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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2011

Relative Effects of Trajectory Prediction Errors on the AAC Autoresolver

Trajectory prediction is fundamental to automated separation assurance. Every missed alert, false alert and loss of separation can be traced to one or more errors in trajectory prediction. These errors are a product of many different sources including wind prediction errors, inferred pilot intent errors, surveillance errors, navigation errors and aircraft weight estimation errors. This study analyzes the impact of six different types of errors on the performance of an automated separation assurance system composed of a geometric conflict detection algorithm and the Advanced Airspace Concept Autoresolver resolution algorithm. Results show that, of the error sources considered in this study, top-of-descent errors were the leading contributor to missed alerts and failed resolution maneuvers. Descent-speed errors were another significant contributor, as were cruise-speed errors in certain situations. The results further suggest that increasing horizontal detection and resolution standards are not effective strategies for mitigating these types of error sources.

Lauderdale, Todd↗
NASA NTRS2007

Star Confusion Effect on SIM PlanetQuest Astrometric Performance

SIM PlanetQuest will measure star positions to an accuracy of a few microarcseconds using precise white light fringe measurements. One challenge for SIM observation scenario is "star confusion," where multiple stars are present in the instrument field of view. This is especially relevant for observing dim science targets because the density of number of stars increases rapidly with star magnitude. We study the effect of star confusion on the SIM astrometric performance due to systematic fringe errors caused by the extra photons from the confusion star(s}. Since star confusion from multiple stars may be analyzed as a linear superposition of the effect from single star confusion, we quantify the astrometric errors due to single star confusion surveying over many spectral types, including AOV, FOV, K5III, and MOV, and for various visual magnitude differences. To the leading order, the star confusion effect is characterized by the magnitude difference, spectral difference, and the angular separation between the target and confusion stars.Strategies for dealing with star confusion are presented. For example, since the presence of additional sources in the field of view leads to inconsistent delay estimates from different channels, with sufficient signal to noise ratio, the star confusion can be detected using chi-square statistics of fringe measurements from multiple spectral channels. An interesting result is that the star confusion can be detected even though the interferometer cannot resolve the separation between the target and confusion stars when their spectra are sufficiently different. Other strategies for mitigating the star confusion effect are also discussed.

crowded field↗
NASA NTRS2011

A State-of-the-Art Experimental Laboratory for Cloud and Cloud-Aerosol Interaction Research

The state of the art for predicting climate changes due to increasing greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere with high accuracy is problematic. Confidence intervals on current long-term predictions (on the order of 100 years) are so large that the ability to make informed decisions with regard to optimum strategies for mitigating both the causes of climate change and its effects is in doubt. There is ample evidence in the literature that large sources of uncertainty in current climate models are various aerosol effects. One approach to furthering discovery as well as modeling, and verification and validation (V&V) for cloud-aerosol interactions is use of a large "cloud chamber" in a complimentary role to in-situ and remote sensing measurement approaches. Reproducing all of the complex interactions is not feasible, but it is suggested that the physics of certain key processes can be established in a laboratory setting so that relevant fluid-dynamic and cloud-aerosol phenomena can be experimentally simulated and studied in a controlled environment. This report presents a high-level argument for significantly improved laboratory capability, and is meant to serve as a starting point for stimulating discussion within the climate science and other interested communities.

Fremaux, Charles M.↗
NASA NTRS2013

Achieving Climate Change Absolute Accuracy in Orbit

The Climate Absolute Radiance and Refractivity Observatory (CLARREO) mission will provide a calibration laboratory in orbit for the purpose of accurately measuring and attributing climate change. CLARREO measurements establish new climate change benchmarks with high absolute radiometric accuracy and high statistical confidence across a wide range of essential climate variables. CLARREO's inherently high absolute accuracy will be verified and traceable on orbit to Système Internationale (SI) units. The benchmarks established by CLARREO will be critical for assessing changes in the Earth system and climate model predictive capabilities for decades into the future as society works to meet the challenge of optimizing strategies for mitigating and adapting to climate change. The CLARREO benchmarks are derived from measurements of the Earth's thermal infrared spectrum (5-50 micron), the spectrum of solar radiation reflected by the Earth and its atmosphere (320-2300 nm), and radio occultation refractivity from which accurate temperature profiles are derived. The mission has the ability to provide new spectral fingerprints of climate change, as well as to provide the first orbiting radiometer with accuracy sufficient to serve as the reference transfer standard for other space sensors, in essence serving as a "NIST [National Institute of Standards and Technology] in orbit." CLARREO will greatly improve the accuracy and relevance of a wide range of space-borne instruments for decadal climate change. Finally, CLARREO has developed new metrics and methods for determining the accuracy requirements of climate observations for a wide range of climate variables and uncertainty sources. These methods should be useful for improving our understanding of observing requirements for most climate change observations.

Wielicki, Bruce A.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Radiation Tolerant, FPGA-Based SmallSat Computer System

The Radiation Tolerant, FPGA-based SmallSat Computer System (RadSat) computing platform exploits a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) with real-time partial reconfiguration to provide increased performance, power efficiency and radiation tolerance at a fraction of the cost of existing radiation hardened computing solutions. This technology is ideal for small spacecraft that require state-of-the-art on-board processing in harsh radiation environments but where using radiation hardened processors is cost prohibitive.

On-board processing for harsh radiation environmen↗
NASA NTRS2016

Risk of Performance Decrements and Adverse Health Outcomes Resulting from Sleep Loss, Circadian Desynchronization, and Work Overload

Sleep loss, circadian desynchronization, and work overload occur to some extent for ground and flight crews, prior to and during spaceflight missions. Ground evidence indicates that such risk factors may lead to performance decrements and adverse health outcomes, which could potentially compromise mission objectives. Efforts are needed to identify the environmental and mission conditions that interfere with sleep and circadian alignment, as well as individual differences in vulnerability and resiliency to sleep loss and circadian desynchronization. Specifically, this report highlights a collection of new evidence to better characterize the risk and reveals new gaps in this risk as follows: Sleep loss is apparent during spaceflight. Astronauts consistently average less sleep during spaceflight relative to on the ground. The causes of this sleep loss remain unknown, however ground-based evidence suggests that the sleep duration of astronauts is likely to lead to performance impairment and short and long-term health consequences. Further research is needed in this area in order to develop screening tools to assess individual astronaut sleep need in order to quantify the magnitude of sleep loss during spaceflight; current and planned efforts in BHP's research portfolio address this need. In addition, it is still unclear whether the conditions of spaceflight environment lead to sleep loss or whether other factors, such as work overload lead to the reduced sleep duration. Future data mining efforts and continued data collection on the ISS will help to further characterize factors contributing to sleep loss. Sleep inertia has not been evaluated during spaceflight. Ground-based studies confirm that it takes two to four hours to achieve optimal performance after waking from a sleep episode. Sleep inertia has been associated with increased accidents and reduced performance in operational environments. Sleep inertia poses considerable risk during spaceflight when emergency situations necessitate that crewmembers wake from sleep and make quick decisions. A recently completed BHP investigation assesses the effects of sleep inertia upon abrupt awakening, with and without hypnotics currently used in spaceflight; results from this investigation will help to inform strategies relative to sleep inertia effects on performance. Circadian desynchrony has been observed during spaceflight. Circadian desynchrony during spaceflight develops due to schedule constraints requiring non-24 operations or 'slam-shifts' and due to insufficient or mis-timed light exposure. In addition, circadian misalignment has been associated with reduced sleep duration and increased medication use. In ground-based studies, circadian desynchrony has been associated with significant performance impairment and increased risk of accidents when operations coincide with the circadian nadir. There is a great deal of information available on how to manage circadian misalignment, however, there are currently no easily collected biomarkers that can be used during spaceflight to determine circadian phase. Current research efforts are addressing this gap. Work overload has been documented during current spaceflight operations. NASA has established work hour guidelines that limit shift duration, however, schedule creep, where duty requirements necessitate working beyond scheduled work hours, has been reported. This observation warrants the documentation of actual work hours in order to improve planning and in order to ensure that astronauts receive adequate down time. In addition to concerns about work overload, ground based evidence suggests that work underload may be a concern during deep space missions, where torpor may develop and physically demanding workload will be exchanged for monitoring of autonomous systems. Given that increased automation is anticipated for exploration vehicles, fatigue effects in the context of such systems needs to be further understood. Performance metrics are needed to evaluate fitness-for-duty during spaceflight. Although ground-based evidence supports the notion that sleep loss, circadian desynchronization and work overload lead to performance impairment, inconsistency in the measures used to evaluate performance during spaceflight make it difficult to evaluate the magnitude of performance impairment during spaceflight. Work is underway to standardize measures of performance evaluation during spaceflight. Once established, such performance indicators need to be correlated with operational performance. Individual differences in sleep need and circadian preference, phase shifting ability and period have been documented in ground-based studies. Individual differences in response to sleep loss and circadian misalignment have also been documented and are presumed to be associated with genetic polymorphisms. No studies have systematically reported individual differences in sleep or circadian-related outcomes during spaceflight. More work is needed in this area in order to identify genetic or phenotypic biomarkers that predict resilience or vulnerability to sleep loss in order to personalize countermeasure strategies and mitigate performance impairment during spaceflight. Two laboratory and field investigations specific to this topic are currently ongoing; additional efforts, including an effort to mine existing biological data from spaceflight relative to sleep and circadian outcomes, are planned. Sex differences in sleep need and circadian period and phase have been reported in ground-based studies. The impact of these sex differences on performance is unclear. Sex differences in sleep need and circadian rhythms have not been systematically studied during spaceflight, presumably due to the small number of women that have flown in space. More research is needed in this area to evaluate whether any of the observed sex differences in physiology lead to altered performance in spaceflight and on the ground.

Flynn-Evans, Erin↗
NASA NTRS2018

The Jetting Phenomena in Meshed Spur Gears

Rotorcraft gearbox transmissions are required to efficiently transfer power from the turbine engine to the main and tail rotor blades. Losses in transmission efficiency impact mission payload and aircraft range. These systems are expected to deliver high power with high gear pitch line velocities. More recently, shrouding has been employed to reduce windage power losses associated with the high gear rotational speeds. However, recent experimental results from tests conducted by the authors show the negative impact of close clearance shrouds on windage power loss, particularly at the meshed region where flow is ejected, or jetted, from the collapsing tooth spaces. A literature review was conducted to gain further insight into the phenomenon of gear mesh jetting and strategies to mitigate and control the associated losses. An analysis was conducted on windage losses in the mesh region. Test results are given for a modified shroud configuration. Finally, a discussion on observed trends follows with suggestions on future research.

windage↗
NASA NTRS2018

The Jetting Phenomena in Meshed Spur Gears

Rotorcraft gearbox transmissions are required to efficiently transfer power from the turbine engine to the main and tail rotor blades. Losses in transmission efficiency impact mission payload and aircraft range. These systems are expected to deliver high power with high gear pitch line velocities. More recently, shrouding has been employed to reduce windage power losses associated with the high gear rotational speeds. However, recent experimental results from tests conducted by the authors show the negative impact of close clearance shrouds on windage power loss, particularly at the meshed region where flow is ejected, or jetted, from the collapsing tooth spaces. A literature review was conducted to gain further insight into the phenomenon of gear mesh jetting and strategies to mitigate and control the associated losses. An analysis was conducted on windage losses in the mesh region. Test results are given for a modified shroud configuration. Finally, a discussion on observed trends follows with suggestions on future research.

Gear↗
NASA NTRS2018

Quantifying the Early Snowmelt Event of 2015 in the Cascade Mountains, USA by Developing and Validating MODIS-Based Snowmelt Timing Maps

Spring snowmelt serves as the major hydrological contribution to many watersheds of the US West. Since the 1970s the conterminous western USA has seen an earlier arrival of spring snowmelt. The extremely low snowpack and early melt of 2015 in the Cascade Mountains may be a harbinger of winters to come, underscoring the interest in advancements in spring snowmelt monitoring. Target-of-opportunity and point measurements of snowmelt using meteorological stations or stream gauges are common sources of these data, however, there have been few attempts to identify snowmelt timing using remote sensing. In this study, we describe the creation of snowmelt timing maps (STMs) which identify the day of year that each pixel of a remotely sensed image transitions from "snow-covered" to "no snow" during the spring melt season, controlling for cloud coverage and ephemeral spring snow storms. Derived from the 500 meter MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) standard snow map, MOD10A2, this new dataset provides annual maps of snowmelt timing, with corresponding maps of cloud interference and interannual variability in snow coverage from 2001-2015. We first show that the STMs agree strongly with in-situ snow telemetry (SNOTEL) meteorological station measurements in terms of snowmelt timing. We then use the STMs to investigate the early snowmelt event of 2015 in the Cascade Mountains, USA, highlighting the protected areas of Mt. Rainier, Crater Lake, and Lassen Volcanic National Parks. In 2015 the Cascade Mountains experienced snowmelt 41 days earlier than the 2001-2015 average, with 25 percent of its land area melting more than 65 days earlier than average. The upper elevations of the Cascade Mountains experienced the greatest snowmelt anomaly. Our results are relevant to land managers and biologists as they plan adaptation strategies for mitigating the effects of climate change throughout temperate mountains.

snowmelt timing↗
NASA NTRS2018

Jetting Phenomenon in Meshed Spur Gears

Rotorcraft gearbox transmissions are required to efficiently transfer power from the turbine engine to the main and tail rotor blades. Losses in transmission efficiency impacts mission payload and aircraft range. These systems are expected to deliver high power with high gear pitch line velocities. More recently, shrouding has been employed to reduce windage power losses associated with the high gear rotational speeds. However, recent experimental results from tests conducted by the authors show the negative impact of close clearance shrouds on windage power loss, particularly at the meshed region where flow is ejected, or jetted, from the collapsing tooth spaces. A literature review was conducted to gain further insight into the phenomenon of gear mesh jetting and strategies to mitigate and control the associated losses. A discussion on observed trends follows with suggestions on future research.

power loss↗
NASA NTRS2019

Development of a Novel Helmet Support Assembly for NASA Orion Crew Survival Suit

Orion Spacecraft water landing environments have necessitated the design and testing of a novel Helmet Support Assembly (HSA) as part of the NASA Orion Crew Survival Systems (OCSS) launch and re-entry spacesuit. A series of development sled tests using 5 th female, 50th male, and 95th male Hybrid III Anthropometric Test Devices (ATDs) simulated worst case water landings and identified the need for an integrated suit countermeasure to control the helmet during dynamic loading. Initial prototype countermeasures rigidly restrained the helmet keeping the helmet in place as desired, but led to large force and moment transmission to the upper neck. Further development led to a flexible HSA which used high-strength steel wire contoured to the size-matched ATD thorax and attached to both the front and rear of the neck ring. The selected wire diameter and contoured shape provided some ability to flex under the expected worst-case dynamic loads. The existing shoulder harness was used to restrain the helmet motion during “eyeballs out/down” loading while also attempting to prevent head-to-helmet contact in “eyeballs down” spinal-axis loading. A new small prototype helmet was also developed and tested for the 5th and 50th ATDs with both HSA devices. Dynamic impact tests were conducted on the HIA (Horizontal Impulse Accelerator) at Wright Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) under simulated off-nominal landing conditions using a representative Orion seat and 5-point harness. For each ATD size, peak Neck Injury Criteria (Nij) were compared to equivalent sled tests with an unsuited ATD configuration. Adding a helmet without attempting to control motion increased peak Nij values for all ATD sizes. The use of the rigid countermeasure showed decreased peak Nij results for the 5th female, but increased peak Nij values for both 50th configurations and the 95th male ATDs. By comparison, the flexible HSA showed reduced peak Nij values for all ATD sizes. Overall, this series of dynamic impact tests identified a risk of increased crew neck loading when under- or over-restraining the helmet during simulated Orion water landings and also demonstrated an effective strategy to mitigate those loads with a compliant HSA design.

Safety↗
NASA NTRS2020

Lambayeque Water Resources: Assessing Hydrologic Patterns Using NASA Earth Observations to Address Tree Mortality in Peru’s Coastal Mesquite Forests

The mesquite (Prosopis sp.) forests in Northwestern Peru have had a significant increase in tree mortality in the past fifty years. Within this time frame, 17% of the forest extent was lost and the forest saw an average annual declination rate of 0.33% (Ektvedt, Vetaas, & Lundberg, 2012). These habitats support the region's rich biodiversity and play an important role in local community economies. Several hydrologic causes for mesquite mortality have been hypothesized, but local researchers lack spatially comprehensive techniques to address the problem. While in situ research is currently being utilized in an attempt to explain this recent anomaly, landscape-level visualizations through remote sensing have not been produced to find connections between hydrologic trends and the health of Northwestern Peru’s mesquite forests. Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data and Global Land Data Assimilation System data were analyzed to assess hydrologic patterns pertaining to precipitation and soil moisture in the Lambayeque region of Peru. These data were then paired with vegetation indices derived from Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) to display how changing hydrologic patterns relate to the health of mesquite trees. These data were then compiled on a monthly basis over the 30-year study period to create a time series product, which was later referenced with background research to find the likely causes of recent forest decline. The results will assist in the Lambayeque Regional Government’s understanding of recent biological declination and will help them design strategies to mitigate forest decline in Lambayeque, Peru and surrounding regions.

Water Resources↗
NASA NTRS2020

Lambayeque Water Resources: Assessing Hydrologic Patterns Using NASA Earth Observations to Address Tree Mortality in Peru’s Coastal Mesquite Forests

The mesquite (Prosopi ssp.) forests in Northwestern Peru have had a significant increase in tree mortality in the past fifty years. Within this time frame, 17% of the forest extent was lost and the forest saw an average annual declination rate of 0.33% (Ektvedt, Vetaas, & Lundberg, 2012). These habitats support the region's rich biodiversity and play an important role in local community economies. Several hydrologic causes for mesquite mortality have been hypothesized, but local researchers lack spatially comprehensive techniques to address the problem. While in situ research is currently being utilized in an attempt to explain this recent anomaly, landscape-level visualizations through remote sensing have not been produced to find connections between hydrologic trends and the health of Northwestern Peru’s mesquite forests. Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station dataand Global Land Data Assimilation Systemdata were analyzed to assess hydrologic patterns pertaining to precipitation and soil moisture in the Lambayeque region of Peru. These data were then paired with vegetation indices derived from Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) to display how changing hydrologic patterns relate to the health of mesquite trees. These data were then compiled on a monthly basis over the 30-year study period to create a time series product, which was later referenced with background research to find the likely causes of recent forest decline. The results will assist in the Lambayeque Regional Government’s understanding of recent biological declination and will help them design strategies to mitigate forest decline in Lambayeque, Peru and surrounding regions.

Water Resources↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

BioNutrients: Microbial on-demand production of short shelf-life micronutrients in space

Long duration deep space missions pose a significant challenge when considering adequate nutrition for human spaceflight. Many micronutrients supplied in pre-packaged foods for low Earth orbit flights have a short shelf life and will degrade over multi-year missions. One strategy to mitigate the risk of micronutrient malnutrition is to grow fresh foods to supplement a pre-packaged diet. The BioNutrients project aims to develop systems for growing edible microorganisms that are genetically engineered to produce short shelf life micronutrients. BioNutrients-1 (BN-1) is a five-year spaceflight project currently underway on the International Space Station (ISS) that tests long-term storage and production of two carotenoids, β-carotene and zeaxanthin, in genetically engineered yeast strains. BN-1 on-orbit and ground control activities indicate that the nutrient production system will be stable for at least two years in ambient storage conditions. BN-1 is also testing the effects of long-term ISS storage on viability and gene expression using “stasis packs” containing a series of microorganisms useful in food and biomanufacturing processes. Stasis pack analysis is distinguishing microorganisms with full viability after two years of storage from other species that lose viability rapidly. In parallel, BioNutrients-2 (BN-2) is being developed as a six-month flight experiment that will expand the range of foods produced on ISS to include yogurt, kefir, and probiotic yeast. BN-2 will improve upon hardware design by transitioning from a hard-shell polycarbonate bioreactor to a flexible fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) bag. This change reduces the mass and volume required to store production packs. The long-term goal of BioNutrients is to develop the capability for rapid and safe delivery of multiple micronutrients in single-use production packs. We expect synthetic biology approaches similar to BioNutrients will play an important role for astronaut health in future NASA missions to the Moon and Mars.

Synthetic Biology↗
NASA NTRS2021

Waveguiding and Dispersion Properties of Interband Cascade Laser Frequency Combs

Mid-infrared semiconductor lasers have emerged as indispensable compact coherent sources for military and commercial applications. While much of the historical emphasis has been on maximizing the output power and/or spectral purity, a recent new focus has been on engineering these lasers to operate as optical frequency combs (OFCs) for broadband real-time spectroscopy. In particular, the combination of low-drive-power and broad gain bandwidth has made interband cascade laser (ICL) OFCs an attractive complement to quantum cascade laser OFCs operating at longer wavelengths. Moreover, ICL combs can potentially be incorporated into fully-integrated dual-comb spectrometers that employ fast, room-temperature IC photodetectors processed on the same chip.However, the high refractive index of the ICL’s GaSb substrate poses some challenges to the optical waveguiding. Because the modal index is considerably lower than that of the substrate, the optical field can penetrate the bottom cladding layer and leak into the GaSb, inducing wavelength-dependent interference that modifies the gain and group velocity dispersion (GVD) profiles. Even when the effect on lasing threshold is small, the comb properties can be adversely affected. Using the sub-threshold Fourier transform technique, we studied ICL combs with various ridge widths, substrate thicknesses, and center wavelengths. This allowed us to evaluate the effects of modal leakage on the GVD. We find that the resonant nature of the substrate modes induces oscillations, which affect both the spectral bandwidth and the phase-locking properties above threshold. Strategies to mitigate the GVD’s undesired and unpredictable spectral variation will be presented.

Meyer, J. R↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Interfacial thermodynamics of cryogenic fluids: The effect on non-condensable gas on fluid storage

Propellant tanks that contain cryogenic fluids (CFs) in low gravity conditions are usually pressurized with non-condensable (NC) gases for fast extraction. Unfortunately, the presence of NC gases causes CFs to exhibit higher boil-offs compared to pure CF systems. For optimal utilization of the cryogenic fuels, these higher boil-off rates must be minimized. Our goal is to quantify the effects NC gases have on the evaporation and condensation dynamics of CFs to develop strategies that mitigate the higher boil-offs. The hypothesis is that the NC gas accumulates around the CF’s liquid vapor interface in the Knudsen layer, creating a kinetic barrier for both evaporation and condensation. Testing this hypothesis with experimental methods is difficult due to the transient nature of the Knudsen layer, which is only a few nanometers thick. Furthermore, experimental capabilities are limited in low gravity conditions and extremely expensive. Accordingly, we approach this problem from a theoretical perspective. In this study, we employ molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to probe the interfacial mechanisms that affect CF’s evaporation and condensation at varying concentrations of NC gases. Specifically, we use nitrogen (N2) and oxygen (O2) as our CFs and neon (Ne) as our NC gas. Using MD simulations, we show that Ne accumulates at N2 liquid vapor interface across a wide range of Ne concentrations, thereby impeding mass transport of N2. Our simulations allow for direct computation of the molar flux as well as the mass accommodation coefficient (MAC) which can then be used as input parameters to continuum fluid dynamics (CFD) models for optimal storage tank design.

Michael Robert DeLyser↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Bionutrients: Microbial Production of on-Demand Nutrients on the International Space Station

Providing adequate nutrition to crew members is essential as deep-space missions cannot rely on consistent Earth-based resupply. The current NASA pre-packaged food system is designed for low-earth-orbit missions with a stated shelf-life of two years and notable vitamin degradation over time. One strategy to mitigate nutrient loss is to implement bioregenerative food sources to supplement the pre-packaged food system. The BioNutrients project is designed to provide targeted production of short shelf-life nutrients in a single-use production pack. BioNutrients-1 includes two strains of edible yeast that have been genetically engineered to produce carotenoids, β-carotene, and zeaxanthin. This five-year mission on the International Space Station (ISS), launched in 2019, tests the long-term storage and nutrient production of the microorganisms of interest. Additional microorganisms are also stored in stasis packs to determine the effects of long-duration storage on the ISS. These organisms may be useful for production of fermented foods, pharmaceuticals, or biomanufacturing processes. Improving on the BioNutrients-1 project, BioNutrients-2 has optimized the production pack hardware by reducing the overall mass and volume of the system. Furthermore, BioNutrients-2 has expanded the projects scope by investigating novel products and microbial food sources. BioNutrients-2 is a six-month mission, launched in 2022, which tests production of fresh foods such as yogurt and kefir. The BioNutrients missions seek to provide advances for in-space biomanufacturing by addressing safe and reliable production of high-value nutrients and on-demand foods for future exploration efforts.

BioNutrients↗