “It seems people think only guys can do these studies, so it seems harder to get women.”
Archuletta, who is also known as the “Pillow-naut” from her blog about her experiences, Pillow Astronaut, said amazingly, the studies simulate very well what astronauts experience in space. “You wouldn’t think that something as simple as tilting the body would mimic what astronauts experience, but it affects your vestibular system the same way and you get the same exact fluid shift where all the blood pools in your head. You get a little bit of muscle atrophy and some bone mineral loss, and they see the same exact lowering in plasma volume and lower heart rate. Almost everything that happens in space they can do with tilting the bed. That was major news for me.”
She said the first week of being in bed is the hardest part of the study. “When they put you in the head-down position, it kind of messes with the inner ear and your equilibrium,” Archuletta said. “They warned me about it, but I didn’t give it much credence, because I thought, ‘you’re lying down, how hard can it be?’ But you get a blood rush to the head, so my teeth were throbbing and I had a headache.” During the 90-day bed rest study, participants do everything in bed, from showering to eating to socializing with other participants. Image Credit: NASA
She also would get dizzy when she turned her head quickly, which again, mimics what many astronauts experience in space. “I have been able to talk with two different astronauts and they both said, yes, the first few days you are on orbit, the veteran astronauts tell them not to turn their head quickly because when you are weightless it messes with the vestibular system.”
Those symptoms passed in about a week, Archuletta said. “It is amazing what the body can adapt to. All of a sudden my body just said, ‘OK, this is our new reality and we’ll deal with it.’ Within a couple of weeks I felt normal and actually getting up was the hard part. You get used to lying down and it actually starts to feel normal.”
But the benefits of participating outweighed any discomforts she went through. “You have tons and tons of free time. I tore through about 30 books. You have your own room but there is a common room where we can play games and talk, but I worked a little while I was there,” said Archuletta, who works as a consultant for an IT company and also is a freelance writer. “But mostly it was nice just to catch up on a lot of things I’d wanted to do for a while.”
But don’t expect to be chosen to participate if you plan to just play video games for three months. “They are really looking for people who come in with goals,” Archuletta said, “such as one person there learned Spanish, I learned sign language, and another person brought their guitar and wrote songs. They want people who have ideas about how to keep themselves busy because they will be less likely to get restless.”
Archuletta said the question she gets asked most often is if she got bored. “Absolutely not,” she said. “It is a very busy testing schedule when you first come, so you go through a lot of physical exertion before the bed rest phase; they keep you very busy. Once you are in bed you do get a lot of free time, but you are being monitored. They take vitals a couple of times a day, and make sure you are doing OK. You stretch a couple times a day so you don’t get blood clots, but you can’t outright exercise. But you get a massage every other day – that’s definitely one of the good parts! I don’t think the astronauts get that in space!” Archuletta doing isokinetics exercises. Courtesy Heather Archuletta
The studies are done at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. Participants will live in a special research unit for the entire study and be fed a carefully controlled diet. The first 11-15 days of the 87-day study, participants undergo tests, but are not on bed rest. The next 60 days participants are constantly in bed, (except for limited times for specific tests) with their head tilted downward slightly. Then there are 14 days to recover, to allow the body to get back to normal.
Participants must be nonsmokers who are in good health with no history of cardiovascular, neurological, gastrointestinal, or musculoskeletal problems.
