A nonprofit organization that has been tasked with managing research on the American portions of the International Space Station will begin accepting proposals for specific projects beginning in June, company officials have announced.

The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) was selected by NASA in 2011 to manage the space station's U.S. National Laboratory, and to maximize use of these facilities while the orbiting outpost remains operational planned until at least 2020.

Starting in June, CASIS will begin accepting solicitations for life science research projects to fly on the space station that examine osteoporosis, muscle deterioration, immune system responses, protein crystallization and vaccine development in a microgravity environment.

"The thing that the space station provides us with is tremendous capability already on orbit," Alan Stern, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., and a science adviser to CASIS, told reporters last month at the 28th National Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colo., via a video conference call.

The specific life science topics were decided upon following a review of more than 135 experiments NASA flew in space over the past decade. The CASIS Biological Sciences Review Panel was led by Timothy Yeatman, CASIS' interim chief scientist.

The identified areas of research will act as a starting point, but eventually the scope of the projects will be expanded, said Jim Royston, CASIS' interim executive director. The aim is to build upon the findings of previous studies, and to spur innovation and commercialization in the process. [ 7 Aerospace Technologies On the Road ]

"We are really excited by the potential of what we will be able to learn on orbit about treating these problems on Earth," Yeatman said in a statement.

In April, NanoRacks LLC, a private company already operating research facilities on the station's U.S. National Laboratory under a NASA Space Act Agreement, announced a solicitation call for experiments that will fly outside the orbiting outpost in the vacuum of space.

The platform, which will be attached outside the station's Japanese Kibo laboratory, will be launched in 2014, and is designed to test how materials, biological samples and electronics fare on the exterior of the station as it orbits 240 miles (386 kilometers) above Earth.

After CASIS selects research proposals, the organization will try to leverage its core $3 million budget to also attract investment from other sources, including other research organizations and private companies.

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New experiments sought for space station

May 9, 2012

Image Caption: Andr Kuipers on the International Space Station completing ESAs ROALD-2 biological experiment. Blood samples are frozen in the Space Stations freezer for preservation before being returned to Earth for analysis. Credits: ESA/NASA

New results from research on the International Space Station are offering clues on why astronauts immune systems dont work as well in space. The findings may benefit the elderly on Earth.

Astronauts suffer many types of stress adapting to weightlessness. For years, scientists have known that our immune system works less well in space, and trying to find the reason is a driving force for space research.

Researchers at the University of Teramo, the European Centre for Brain Research and the Santa Lucia Foundation have discovered that a particular enzyme, called 5-LOX, becomes more active in weightlessness.

The 5-LOX enzyme in part regulates the life expectancy of human cells. Most human cells divide and regenerate but the number of times they replicate is limited.

Could a change in 5-LOX enzyme activity affect astronauts health in space?

To find out, the researchers needed to test their theory in the only laboratory that can switch off gravity: the International Space Station.

Target locked on 5-LOX

Blood samples from two healthy donors were sent to the orbital outpost. One set was exposed to weightlessness for two days, while the other was held in a small centrifuge to simulate Earth-like gravity. The samples were then frozen and sent back to Earth for analysis.

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Keeping Immune Cells Alive And Kicking Onboard The Space Station

A private US company has set a new date for launching a cargo ship to the International Space Station.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp, better known as SpaceX, said on Friday it was now aiming for a May 19 lift-off of its Falcon rocket and Dragon capsule. It will be the first commercial cargo run to the space station.

The launch of the supply ship had been scheduled for Monday but was delayed for more software testing. The test flight is already three months late.

NASA used to stockpile the space station through the shuttles, but the fleet was retired last summer. The space agency wants commercial providers to carry up supplies and eventually astronauts.

In the meantime, NASA is paying Russia to ferry astronauts to the space station.

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New date for run to space station

ScienceDaily (May 5, 2012) Humanity is on the constant search for improvements in cancer treatments, and the International Space Station has provided a microgravity platform that has enabled advancements in the cancer treatment process.

The oncology community has a recent history of using different microencapsulation techniques as an approach to cancer treatment. Microencapsulation is a single step process that forms tiny liquid-filled, biodegradable micro-balloons containing various drug solutions that can provide better drug delivery and new medical treatments for solid tumors and resistant infections. In other words, by using microcapsules containing antitumor treatments and visualization markers, the treatment can be directed right to the tumor, which has several benefits over systemic treatment such as chemotherapy. Testing in mouse models has shown that these unique microcapsules can be injected into human prostate tumors to actually inhibit tumor growth or can be injected following cryo-surgery (freezing) to improve the destruction of the tumors much better than freezing or local chemotherapy alone. The microcapsules also contain a contrast agent that enables C-T, X-ray or ultrasound imaging to monitor the distribution within the tissues to ensure that the entire tumor is treated when the microcapsules release their drug contents.

The Microencapsulation Electrostatic Processing System-II experiment, or MEPS-II, led by Dennis Morrison, Ph.D. (retired), at NASA Johnson Space Center, was performed on the station in 2002 and included innovative encapsulation of several different anti-cancer drugs, magnetic triggering particles, and encapsulation of genetically engineered DNA. The experiment system improved on existing microencapsulation technology by using microgravity to modify the fluid mechanics, interfacial behavior, and biological processing methods as compared to the way the microcapsules would be formed in gravity.

In effect, the MEPS-II system on the station combined two immiscible liquids in such a way that surface tension forces (rather than fluid shear) dominated at the interface of the fluids. The significant performance of the space-produced microcapsules as a cancer treatment delivery system motivated the development of the Pulse Flow Microencapsulation System, or PFMS, which is an Earth-based system that can replicate the quality of the microcapsules created in space.

As a result of this space station research, the results from the MEPS-II experiments have provided new insight into the best formulations and conditions required to produce microcapsules of different drugs, particularly special capsules containing diagnostic imaging materials and triggered release particles. Co-encapsulation of multiple drugs and Photodynamic Therapy, or PDT, drugs has enabled new engineering strategies for production of microcapsules on Earth designed for direct delivery into cancer tissues. Other microcapsules have now been made for treatment of deep tissue infections and clotting disorders and to provide delivery of genetically engineered materials for potential gene therapy strategies. Microcapsules that were made on the space station and are targeted at inhibiting the growth of human prostate tumors have been successfully demonstrated in laboratory settings. Although Morrison's team had performed several similar microencapsulation experiments on space shuttle missions, because of the space station's ability to support long-term experiments, more progress was made by the eight microencapsulation experiments conducted on the station in 2002 than from the 60+ prior experiments conducted on the four space shuttle missions -- STS-77, STS-80, STS-95 and STS 107.

Benefits of Space Station Research

The microgravity environment on the station was an enabling environment that led the way to better methods of microcapsule development on Earth. The capability to perform sequential microencapsulation experiments on board the station has resulted in new, Earth-based technology for making these unique microballoons that provide sustained release of drugs over a 12-14 day period. The station research led directly to five U.S. patents that have been licensed by NASA and two more that are pending. NuVue Therapeutics, Inc., is one of several commercial companies that have licensed some of the MEPS technologies and methods to develop new applications, such as innovative ultrasound enhanced needles and catheters that will be used to deliver the microcapsules of anti-tumor drugs directly to tumor sites. More recent research uses a new device for freezing tumors ("cryo-ablation") followed by ultrasound-guided deposition of the multi-layered microcapsules containing different chemotherapy drugs outside the freeze zone within a human prostate or lung tumor. In a 28-day study, combination therapy resulted in retarding tumor growth 78 percent and complete tumor regression of up to 30 percent after only three weekly injections of microencapsulated drug at tiny quantities that should not have slowed down tumor growth by more than 5-10 percent. NuVue Technologies, Inc., has now obtained two U.S. patents based on the combination therapy that includes the delivery of the NASA-type microcapsules. Upon securing funding, clinical trials to inject microcapsules of anti-tumor drugs directly into tumor sites will begin at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and the Mayo Cancer Center in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Other potential uses of this microencapsulation technology include microencapsulation of genetically engineered living cells for injection or transplantation into damaged tissues, enhancement of human tissue repair, and real-time microparticle analysis in flowing sample streams that would allow petrochemical companies to monitor pipeline volume flow.

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Cancer treatment delivery: International Space Station's microgravity platform

Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, a startup commercial launch services firm founded and run by internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, is still wrangling with NASA over the software needed to berth the privately owned Dragon capsule to the International Space Station.

That issue, combined with the upcoming launch of three new crewmembers to the orbital outpost, is triggering another delay in SpaceX's trial run to the station, a $100 billion outpost owned by the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada that orbits about 240 miles above Earth.

ANALYSIS: SpaceX Test Flight to Space Station Delayed

Since the retirement of the space shuttles last year, NASA is dependent on its partners for flying crew and cargo to the station, a situation it plans to remedy by spurring private U.S. companies, like SpaceX, to do the job.

Cargo hauls are scheduled to begin this year. SpaceX and a second company, Orbital Sciences Corp., share NASA contracts worth $3.5 billion. SpaceX's upcoming flight is a test run, partly financed by NASA.

The U.S. space agency is in the process of reviewing bids for space taxi designs to fly its astronauts as well.

Image: Engines are ready, but software isnt. SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is tested fired on April 30. Credit: SpaceX

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SpaceX Space Station Trial Run Reset for May 19

BERLIN The European Space Agency is hatching plans for a branding campaign aimed at making people more aware of the benefits of spending their hard-earned taxes on the International Space Station.

The list of products and technologies that have their roots in space research is long, from memory foam to the in-ear thermometer, but in a world struggling to pay the bill from the financial crisis, the billions of dollars spent on space exploration can be challenging to justify.

The branding plan is an indication that space scientists are concerned about cuts to space agency budgets, and worried that their contribution to economic growth is not fully recognized.

"It frustrates people, because we know we have a valuable asset," Mark Uhran, NASA's assistant associate administrator for the International Space Station, told Reuters at a conference in Berlin of scientists from the 15 nations backing the project.

The European Space Agency estimates the bill for the space station will come to about $130 billion (100 billion euros), including running costs for the next 10 years. The European share of 8 billion euros, it says, equates to 1 euro ($1.30) a day from every European, or less than the price of a cup of coffee.

"If we stop investing, we will harm our economies," said Julie Robinson, space station program scientist at NASA. Robinson points out that the construction of the station was only fully completed last year, but since then there has been a surge in the amount of scientific work being done on board.

Research in orbit Research on the space station cuts across disciplines, from biotechnology to materials science, all in a series of laboratories stuffed with equipment. The space station now covers an area equivalent to a football field, orbiting the earth at more than 17,000 miles an hour.

It is run by a government consortium including the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and 11 of the 17 European Space Agency nations: Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

What it offers science is a stable environment in microgravity, essentially weightlessness, that can only be replicated in short bursts on Earth through the parabolic flight of aircraft used for spaceflight training and research.

Research in microgravity has led to advances in metallurgy, particularly the production of metallic foams - blocks of metal that contain bubbles - that are strong, light and provide a cushioning effect on impact. Foams are unstable, and therefore harder to study in gravity, said Professor John Banhart from the Technical University of Berlin. The car industry is excited, and lightweight crane lifting arms are already using the technology.

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Agencies plan 'Made in Space' brand campaign

Although the spacecraft was set for a May 7 launch, a spokesperson now says that it's working on software assurance with NASA, and will be forced to delay the launch.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Space enthusiasts have been looking forward to May 7, the date set for SpaceX to launch its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft for a rendezvous with the International Space Station. Now it appears they'll have to wait a bit longer.

"At this time, a May 7 launch appears unlikely," SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Grantham told the AFP in an interview yesterday. "SpaceX is continuing to work through the software assurance process with NASA. We will issue a statement as soon as a new launch target is set."

SpaceX had originally planned to launch the spacecraft this week, but pushed the event back to give engineers more time to complete preflight testing and analysis. Last week, it set the May 7 launch date, scheduling the spacecraft to liftoff from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 6:38 a.m. PT.

Now that SpaceX has all but decided to push the launch back, May 8 and May 9 are not available launch windows, leaving May 10 the earliest date for another launch. Grantham told the AFP that May 10 was still a possible launch day, but if the company doesn't believe that'll work, it could be pushed back more than a week.

The excitement surrounding SpaceX's launch is palpable. If all goes well, the company's spacecraft will be the first privately built and funded spacecraft to rendezvous with the International Space Station. The goal is for SpaceX to conduct regular commercial cargo missions to the space station.

"It's almost like the lead-up to Apollo, in my mind," Mike Horkachuck, NASA's project executive for SpaceX, said in a statement last week. "You had Mercury then you had Gemini and eventually you had Apollo. This would be similar in the sense that, we're not going to the moon or anything as spectacular as that, but we are in the beginnings of commercializing space. This may be the Mercury equivalent to eventually flying crew and then eventually leading to, in the long run, passenger travel in space."

Grantham expects SpaceX to issue a statement tomorrow on its spacecraft's new launch date. Let's hope it comes sooner rather than later.

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SpaceX 'unlikely' to visit International Space Station on May 7

A private U.S. company has set a new date for launching a cargo ship to the International Space Station.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX, said Friday it was now aiming for a May 19 liftoff of its Falcon rocket and Dragon capsule. It will be the first commercial cargo run to the space station.

The launch of the supply ship had been scheduled for Monday but was delayed for more software testing. The test flight is already three months late.

NASA used to stockpile the space station through the shuttles, but the fleet was retired last summer. The space agency wants commercial providers to carry up supplies and eventually astronauts.

In the meantime, NASA is paying Russia to ferry astronauts to the space station.

___

SpaceX: http://www.spacex.com/

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First private cargo run to space station now May 19

The private spaceflight company SpaceX will likely postpone the planned launch of its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station next week, officials announced May 2.

SpaceX was targeting the launch for Monday, May 7, but now will likely shift to a later date, possibly May 10. The unmanned Dragon spacecraft is due to lift off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

"At this time, a May 7th launch appears unlikely," SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham wrote in a statement. "SpaceX is continuing to work through the software assurance process with NASA. We will issue a statement as soon as a new launch target is set."

The Dragon mission will be be the very first visit of a privately built spacecraft to the International Space Station. During the test flight, the spacecraft will carry food, supplies and scientific equipment for the astronauts living on the orbiting outpost.

The flight was previously delayed from an April 30 launch date to allow more time for tests of Dragon's flight software. The new delay is also meant to allow for further checkouts.

SpaceX conducted a test firing of its Falcon 9 booster engines April 30. The test went successfully on its second try, after a first attempt that same day was stalled by an apparent computer glitch.

SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to fly 12 cargo-delivery missions to the space station with Dragon. The capsule is scheduled to be the first spacecraft to fly under NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, which has funded the development of private vehicles to fill the gap in cargo services left by the space shuttle retirement.

Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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SpaceX's historic space station mission delayed again

A private U.S. company has set a new date for launching a cargo ship to the International Space Station.

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1st private cargo run to space station now May 19

SpaceX

Sparks and clouds of exhaust and vapor issue forth from SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket during a static fire test at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Monday.

By Alan Boyle

SpaceX has suggested May 19 as the new date for its potentially history-making Falcon 9 rocket launch to the International Space Station, with May 22 as a backup date.

The schedule shift provides more time for NASA to review changes in the California-based company's flight software, and also avoids a potential conflict with the planned May 14 launch of three new space station crew members from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

If SpaceX's demonstration mission is completely successful, it would represent the first commercial flight to the space station. The flight plan calls for the company's robotically controlled Dragon cargo capsule to conduct a series of maneuvers near the station, starting two days after the Falcon 9 lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 40 in Florida. If all those maneuvers go as planned, astronauts on the orbiting outpost would latch onto the Dragon and pull it in for a berthing.

About a half-ton of supplies would be unloaded over the course of a couple of weeks, and then the Dragon would be detached and sent back down to a Pacific Ocean splashdown. That success scenario would open the way for SpaceX to start resupplying the space station in earnest, under the terms of a $1.6 billion contract with NASA.

If the Dragon couldn't hook up with the station this time around, another demonstration flight would be scheduled as a makeup test.

SpaceX has received hundreds of millions of dollars from NASA to develop the Falcon 9 and the Dragon as a partial replacement for the space shuttle fleet, which was retired last year. The Falcon 9 had a successful maiden orbital flight in June 2010, and the Dragon made a similarly successful debut in December 2010. The upcoming flight would provide the first opportunity for an actual rendezvous with the space station.

The launch has been repeatedly delayed, primarily due to flight software reviews. SpaceX conducted a successful launch-pad engine firing test on Monday in preparation for a planned May 7 liftoff, but the company and NASA decided to hold off in order to provide more time for the current review.

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SpaceX launch to space station set for May 19

BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Space Agency is hatching plans for a branding campaign aimed at making people more aware of the benefits of spending their hard-earned taxes on the International Space Station (ISS). The list of products and technologies that have their roots in space research is long, from memory foam to the in-ear thermometer, but in a world struggling to pay the bill from the ...

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"Made in space" coming soon to a product near you

The private spaceflight company SpaceX has once again postponed the launch of its first commercial Dragon space capsule bound for the International Space Station, this time to May 19, to allow more time to complete final checks on the spacecraft's rocket.

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Private Company Delays 1st Launch to Space Station to May 19

24-02-2012 14:23 — It took more than 200 astronauts from 12 countries more than a dozen years to build the International Space Station (ISS). Satoshi Furukawa, an astronaut from Japan, matched that feat in just about two hours — and he did it all while aboard the orbiting outpost itself. It helped that his space station was made out of LEGO. "It was a great opportunity for me to have built the LEGO space station," Furukawa, a Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) flight engineer, told in an interview after he returned to Earth. "I enjoyed building it." For more Video credit: NASA/LEGO

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Astronaut builds LEGO space station on real ISS - Video

02-03-2012 08:59 The International Space Station has a unique view of geomagnetic storms as it flys above the green and through the purple and red lights produced by oxygen atoms in various states of excitation. The science behind the phenomenon is examined.

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Space Station's Aurora Fly-Through | Video - Video

05-03-2012 14:13 Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 30 Flight Engineer Andre Kuipers of the European Space Agency discussed the progress of his mission with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during an in-flight call to a computer expo trade fair in Hanover, Germany, on March 5. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff joined Merkel and other European officials for the event.

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European Crew Member on Space Station Discusses Life in Space with German Chancellor - Video

07-03-2012 13:18 Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank of NASA and Flight Engineer Don Pettit of NASA discussed life and work aboard the International Space Station with attendees at the Tech Museum in San Jose, Calif., on March 7. This discussion was one of several events connected to the "Destination Station" exhibit touring northern California. "Destination Station," an initiative supported by NASA's International Space Station Program, is a national awareness campaign to promote research opportunities and educate communities about activities performed on the International Space Station.

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Station Crew Discusses Life in Space for California Station Exhibition - Video

15-03-2012 16:10 Expedition 30 astronauts Dan Burbank and Don Pettit discuss how they spent their Christmas vacation and enjoy talking to an Inside the ISS mystery guest.

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Inside the International Space Station Episode 4 Chapter 1 - Holiday Clip - Video

22-03-2012 12:50 With all the wonderful observation imagery compiled by NASA's Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth, the stars can get left behind. Alex Rivest compiled the imagery against a London PM music soundtrack. Star-trails processed using StarStaX.

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Stars From Space Station - Brilliant Views | Video - Video

28-03-2012 18:43 Europe's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-3) named Edoardo Amaldi docked with the International Space Station at 6:31pm EST on March 28th, 2012.

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ATV-3 Cargo Ship Docks With Space Station - Video