Measuring water loss from space

This study showed that the International Space Station’s ECOSTRESS instrument estimates of evapotranspiration (transfer of water to the atmosphere from Earth’s surface and plants) are comparable to ground-based reference values. This finding suggests space measurements could provide guidance for improved water management on large scales.

Worsening droughts due to climate change require better water management. Evapotranspiration is a critical part of the hydrologic cycle, but data are lacking on local water conditions and demands. California’s Eastern Municipal Water District uses the ground-based California Irrigation Management Information System to track evapotranspiration, but it has limited spatial coverage and consistency. Space-based estimates could be better and more consistent.

Four-legged robotic retrievers

Space station crew members successfully located and retrieved an object in a simulated Mars environment using a remotely controlled four-legged robot, Bert. Legged robots could provide the ability to explore and survey different extraterrestrial surfaces on future missions.

On uneven lunar and planetary surfaces, robots with legs could explore areas inaccessible to wheeled rovers. Surface Avatar, an investigation from ESA (European Space Agency), evaluated remote control of multiple robots in space, providing information on how human operators respond to physical feedback (such as feeling a bump when a robot arm makes contact) and identifying challenges for orbit-to-ground remote operation of robots. The German Aerospace Center is developing Bert.

Technology supports atmospheric studies

Researchers found that the Compact Thermal Imager (CTI) on the space station produced scientifically useful imagery of atmospheric phenomena, including gravity waves, clouds, and volcanic plumes. This technology could change current practices and instrument design for remote sensing of Earth from space.

The CTI is mounted on hardware for Robotic Refueling Mission 3, which tested technology for the robotic transfer and storage of cryogenic fluids in microgravity. The station’s orbit provides near-global coverage and CTI has reduced size, energy use, and cost. Its images can measure fires, ice sheets, glaciers, and snow surface temperatures on the ground and the transfer of water from soil and plants into the atmosphere.

Reducing reliance on resupply missions

Resupply of life support elements such as air, water, food, clothing, and hygiene items will be impractical on missions to the Moon and beyond. This research assessed current use and resupply of these elements on the International Space Station and outlines technologies needed for sustained human presence in space, such as 3D printing maintenance parts, systems for laundering clothes, and improved recovery and recycling of elements.

Researchers analyzed the types and mass of elements supplied from Earth to the station and astronaut feedback from various studies and interviews. The paper also used data from ISS Internal Environments, a wide-ranging investigation that samples various aspects of the space station environment in support of many types of research.

Verifying a technique for analyzing emulsions

This paper presents a review of examining the behavior of emulsions (suspensions of particles in a liquid) in microgravity using a technique called diffusing wave spectroscopy. Results offer insights that could support development of technologies to improve living environments and foods for crew members on future missions.

FSL Soft Matter Dynamics – PASTA studied the dynamics of droplets in emulsions. Accurate study and characterization of the effects of additives on emulsion stability is possible in microgravity. Emulsions have applications in foods, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, fuels, paints and coatings, chemical processing, and materials.

EEG measurements and predicting cognitive changes in spaceflight

Researchers used an electroencephalogram (EEG) to measure brainwave activity during a relaxed, wakeful state in crew members and found no significant differences before, during, and after flight. These types of measurements could serve as biomarkers of brain health status, helping to predict changes in cognitive performance and the need for prevention and countermeasure strategies during future missions.

Studies have shown that spaceflight can affect key cognitive and motor skills such as task management, attention, and movement speed and accuracy. Neurowellness in Space Ax-1 tested using a portable, easy to use EEG headset to measure ongoing and task-related brain activity in microgravity. The data could help predict and monitor neural changes on future space missions.

If you ask Johnson Space Center employees why they work for NASA, many will tell you it was always their dream. For others, landing a job at NASA was an unexpected stop on their career path. Here is a look at where five Johnson team members worked before NASA and how they are helping to advance the agency’s mission today.

Michelle Wood

Wood worked as an American Sign Language interpreter before joining NASA about seven years ago. Today, she is an Operational Support Officer flight controller and instructor in the Mission Control Center.

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Warnecke Miller

Miller has been an attorney in Johnson’s Office of the General Counsel for 12 years. Before that, she served as an administrative law judge for Social Security and adjudicated disability cases.

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Celeste Budwit-Hunter

Budwit-Hunter was a technical writer in the oil and gas industry before earning a master’s degree in family therapy. She went on to work for The Council on Alcohol and Drugs (now The Council on Recovery) and then as a private school counselor for students with learning disabilities. She returned to technical writing while starting a private family therapy practice. After several years of treatment and recovery following a cancer diagnosis, Budwit-Hunter applied to become an editor in the Flight Operations Director’s Procedures Group. She is now the group’s lead editor and is training to become a book manager.

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Don Walker

Walker worked as a freelancer in television production before joining the Johnson team 38 years ago. Today, Walker is an engineering technician in the Office of the Chief Information Officer, working master control for the center’s television operations.

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Donna Coyle

Coyle earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations before switching gears to work as an expeditor in the oil and gas industry. That role involved working with cross-functional teams to ensure the smooth and timely delivery of equipment and materials to worksites. After visiting locations and seeing how equipment, piping, and steel were made, she was inspired to go back to school to become an engineer. Coyle’s grandfather worked at NASA during the Apollo missions, and she decided to follow in his footsteps. She joined the Johnson team in 2021 as a crew time engineer, analyzing astronaut time as a resource to help with decision-making before and during expeditions to the International Space Station.

Do you want to join the NASA team? Visit our Careers site to explore open opportunities and find your place with us!

Supporting the International Space Station is an around-the-clock responsibility for NASA and its international partners. This means there is always a team of flight operations and payload personnel working with the orbiting laboratory’s crew – including overnight, on weekends, and during the holidays.

At Johnson Space Center’s Mission Control Center (MCC) in Houston, flight directors organize fun activities to help these teams build camaraderie and celebrate holidays while they work, no matter the hour.

“Working in mission control is a very rewarding job, but it also demands a lot from flight controllers and leads to time away from family,” said Fiona Antkowiak, a flight director in the MCC. “We really want to make the holiday shifts in MCC extra special.”

Antkowiak recalled working Christmas 2018 as a space station flight controller. That year, teams participated in a friendly cookie-decorating competition, with the three different MCC shifts going head-to-head. When flight directors started brainstorming festive ideas for the 2024 holiday season, Antkowiak suggested reviving the contest and asked the Expedition 72 crew if they would be willing to judge the entries. “They agreed, and also told us they would decorate some cookies for us to judge, too!”

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station often decorate cookies as part of their holiday celebrations and have become adept at manipulating icing in zero gravity. NASA astronaut Nick Hague shared on social media, “It opened up a whole new dimension, quite literally, with layer upon layer of icing.”  

Teams in the MCC in Houston and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center Payload Operations Integration Center in Huntsville, Alabama, were joined by international partners ESA (European Space Agency) and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) from their respective control centers. The decorating began late on Christmas Eve and concluded on Christmas Day, ensuring space station crew members could participate in the fun on their days off.

The 36 entries drew inspiration from traditional holiday imagery, human spaceflight, sports teams, and comic books. Each crew member selected their personal favorite cookie, in addition to choosing an overall winner. Payload Operations Director Jaclyn Poteraj created the winning cookie, depicting an astronaut riding on a reindeer made of cargo transfer bags, which are used to transport cargo to and store it aboard the International Space Station.

“We had a lot of fun figuring out how to mix the colors we wanted for icing, deciding on designs, and ultimately decorating our cookies,” said Antkowiak. “Our team is lucky to have the responsibility of keeping the space station and her crew safe, and I’m glad we can find ways to still celebrate the holidays while at work.”

Enjoy more photos from the cookie-decorating competition below.