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NASA NTRS2010

Curation of Antarctic Meteorites at NASA Johnson Space Center

The U.S. Antarctic meteorite program began in the 1970 s and has provided more than 18,000 samples in over three decades. The program is based on a three agency agreement between NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the Smithsonian Institution. The collection, stored at the Johnson Space Center and the Smithsonian, is one of the largest collections of meteorites in the world and features samples from the moon and Mars, asteroids, and material from the early solar system. A brief consideration of the collection shows that it contains 92.2% ordinary chondrites, 3.2% carbonaceous chondrites, 3.7% achondrites (1.7% HED), as well as many puzzling ungrouped meteorites. JSC has sent splits of nearly 20,000 meteorite samples to more than 500 scientists around the world since 1977. After the meteorites are collected in Antarctica, they are shipped frozen to JSC in Houston, usually arriving in April following the field season. The Astromaterials Curation Office at JSC is responsible for: - receiving the frozen meteorites. - staging: repackaging and changing the samples field identification numbers with official names. - submitting the names to the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society for approval as new meteorites. - initial processing: weighing, measuring, describing and photographing the sample and providing a chip for classification to the Smithsonian Institution staff. - the issuing of two newsletters per year, announcing hundreds of new meteorites. - the handling of requests from the scientific community and the allocation of those requests that are approved. - providing supplies and tools for the field team such as teflon bags and tape, aluminum foil, clean tweezers and tongs. - maintaining the meteorite database with more than 76,000 sample splits. - making petrographic thin and thick sections for the JSC library and scientific investigators. - providing storage and handling of the meteorites in a class 10,000 clean room. Samples that have not been requested for three years are sent to the Smithsonian for permanent storage. There have been several seasons in recent years with two field teams, increasing the number of acquired samples (>1000 in a few seasons). We have recently increased our storage space and additional staff to better serve the scientific community.

McBride, K. M.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

NASA's Earthdata Forum: Bringing the Science Community Together

The Earthdata Forum is an actively maintained and operational user forum for all participating NASA EOSDIS Distributed Active Archive Centers (DAACs) and GCMD. The Forum serves as a cross-DAAC platform from which user communities can obtain authoritative information relating to NASA Earth Science. The Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC) DAAC takes on the role of both Project Manager and Hosting Organization. As Project Manager, the ASDC leads and facilitates the project's efforts. The Forum launched February 2020 with five participating DAACs: Atmospheric Science Data Center (ASDC), Crustal Dynamics Data Information System (CDDIS), Goddard Earth Science Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), Global Hydrology Resource Center (GHRC), and Land Processes DAAC (LP DAAC). Since February 2020, the of Level 1 and Atmosphere Archive and Distribution System DAAC (LAADS), the Ocean Biology DAAC (OBDAAC) and Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) have also joined the Forum. The Forum assumes both a proactive and reactive approach to NASA products scientific queries, allowing the scientific community to ask questions about NASA's products, tools, and services and receive announcements and news regarding products, new data releases, and such. In this presentation, we will describe the Earthdata Forum approach to support the scientific community in detail and discuss the successes and challenges of this approach.

Ingrid Garcia-Solera↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

On the Importance of Laboratory Astrophysics and Astrochemistry and Interdisciplinary Research: Two Success Stories

Here we present two examples that demonstrate how cross-disciplinary research projects, where experimentalists, modelers and observers work together to answer science questions, allow expertise to be shared and misconceptions or missing key elements to be tackled by looking at the problem from different perspectives. They also show how, by working in unison, the group can accomplish more than the sum of its parts by combining results into a higher-level understanding of the chemical processes taking place. The first project is a collaborative study between experimentalists, modelers and observers to1) produce laboratory analogs of cosmic grains and planetary aerosols (Titan, Pluto...) from different gas mixtures in cold astrophysically relevant conditions (<200 K); and 2) characterize them with scanning electron microscopy and visible-to-far-infrared spectroscopy in order to assess the impact of the precursors on their growth structure and optical properties. We can then produce and study analogs that are representative of different formation stages or environments, and provide their complex refractive indices to the scientific community. We will show how, by using these experimental optical constants of more representative analogs in radiative transfer and reflectance spectra models, better interpretations of (exo)planetary atmosphere- and surface observations are possible. The second project is an interdisciplinary study of the formation of benzene clouds in the atmosphere of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. We will show how combining Earth and Planetary Science laboratory expertise, modeling and observations has led to providing to the scientific community, for the first time, experimental vapor pressures for benzene at cold temperatures(<200K) relevant to Titan’s atmospheric conditions. These have been used in microphysical models instead of the higher temperature extrapolations used previously, allowing a better match to observations.

Ella Sciamma-o'Brien↗

NASA NTRS1987

High resolution Viking Orbiter images: A useful data source for testing the viability of geomorphic processes attributed to Martian landforms

The diversity of landforms visible in the Viking images of Mars have led to a proliforation of geomorphic agents proposed to be active in shaping the Martian surface. While it is likely that numerous different processes have contributed to the geomorphology of Mars throughout Martian history, it is important that proposed Martian geomorphic agents be subjected to critical scrutiny by the scientific community. High resolution Viking Orbiter images represent a data set for investigating geomorphic processes on Mars. Geologic mapping of Mars can take place at a variety of scales, utilizing a variety of image resolutions, but an interpretation of the history of individual landforms is dependent upon the best available spatial resolution. These high resolution images provide the opportunity to examine proposed Martian geomorphic processes. It is clear that researchers may not interpret features in the same way but it is important that high resolution images of candidate features be made available to the scientific community so that a consensus can be reached. This procedure can provide a way to refine the understanding of geomorphic processes on Mars.

Zimbelman, James R.↗

NASA NTRS2016

Advances in Rodent Research Missions on the International Space Station

A research platform for rodent experiment on the ISS is a valuable tool for advancing biomedical research in space. Capabilities offered by the Rodent Research project developed at NASA Ames Research Center can support experiments of much longer duration on the ISS than previous experiments performed on the Space Shuttle. NASAs Rodent Research (RR)-1 mission was completed successfully and achieved a number of objectives, including validation of flight hardware, on-orbit operations, and science capabilities as well as support of a CASIS-sponsored experiment (Novartis) on muscle atrophy. Twenty C57BL6J adult female mice were launched on the Space-X (SpX) 4 Dragon vehicle, and thrived for up to 37 days in microgravity. Daily health checks of the mice were performed during the mission via downlinked video; all flight animals were healthy and displayed normal behavior, and higher levels of physical activity compared to ground controls. Behavioral analysis demonstrated that Flight and Ground Control mice exhibited the same range of behaviors, including eating, drinking, exploratory behavior, self- and allo-grooming, and social interactions indicative of healthy animals. The animals were euthanized on-orbit and select tissues were collected from some of the mice on orbit to assess the long-term sample storage capabilities of the ISS. In general, the data obtained from the flight mice were comparable to those from the three groups of control mice (baseline, vivarium and ground controls, which were housed in flight hardware), showing that the ISS has adequate capability to support long-duration rodent experiments. The team recovered 35 tissues from 40 RR-1 frozen carcasses, yielding 3300 aliquots of tissues to distribute to the scientific community in the U.S., including NASAs GeneLab project and scientists via Space Biology's Biospecimen Sharing Program Ames Life Science Data Archive. Tissues also were distributed to Russian research colleagues at the Institute for Biomedical Problems. The expression levels of select genes including albumin, catalase, GAPDH, HMGCoA Reductase, and IGF1 were determined using RNA isolated from the livers by qPCR and no significant differences by one factor ANOVA were found between flight and ground control groups. In addition, some of the liver samples were analyzed for transcriptomic, epigenomic and proteomic profiles; some of the data sets are now available to the scientific community through GeneLabs open science data website. A second long duration mission, Rodent Research-2 (RR-2) was completed on the ISS in 2015; 20 female C57BL6J mice were successfully maintained on the ISS for various durations, with the last group of 5 animals living on-orbit for 54 days. Furthermore, we continue to expand the ISSs capabilities by introducing new on-orbit technologies including blood collection and separation, bone densitometry scanning, muscle grip strength and anesthesia with recovery. In addition, series of ground-based verification testing to fly male mice and increase the total number of mice on-orbit from 20 to 40. Subsequent missions will provide the capability to return live mice from the ISS animals to evaluate recovery on Earth, further expanding operational and science capabilities of the RR project on the ISS.

Choi, S. Y.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Conclusions of a Mini Technical Interchange Meeting on Mechanisms and Pathways Common Between Adverse Health Outcomes from Exposures to Space Radiation

To enable deep space exploration and sustained human presence in space, the NASA Human Research Program’s (HRP) Space Radiation Element (SRE) funds research to characterize and mitigate adverse health outcomes from exposure to space radiation that include risks of carcinogenesis, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and central nervous system (CNS) decrements. Over the past decade, a growing body of compelling experimental evidence suggests shared mechanisms and pathophysiological processes for CVD, neurodegenerative effects, and cancer development and progression, which are traditionally managed as separate disease processes. Additionally, epidemiological studies have identified cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between some specific types of cancer and CVD, and accumulating evidence indicates that the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease may overlap with CVD and cancer pathogenesis. Identifying the mechanisms and pathways common to these important health decrements will not only accelerate development of effective countermeasures and improve management of spaceflight-induced risk, it will also help to develop new treatment strategies for patients on Earth. To identify common pathways and mechanisms of disease induction and progression from current SR-funded studies and to inform future work and solicitations, the SRE organizes themed sessions at annual HRP Investigators’ Workshops (IWS). These technical interchange meetings (TIMs) provide a venue for the scientific community to present ongoing work and engage in open discussion on results, limitations of current approaches, and incorporation of novel experimental strategies, model systems, and other innovative techniques. Here a summary and lessons learned from the SRE-sponsored mini-TIM titled “mechanisms and pathways common between adverse health outcomes” held at HRP IWS 2023 will be communicated. The 90-min TIM had 30-min dedicated to discussing and developing potential collaboration and tissue sharing opportunities among investigators. The SRE facilitated the discussion using a set of pressing questions and gaps in knowledge that need to be addressed by the scientific community. This poster presents the outcomes of the session along with proposed future workshops and other SRE initiatives.

Janapriya Saha↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Conclusions of a Mini Technical Interchange Meeting on Mechanisms and Pathways Common Between Adverse Health Outcomes from Exposures to Space Radiation

Janapriya Saha↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

GeneLab: Current and Future Omics Data Integration Between Space Biology and HRP

For the past five years, the Biological and Physical Sciences Division has pioneered Open Science in Space Biology by funding the NASA GeneLab project. Along with the Ames Life Sciences Data Archive, GeneLab has quickly become the world leader in archiving and scientifically curating spaceflight and spaceflight relevant multi-omics data. Specifically, the GeneLab Data System has become a full enterprise solution providing advanced mining capabilities, several application programming interfaces for data federation and machine learning approaches, and delivering to the world an analytical and visualization platform which has enabled collaboration within the scientific community. Over the past three years, large meta-analysis and modeling studies have been published by the GeneLab Analysis Working Groups (AWGs), which are comprised of ~200 volunteer scientists. One natural extension of GeneLab data reuse has recently turned towards linking animal data with human data, which is the next necessary step to further validate animal models for inferring biological risks to humans conducting LEO, lunar or Martian missions. As such, data from the Human Research Program are an essential component of GeneLab and ALSDA. At the moment, simulated space radiation experiments conducted at Brookhaven National Laboratory make the most of HRP GeneLab data, and the scientific community has been eager to also link their animal spaceflight results to actual Astronaut data and human analog data. We will discuss further the current status of knowledge and future approaches to accelerate our basics understanding of the impact of space stressors on humans using latest omics technology.

omics↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Pyroscopegridding: Geo-Leo Aerosol Data Fusion (an Open-Source Package)

The retrieval of aerosol optical depths (AODs) from sun-synchronous polar orbiting satellites, such as MODISs, VIIRSs, OMI, TROPOMI, etc., has been widely adopted as a method for obtaining information regarding particulate matter (PM) and related atmospheric processes. However, the advent of recently launched geostationary satellites, such as GOES-16/17/18, Himawari-8/9, and Meteosat Third Generation (MTG), has led to an increased temporal resolution of AOD observations (order of 10 minutes), resulting in typically one or more images per hour during daylight hours, compared to the once-per-day observations obtained from LEO satellites. By integrating these observations, the diurnal cycle of global AOD can be characterized at local, regional, and global scales. The scientific community is still examining the novel data from geostationary satellite observations and evaluating methods for effectively merging these observations with differing spatial and temporal resolutions. This presents a significant ""Big Data"" challenge, encompassing not only data storage, but also data discoverability, accessibility, and migration within cloud computing environments. This study presents our attempts at fusing Level 2 aerosol data from six satellites, three of which are geostationary (GOES-16/17 and Himawari-8) and three of which are polar orbiting (TERRA/MODIS, AQUA/MODIS, and SNPP-VIIRS), using the Dark Target aerosol retrieval algorithm. The ability to fuse remote sensing products on demand into desired temporal and spatial domains empowers researchers and practitioners to more efficiently work with satellite and sensor data. It is our hope that through making our open-source package and accompanying functionality available, the scientific community will have improved access to aerosol data processing resources.

Jennifer Wei↗

NASA NTRS2004

Metadata Authoring with Versatility and Extensibility

NASA's Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) assists the scientific community in the discovery of and linkage to Earth science data sets and related services. The GCMD holds over 13,800 data set descriptions in Directory Interchange Format (DIF) and 700 data service descriptions in Service Entry Resource Format (SERF), encompassing the disciplines of geology, hydrology, oceanography, meteorology, and ecology. Data descriptions also contain geographic coverage information and direct links to the data, thus allowing researchers to discover data pertaining to a geographic location of interest, then quickly acquire those data. The GCMD strives to be the preferred data locator for world-wide directory-level metadata. In this vein, scientists and data providers must have access to intuitive and efficient metadata authoring tools. Existing GCMD tools are attracting widespread usage; however, a need for tools that are portable, customizable and versatile still exists. With tool usage directly influencing metadata population, it has become apparent that new tools are needed to fill these voids. As a result, the GCMD has released a new authoring tool allowing for both web-based and stand-alone authoring of descriptions. Furthermore, this tool incorporates the ability to plug-and-play the metadata format of choice, offering users options of DIF, SERF, FGDC, ISO or any other defined standard. Allowing data holders to work with their preferred format, as well as an option of a stand-alone application or web-based environment, docBUlLDER will assist the scientific community in efficiently creating quality data and services metadata.

Pollack, Janine↗

NASA NTRS2014

Creating a Prototype Web Application for Spacecraft Real-Time Data Visualization on Mobile Devices

Mobile devices (smart phones, tablets) have become commonplace among almost all sectors of the workforce, especially in the technical and scientific communities. These devices provide individuals the ability to be constantly connected to any area of interest they may have, whenever and wherever they are located. The Huntsville Operations Support Center (HOSC) is attempting to take advantage of this constant connectivity to extend the data visualization component of the Payload Operations and Integration Center (POIC) to a person's mobile device. POIC users currently have a rather unique capability to create custom user interfaces in order to view International Space Station (ISS) payload health and status telemetry. These displays are used at various console positions within the POIC. The Software Engineering team has created a Mobile Display capability that will allow authenticated users to view the same displays created for the console positions on the mobile device of their choice. Utilizing modern technologies including ASP.net, JavaScript, and HTML5, we have created a web application that renders the user's displays in any modern desktop or mobile web browser, regardless of the operating system on the device. Additionally, the application is device aware which enables it to render its configuration and selection menus with themes that correspond to the particular device. The Mobile Display application uses a communication mechanism known as signalR to push updates to the web client. This communication mechanism automatically detects the best communication protocol between the client and server and also manages disconnections and reconnections of the client to the server. One benefit of this application is that the user can monitor important telemetry even while away from their console position. If expanded to the scientific community, this application would allow a scientist to view a snapshot of the state of their particular experiment at any time or place. Because the web application renders the displays that can currently be created with the POIC ground system, the user can tailor their displays for a particular device using tools that they are already trained to use.

Lang, Jeremy S.↗

NASA NTRS2006

NASA Laboratory Astrophysics Workshop 2006 Introductory Remarks

NASA Laboratory Astrophysics Workshop 2006, is the fourth in a series of workshops held at four year intervals, to assess the laboratory needs of NASA's astrophysics missions - past, current and future. Investigators who need laboratory data to interpret their observations from space missions, theorists and modelers, experimentalists who produce the data, and scientists who compile databases have an opportunity to exchange ideas and understand each other's needs and limitations. The multi-wavelength character of these workshops allows cross-fertilization of ideas, raises awareness in the scientific community of the rapid advances in other fields, and the challenges it faces in prioritizing its laboratory needs in a tight budget environment. Currently, we are in the golden age of Space Astronomy, with three of NASA s Great Observatories, Hubble Space Telescope (HST), Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO), and Spitzer Space Telescope (SST), in operation and providing astronomers and opportunity to perform synergistic observations. In addition, the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE), XMM-Newton, HETE-2, Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), INTEGRAL and Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), are operating in an extended phase, while Swift and Suzaku are in their prime phase of operations. The wealth of data from these missions is stretching the Laboratory Astrophysics program to its limits. Missions in the future, which also need such data include the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), Constellation-X (Con-X), Herschel, and Planck. The interpretation of spectroscopic data from these missions requires knowledge of atomic and molecular parameters such as transition probabilities, f-values, oscillator strengths, excitation cross sections, collision strengths, which have either to be measured in the laboratory by simulating space plasma and interactions therein, or by theoretical calculations and modeling. Once the laboratory data are obtained, a key step to making them available to the observer is the creation and maintenance of critically compiled databases. Other areas of study, that are important for understanding planet formation, and for detection of molecules that are indicators of life, are also supported by the Laboratory Astrophysics program. Some examples are: studies of ices and dust grains in a space environment; nature and evolution of interstellar carbon-rich dust; and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In addition, the program provides an opportunity for the investigation of novel ideas, such as simulating radiative shock instabilities in plasmas, in order to understand jets observed in space. A snapshot of the currently funded program, mission needs, and relevance of laboratory data to interpreting observations, will be obtained at this workshop through invited and contributed talks and poster papers. These will form the basis for discussions in splinter groups. The Science Organization Committee will integrate the results of the discussions into a coherent White Paper, which will provide guidance to NASA in structuring the Laboratory Astrophysics program in subsequent years, and also to the scientific community in submitting research proposals to NASA for funding.

Hasan, Hashima↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Beyond Fair: Engagement, Data Usability, and Open Community Productivity through the NASA Open Science Data Repository

The FAIR principle (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) governs the storage and sharing of NASA space biology and health data[1]. These guiding principles maximize reuse of data and the reproducibility of scientific findings. The NASA Open Science Data Repository (OSDR; an expansion of NASA GeneLab) was built on the FAIR principles and houses over 500 studies and close to 1000 datasets from decades of space life sciences experiments. OSDR embodies the FAIR principles through data governance that includes mediated, embargoed, and fully open access data. The FAIR data governance principles were recently proposed to be expanded to encompass a FAIREST framework for assessing research data repositories (FAIR + Engagement, Social connections, and Trust)[2]. FAIREST emphasizes the importance of data repositories engaging with the scientific community and gaining the trust of researchers regarding data quality. Trust also refers to the TRUST principles developed for assessment of digital repositories: Transparency, Responsibility, User Focus, Sustainability, Technology[3]. We present the “Open Science for Life in Space” Analysis Working Groups (AWGs) as evidence regarding the power of engagement, social connections, and trust which has enhanced OSDR’s capabilities and productivity. AWG members engage in two main activities. One, members provide feedback on OSDR scientific standards for data ingestion, curation, and reuse (study, subject and assay metadata; processing pipelines; dataset formats and uniformed structures for machine-readability). Two, AWG members collaborate to mine-reuse OSDR data to conduct scientific analysis. With nearly 800 active members, the AWGs have resulted in 32 publications re-using OSDR data and contributed many papers in two major special issues in Cell (2020) and Nature (2024). AWGs also serve as networking groups, facilitate social connections between researchers at all levels of experience, and also have a social online ‘Forum’ used to keep members informed on projects and opportunities. This community-centric, productive, and trustworthy data culture has resulted in a broader effect with international space agencies, academics, and the commercial space sector wanting to submit their data to OSDR. Ten studies of Inspiration 4 data were recently publicly released by OSDR, as were some JAXA human data. Coming up soon in OSDR are data submissions from the European Space Agency, Virgin Galactic PIs, and SpaceX Polaris Dawn. A major benefit of OSDR is the array of standardized and uniformly formatted data (which was developed through AWG member consensus), from which visualization tools, analysis tools, and machine learning models can be built or trained. This talk will cover the Multi-Study Visualization Tool, the Environmental Data Application, RadLab, and a UCSF-NSF funded knowledge graph biomedical health discovery tool ‘SPOKE’ currently being integrated with OSDR. OSDR also provides training programs in bioinformatics and machine learning to improve the scientific community’s awareness of data availability and to boost their ability to perform data analysis. The increasing engagement of the scientific community and the public with technologies powered by artificial intelligence (AI) heightens the need for data analysis to be transparent. The AI for Life in Space initiative leverages the data products provided in OSDR to train AI models, with an emphasis on explainable and trustworthy AI, which would not be possible without FAIR data and metadata. Overall, here we will demonstrate the importance for NASA life sciences data repositories to adhere to the FAIREST framework, by providing examples and success stories from different aspects of OSDR.

data↗

NASA NTRS2004

Digital Archive Issues from the Perspective of an Earth Science Data Producer

Contents include the following: Introduction. A Producer Perspective on Earth Science Data. Data Producers as Members of a Scientific Community. Some Unique Characteristics of Scientific Data. Spatial and Temporal Sampling for Earth (or Space) Science Data. The Influence of the Data Production System Architecture. The Spatial and Temporal Structures Underlying Earth Science Data. Earth Science Data File (or Relation) Schemas. Data Producer Configuration Management Complexities. The Topology of Earth Science Data Inventories. Some Thoughts on the User Perspective. Science Data User Communities. Spatial and Temporal Structure Needs of Different Users. User Spatial Objects. Data Search Services. Inventory Search. Parameter (Keyword) Search. Metadata Searches. Documentation Search. Secondary Index Search. Print Technology and Hypertext. Inter-Data Collection Configuration Management Issues. An Archive View. Producer Data Ingest and Production. User Data Searching and Distribution. Subsetting and Supersetting. Semantic Requirements for Data Interchange. Tentative Conclusions. An Object Oriented View of Archive Information Evolution. Scientific Data Archival Issues. A Perspective on the Future of Digital Archives for Scientific Data. References Index for this paper.

Barkstrom, Bruce R.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Spaceflight Biospecimen Sharing in Support of Science Discovery and Exploration

For decades, NASA and international partners have flown non-human biological experiments in space to understand the effects of spaceflight and address potential biological hazards. Sending organisms into space is a costly endeavor which makes space-flown biological specimens a valuable resource. To enable maximum scientific return, samples not required by the Principal Investigators are harvested and collected mostly by NASA’s Space Biology Biospecimen Sharing Program. These specimens are collected according to well-established SOPs that maintain quality and integrity. The specimens are then preserved, archived, and made available to the international scientific community through NASA’s Institutional Scientific Collection (ISC) at Ames Research Center (ARC). The ISC-ARC biospecimens and descriptive metadata are findable and accessible for request through the Life Sciences Data Archive (LSDA). The NASA ISC-ARC currently stores over 32,000 specimens from Shuttle, International Space Station, and ground-based investigations (spaceflight analog experiments involving either hindlimb unloading, centrifugation, or partial weight-bearing study designs). Tissues are predominantly from mice and rats, though samples are also available from bacteria and quail. The specimens include tissues from many physiological systems including musculoskeletal, neurosensory, reproductive, respiratory, circulatory, and digestive. Tissues are stored at -80°C, -20°C, +4°C, or ambient and preserved in various fixatives. Descriptive metadata is available for all samples. Historically, these tissues have been used for a wide range of analyses, including histology, genomics, and transcriptomics. Plans are underway to expand the ISC-ARC beyond the mostly-rodent contents, to include a space-relevant microbial culture collection including bacteria, fungi, and yeast. This expansion of the ISC-ARC will now involve identifying and standardizing best practices for microbial curations. To ensure safe long-term storage of microbial isolates, a microbiology laboratory will be dedicated for identification, cell culture, and lyophilization. Awarding of tissue to public science investigators has resulted in 33 publications since 2011, with 48 requests being submitted since 2016. Of note, NASA GeneLab has been awarded ISC-ARC biospecimens in the past few years. GeneLab processes the biospecimens to generate various levels of ‘omics’ data, which are published on GeneLab’s open access online platform for bioinformatics analysis and visualization. This has helped a systems biology community grow around the processed-biospecimens’ datasets, resulting in many new publications and insights. Websites: https://www.nasa.gov/ames/research/space-biosciences/isc-bsp ; https://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/Biospecimen

Ryan T. Scott↗

NASA NTRS1988

Toward an understanding of global change

In the international scientific community, the International Council of Scientific Unions has organized the International Geosphere Biosphere Program (IGBP) to address the problems of global change. The objective of the IGBP is to describe and understand the interactive physical, chemical, and biological processes that regulate the total earth system, the unique environment that it provides for life, the changes that are occurring in this system, and the manner in which they are influenced by human activities. The IGBP is currently in its preparatory phase, during which the program's goals and research components are slowly evolving and coming into focus. In this report, a limited number of high-priority research initiatives are recommended for early implementation as part of the U.S. contribution to the preparatory phase of the IGBP. The recommendations are based on the committee's analysis of the most critical gaps, not being addressed by existing programs, in the scientific knowledge needed to understand the changes that are occurring in the earth system on time scales of decades to centuries. These initiatives will build upon the capabilities of the U.S. program in global change.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1993

Monitoring issues from a modeling perspective

Recognition that earth's climate and biogeophysical conditions are likely changing due to human activities has led to a heightened awareness of the need for improved long-term global monitoring. The present long-term measurement efforts tend to be spotty in space, inadequately calibrated in time, and internally inconsistent with respect to other instruments and measured quantities. In some cases, such as most of the biosphere, most chemicals, and much of the ocean, even a minimal monitoring program is not available. Recently, it has become painfully evident that emerging global change issues demand information and insights that the present global monitoring system simply cannot supply. This is because a monitoring system must provide much more than a statement of change at a given level of statistical confidence. It must describe changes in diverse parts of the entire earth system on regional to global scales. It must be able to provide enough input to allow an integrated physical characterization of the changes that have occurred. Finally, it must allow a separation of the observed changes into their natural and anthropogenic parts. The enormous policy significance of global change virtually guarantees an unprecedented level of scrutiny of the changes in the earth system and why they are happening. These pressures create a number of emerging challenges and opportunities. For example, they will require a growing partnership between the observational programs and the theory/modeling community. Without this partnership, the scientific community will likely fall short in the monitoring effort. The monitoring challenge before us is not to solve the problem now, but rather to set appropriate actions in motion so as to create the required framework for solution. Each individual piece needs to establish its role in the large problem and how the required interactions are to take place. Below, we emphasize some of the needs and opportunities that could and should be addressed through participation by the theoreticians and modelers in the global change monitoring effort.

Mahlman, Jerry D.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Welcome to NASA's Earth Science Enterprise

There are strong scientific indications that natural change in the Earth system is being accelerated by human intervention. As a result, planet Earth faces the possibility of rapid environmental changes that would have a profound impact on all nations. However, we do not fully understand either the short-term effects of our activities, or their long-term implications - many important scientific questions remain unanswered. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is working with the national and international scientific communities to establish a sound scientific basis for addressing these critical issues through research efforts coordinated under the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Program, and the World Climate Research Program. The Earth Science Enterprise is NASA's contribution to the U.S. Global Change Research Program. NASA's Earth Science Enterprise will use space- and surface-based measurement systems to provide the scientific basis for understanding global change. The space-based components will provide a constellation of satellites to monitor the Earth from space. A major component of the Earth Science Enterprise is the Earth Observing System (EOS). The overall objective of the EOS Program is to determine the extent, causes, and regional consequences of global climate change. EOS will provide sustained space-based observations that will allow researchers to monitor climate variables over time to determine trends. A constellation of EOS satellites will acquire global data, beginning in 1998 and extending well into the 21st century.

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