The National Institute of Health (NIH) has awarded the first new grants for biomedical research on the International Space Station (ISS). The grants are part of an initiative between NIH and NASA to spur research on health issues in microgravity.

Research has shown that bacteria and microorganisms can become more virulent in space. This is worrisome for space agencies planning long manned missions. But on the flip side such experiments could give microbiologists new insights into bacteria like Salmonella (studied in space in 2007) that may lead to new therapies for infections on Earth. Another space-related health issue researchers have been trying to better understand is how weightlessness affects bone loss, which is experienced by astronauts.

"BioMed-ISS offers a novel opportunity for gaining scientific insights that would not otherwise be possible through ground-based means," said Stephen I. Katz, director of the NIH's National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, and NIH liaison to NASA, in a press release. "The beauty of this initiative is that it offers an unprecedented opportunity for benefitting human health on earth, while leveraging the American public's investment in the ISS."

According to the release,

Scientists will conduct their experiments under a two-stage mechanism. The first is a ground-based preparatory phase to allow investigators to meet select milestones and technical requirements. The second is an ISS experimental phase that will include preparing the experiments for launch, working with astronauts to conduct them on the ISS, and performing subsequent data analyses on Earth.

The first round of awards were granted to,

Paola Divieti, M.D., Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston: Weight-bearing activities contribute to the development and maintenance of bone mass, while weightlessness and immobility -- as experienced by the astronauts and bedridden and immobilized patients -- can result in bone loss and a weakened skeleton. Osteocytes, the most common type of bone cell, are believed to have gravity-sensing abilities. These cells play a key role in bone remodeling, a process that is vital to skeletal health. In studying osteocytes in a gravity-free environment, Divieti aims to uncover new therapeutic targets for osteoporosis and related bone diseases.

Millie Hughes-Fulford, Ph.D., Northern California Institute for Research and Education, San Francisco: The immune system, which protects the body against foreign substances, is suppressed in space. A reduction in the immune response also occurs in the elderly, who, like the astronauts, are at increased risk for infection. As a former astronaut, Hughes-Fulford aims to apply lessons learned from studies of immune cells in microgravity to a new model for investigating the loss of immune response in older women and men.

Declan McCole, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego: Excessive alcohol use is a leading lifestyle-related cause of death in the United States. A major factor in alcohol-related disease stems from the ability of alcohol to compromise the natural barrier function of cells in the gastrointestinal tract, increasing the movement of toxins from the intestines to other organs in the body. Using microgravity three-dimensional cell culture models, McCole plans to generate insights regarding the barrier properties of the intestines, and to explore how the absence of gravity affects alcohol's ability to diminish this barrier.

A rendering of Boeing's new Space-Based Space Surveillance Satellite. Credit: Boeing

With 20/20 hindsight, catastrophes can appear inevitable. The subprime mortgage meltdown. The BP oil spill. To avert a different kind of catastrophe, the U.S. military is trying to gain 20/20 foresight on the looming space junk crisis, which I wrote about in the June issue of WIRED.

To get an unprecedented view of the space waste cluttering the heavens, the U.S. Air Force is scrambling to reschedule the launch of the first-ever Space-Based Space Surveillance Satellite. Currently, the military monitors space junk through a ground-based network of radar and optical sensors. But this would be the first time that the Pentagon would capture detailed views of the 500,000 pieces of orbiting trash by relaying photos of debris from space itself.

The one-ton spacecraft will also keep watch on other spacecraft that might pose an accidental--or purposeful--menace to any of America's many vital satellites.

The launch, initially set for July 8, was delayed after tests found software bugs in the lift-off vehicle. The rocket is now expected to blast skyward in mid-August from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, says a spokesman for Boeing, and the lead contractor on the project.

The new eye in the sky will start snapping photos at a time when the threat posed by space waste seems to be growing. In late May, the Pentagon released an alarming report to Congress warning about future collisions among active satellite and zombiesats--like last year's unprecedented crash between the long-retired Cosmos-2251 and Iridium-33. That smash-up added 2,000 fresh new fragments to a fast-growing catalog of debris objects. The Pentagon raised the specter that a catastrophic chain reaction of crashes has the potential to devastate the $250 billion satellite services industry, crippling global communication and commerce.

Then, in mid-June, NASA was alerted to three pieces of junk that zoomed dangerously close to the International Space Station during a docking mission. After a string of similar close calls last year, NASA officials have already called space junk the top threat to the $100 billion space laboratory and its international crew of astronauts. The ISS, flying at just 220 miles high, happens to inhabit the most cluttered band of low-Earth orbit (LEO).

Following that, President Obama released an 18-page National Space Policy that catapults the space junk problem to the very top of the space agenda. But in a break with the past, Obama not only called for more "mitigation" and monitoring of debris but also urged space junk removal, something that has yet to be tried. His 2011 budget for NASA is the first to propose funding for debris removal projects.

While the space debris situation is already perilous, the problem would be compounded if a collision between objects of different nations leads to a misunderstanding. After all, one man's waste can be seen as another man's anti-satellite weapon. What might at first appear to be an accident could develop into an international imbroglio.

"The center of gravity of American military power is in space," says George Friedman, the CEO of Stratfor, an Austin, Texas-based geopolitical consulting firm, in the new issue of Smithsonian. Looking ahead deeper into the 21^st century, he warns that an enemy who wants to attack the U.S. would strike first by knocking out our satellites, in order "to blind us, to cripple us."

That does sound ominous, and it's all the more reason to pay far more attention to a different kind of UFO, the unintended flying object.

Artist rendering of the HTV. Credit: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)

Japan's space agency has been working diligently since the 1990s on an unmanned spacecraft, called the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV), to resupply the International Space Station (ISS). On September 11 (September 10 in the United States), the HTV will finally lift off from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.

Japan's new spacecraft is 10 meters long and capable of carrying 4.5 metric tons of internal cargo and 1.5 tons of external cargo. It is comprised of two segments--one pressurized and one unpressurized--and can carry supplies as well as scientific experiments. The HTV, along with the Russian Progress vehicles and the European Space Agency's Automated Transportation Vehicle, is among a handful of spacecraft that delivers supplies to the space station. Now that the station has doubled its crew capacity, the extra vehicle is much needed.

Dan Hartman, manager of integration and operations for the ISS program, said in a media briefing earlier this year that HTV will be "a major new capability to resupply the station, allowing for the launch of rack modules and external payloads."

On its first trip, HTV will carry 2.5 metric tons internally and two scientific payloads externally: a Japanese instrument to study the effects of trace gases on Earth's ozone layer, and a NASA experiment to study the oceans and map the ionosphere and thermosphere.

The new spacecraft is larger and has a simpler docking system than the Progress spacecraft. It will be flown just close enough to the station to allow the station's robotic arm to pull it in, before attaching to the Earth-facing docking port on the station's Harmony module. The crew will then start unloading the supplies and will move the experiments to the Japanese Experimental Module, called Kibo. The HTV will spend about six weeks attached to the station. Two days after release, it will re-enter Earth's atmosphere.

The vehicle is an important step in Japanese efforts to solidify a strong role in the development and operations of the space station, which is scheduled to be completed by 2011 (and operational until at least 2016). The HTV will be another vehicle that the United States will have to rely on for sending supplies to the station once the space shuttles retire in 2010, according to the current schedule.

HTV will launch aboard an H-IIB rocket at 2:00 A.M. Japan time, 1:30 P.M. EST.

Credit: JAXA