Expedition 8 Commander and Science Officer Michael Foale conducts an inspection of the Microgravity Science Glovebox.ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter, STS-116 mission specialist, works with the Passive Observatories for Experimental Microbial Systems in Micro-G (POEMS) payload in the Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) inside the Destiny laboratory.
Research on the ISS improves knowledge about the effects of long-term space exposure on the human body. Subjects currently under study include muscle atrophy, bone loss, and fluid shift. The data will be used to determine whether space colonization and lengthy human spaceflight are feasible. As of 2006, data on bone loss and muscular atrophy suggest that there would be a significant risk of fractures and movement problems if astronauts landed on a planet after a lengthy interplanetary cruise (such as the six-month journey time required to fly to Mars).[4][5] Large scale medical studies are conducted aboard the ISS via the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI). Prominent among these is the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity study in which astronauts (including former ISS Commanders Leroy Chiao and Gennady Padalka) perform ultrasound scans under the guidance of remote experts. The study considers the diagnosis and treatment of medical conditions in space. Usually, there is no physician on board the ISS, and diagnosis of medical conditions is a challenge. It is anticipated that remotely guided ultrasound scans will have application on Earth in emergency and rural care situations where access to a trained physician is difficult.[6][7][8]
Researchers are investigating the effect of the station's near-weightless environment on the evolution, development, growth and internal processes of plants and animals. In response to some of this data, NASA wants to investigate microgravity's effects on the growth of three-dimensional, human-like tissues, and the unusual protein crystals that can be formed in space.[9]
The investigation of the physics of fluids in microgravity will allow researchers to model the behaviour of fluids better. Because fluids can be almost completely combined in microgravity, physicists investigate fluids that do not mix well on Earth. In addition, an examination of reactions that are slowed by low gravity and temperatures will give scientists a deeper understanding of superconductivity.[9]
The study of materials science is an important ISS research activity, with the objective of reaping economic benefits through the improvement of techniques used on the ground.[10] Other areas of interest include the effect of the low gravity environment on combustion, through the study of the efficiency of burning and control of emissions and pollutants. These findings may improve our knowledge about energy production, and lead to economic and environmental benefits.
Since 2018, an example of automated manufacturing on the ISS is the testing across nine launches (as of April 2024) of a system to manufacture artificial retinas benefitted by the weightless environment.[12] Progress has resulted in a goal of beginning human trials of the material as early as 2027.[12]
Experimental Assessment of Dynamic Surface Deformation Effects in Transition to Oscillatory Thermo capillary Flow in Liquid Bridge of High Prandtl Number Fluid (Fluid Physics Experiment Facility (FPEF) )[102]
Pilot missions for utilization for culture and humanity and social sciences
Commercial utilization fields
Fee-based utilization of Kibo is available to unrestricted research groups for commercial use. Costs involved in the operation will be paid by each user. The results obtained through the utilization will belong to the user.[99]
Renal Stone Risk During Spaceflight: Assessment and Countermeasure Validation (Renal_Stone)[129]
Spinal Elongation and its Effects on Seated Height in a Microgravity Environment (Spinal_Elongation)[130]
Subregional Assessment of Bone Loss in the Axial Skeleton in Long-term Space Flight (Subregional_Bone)[131]
Cardiovascular and pulmonary systems
Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Control on Return from ISS (CCISS)[132]
Cardiac Atrophy and Diastolic Dysfunction During and After Long Duration Spaceflight: Functional Consequences for Orthostatic Intolerance, Exercise Capability and Risk for Cardiac Arrhythmias (Integrated_Cardiovascular)[133]
Test of Midodrine as a Countermeasure Against Post-flight Orthostatic Hypotension - Long (Midodrine-Long)[134]
Test of Midodrine as a Countermeasure Against Post-flight Orthostatic Hypotension - Short Duration Biological Investigation (Midodrine-SDBI)[135]
The Effects of EVA and Long-Term Exposure to Microgravity on Pulmonary Function (PuFF)[136]
Evaluation of Maximal Oxygen Uptake and Submaximal Estimates of VO2max Before, During, and After Long Duration International Space Station Missions (VO2max)[137]
Effect of Microgravity on the Peripheral Subcutaneous Veno-Arteriolar Reflex in Humans (Xenon1)[138]
Crew healthcare systems
IntraVenous Fluid GENeration for Exploration Missions (IVGEN)[139]
Stability of Pharmacotherapeutic and Nutritional Compounds (Stability)[140]
Human behaviour and performance
Bodies In the Space Environment was an experiment run from 2009 to 2010 studying how people perceive relative direction in space.[141]
Crewmember and Crew-Ground Interaction During International Space Station Missions (Interactions)[142]
Behavioral Issues Associated with Isolation and Confinement: Review and Analysis of ISS Crew Journals (Journals)[143]
Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light Exposure During Spaceflight-Long (Sleep-Long)[144]
Sleep-Wake Actigraphy and Light Exposure During Spaceflight-Short (Sleep-Short)[145]
Human Factors Assessment of Vibration Effects on Visual Performance During Launch (Visual_Performance)[146]
Immune system
Differentiation of Bone Marrow Macrophages in Space (BONEMAC)[147]
Cell Culture Module - Immune Response of Human Monocytes in Microgravity (CCM-Immune_Response)[148]
Cell Culture Module - Effect of Microgravity on Wound Repair: In Vitro Model of New Blood Vessel Development (CCM-Wound_Repair)[149]
Space Flight Induced Reactivation of Latent Epstein-Barr Virus (Epstein-Barr)[150]
Validation of Procedures for Monitoring Crewmember Immune Function (Integrated_Immune)[151]
Incidence of Latent Virus Shedding During Space Flight (Latent_Virus)[152]
Integrated physiology
Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity (ADUM)[153]
Avian Development Facility - Development and Function of the Avian Otolith System in Normal Altered Gravity Environments (ADF-Otolith)[186]
Avian Development Facility - Skeletal Development in embryonic Quail (ADF-Skeletal)[187]
Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support Systems: Human Renal Cortical Cell Differentiation and Hormone Production (CBOSS-01-02-Renal)[188]
Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support Systems: Use of NASA Bioreactor to Study Cell Cycle Regulation: Mechanisms of Colon Carcinoma Metastasis in Microgravity (CBOSS-01-Colon)[189]
Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support Systems: Evaluation of Ovarian Tumor Cell Growth and Gene Expression (CBOSS-01-Ovarian)[190]
Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support Systems: PC12 Pheochromocytoma Cells - A Proven Model System for Optimizing 3-D Cell Culture Biotechnology in Space (CBOSS-01-PC12)[191]
Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support Systems: Production of Recombinant Human Erythropoietin by Mammalian Cells (CBOSS-02-Erythropoietin)[192]
Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support Systems: The Effect of Microgravity on the Immune Function of Human Lymphoid Tissue (CBOSS-02-HLT)[193]
Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support Systems: Fluid Dynamics Investigation (CBOSS-FDI)[194]
Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus -
Antibiotic Production in Space (CGBA-APS)[195]
Cell Wall/Reverse Genetic Approach to Exploring Genes Responsible for Cell Wall Dynamics in Supporting Tissues of Arabidopsis Under Microgravity Conditions and Resist Wall/Role of Microtubule-Membrane-Cell Wall Continuum in Gravity Resistance in Plants (CWRW)[221]
Gravity Related Genes in Arabidopsis - A (Genara-A)[222]
Threshold Acceleration for Gravisensing (Gravi)[223]
Threshold Acceleration for Gravisensing - 2 (Gravi-2)[224]
Validating Vegetable Production Unit (VPU) Plants, Protocols, Procedures and Requirements (P3R) Using Currently Existing Flight Resources (Lada-VPU-P3R)[225]
Molecular and Plant Physiological Analyses of the Microgravity Effects on Multigeneration Studies of Arabidopsis thaliana (Multigen)[226]
National Laboratory Pathfinder - Cells - 3: Jatropha Biofuels (NLP-Cells-3)[227]
The Optimization of Root Zone Substrates (ORZS) for Reduced Gravity Experiments Program (ORZS)[228]
Photosynthesis Experiment and System Testing and Operation (PESTO)[229]
Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility - Extraordinary Structural Features of Antibodies from Camelids (APCF-Camelids)[233]
Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility - Solution Flows and Molecular Disorder of Protein Crystals: Growth of High Quality Crystals, Motions of Lumazin Crystals and Growth of Ferritin Crystals (APCF-Crystal_Growth)[234]
Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility - Effect of Different Growth Conditions on the Quality of Thaumatin and Aspartyl-tRNA Synthetase Crystals Grown in Microgravity (APCF-Crystal_Quality)[235]
Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility - Crystallization of Human Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) Subfractions in Microgravity (APCF-Lipoprotein)[236]
Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility - Testing New Trends in Microgravity Protein Crystallization (APCF-Lysozyme)[237]
Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility - Crystallization of the Next Generation of Octarellins (APCF-Octarellins)[238]
Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility - Protein Crystallization in Microgravity, Collagen Model (X-Y-Gly) Polypeptides - the case of (Pro-Pro-Gly) 10 (APCF-PPG10)[239]
Advanced Protein Crystallization Facility - Crystallization of Rhodopsin in Microgravity (APCF-Rhodopsin)[240]
Commercial Protein Crystal Growth - High Density (CPCG-H)[241]
Dynamically Controlled Protein Crystal Growth (DCPCG)[242]
Protein Crystal Growth-Enhanced Gaseous Nitrogen Dewar (PCG-EGN)[243]
Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System-Improved Diffraction Quality of Crystals (PCG-STES-IDQC)[244]
Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System-Crystallization of the Integral Membrane Protein Using Microgravity (PCG-STES-IMP)[245]
Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System-Synchrotron Based Mosaicity Measurements of Crystal Quality and Theoretical Modeling (PCG-STES-MM)[246]
Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System-Crystallization of the Mitochondrial Metabolite Transport Proteins (PCG-STES-MMTP)[247]
Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System - Crystal Growth Model System for Material Science (PCG-STES-MS)[248]
Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System-Engineering a Ribozyme for Diffraction Properties (PCG-STES-RDP)[249]
Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System-Regulation of Gene Expression (PCG-STES-RGE)[250]
Protein Crystal Growth-Single Locker Thermal Enclosure System-Science and Applications of Facility Hardware for Protein Crystal Growth (PCG-STES-SA)[251]
Detection of Changes in LOH Profile of TK mutants of Human Cultured Cells (LOH) - Gene Expression of p53-Regulated Genes in Mammalian Cultured Cells After Exposure to Space Environment (LOH-RadGene)[257]
Effects of Microgravity on the Haemopoietic System: A Study on Neocytolysis (Neocytolysis)[258]
Materials Science Laboratory - Columnar-to-Equiaxed Transition in Solidification Processing and Microstructure Formation in Casting of Technical Alloys under Diffusive and Magnetically Controlled Convective Conditions (MSL-CETSOL_and_MICAST)[290]
Toward Understanding Pore Formation and Mobility During Controlled Directional Solidification in a Microgravity Environment (PFMI)[291]
Science of Opportunity (Saturday_Morning_Science)[353]
Educational activities
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS)[354]
Education - How Solar Cells Work (Education-Solar_Cells)[355]
International Space Station Inflight Education Downlinks (Inflight_Education_Downlinks)[356]
Environmental monitoring of ISS
Anomalous Long Term Effects in Astronauts' - Dosimetry (ALTEA-Dosi)[357]
International Space Station Acoustic Measurement Program (ISS_Acoustics)[358]
Medical monitoring of ISS crew members
Clinical Nutrition Assessment of ISS Astronauts, SMO-016E (Clinical_Nutrition_Assessment)[359]
Spacecraft systems
International Space Station Zero-Propellant Maneuver (ZPM) Demonstration (ZPM)[360]
Spacecraft and orbital environments
Analysis of International Space Station Plasma Interaction (Plasma_Interaction_Model)[361]
Station development test objective
Validation of On-Orbit Methodology for the Assessment of Cardiac Function and Changes in the Circulating Volume Using Ultrasound and Braslet-M Occlusion Cuffs, SDTO 17011 U/R (Braslet)[362]
In May 2011, Space ShuttleEndeavour mission STS-134 carried 13 Lego kits to the ISS, where astronauts built models and saw how they reacted in microgravity, as part of the Lego Bricks in Space program. The results were shared with schools as part of an educational project.[514][515]
^ abBrown, David W. (May 2024). Honan, Mat (ed.). "Stations in the Sky". MIT Technology Review. 127 (3). Cambridge, Massachusetts: Technology Review, Incorporated: 54–56.
^NASA.gov Avian Development Facility - Development and Function of the Avian Otolith System in Normal Altered Gravity Environments (ADF-Otolith) (ISS Experiment) - NASA] Archived 2010-03-24 at the Wayback Machine