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European Science on Station

Season 1Oct 15, 2021

Angelique Van Ombergen details the unique experiments from the European Space Agency on the International Space Station. HWHAP Episode 217.

European Science on Station

European Science on Station

If you’re fascinated by the idea of humans traveling through space and curious about how that all works, you’ve come to the right place.

“Houston We Have a Podcast” is the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center from Houston, Texas, home for NASA’s astronauts and Mission Control Center. Listen to the brightest minds of America’s space agency – astronauts, engineers, scientists and program leaders – discuss exciting topics in engineering, science and technology, sharing their personal stories and expertise on every aspect of human spaceflight. Learn more about how the work being done will help send humans forward to the Moon and on to Mars in the Artemis program.

On Episode 217, Angelique Van Ombergen details the unique experiments from the European Space Agency on the International Space Station. This episode was recorded on September 22, 2021.

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Transcript

Gary Jordan (Host): Houston, we have a podcast! Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space Center, Episode 217, “European Science on Station.” I’m Gary Jordan, and I’ll be your host today. On this podcast, we’ll bring in the experts: scientists, engineers, astronauts, all to let you know what’s going on in the world of human spaceflight. We’ve covered a lot of unique experiments taking place on the station, from different companies, to human research, to Earth science most recently, even the science under the U.S. National Laboratory. We’ve been covering a lot that’s been coming from the U.S., but we’re talking about the International Space Station. So, we thought it’d be fun to bring in our international colleagues to discuss what it’s like doing science from their perspective. So, joining us from the Netherlands is Dr. Angelique Van Ombergen, discipline lead for life sciences at ESA, or the European Space Agency. She discusses science from the international perspective, and shares what’s going on right now aboard the station. So, let’s get right into it. Enjoy.

[ Music]

Host: Angelique, thanks for coming on Houston We Have a Podcast today.

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yes, thank you very much for having me. I’m excited to discuss some of the ESA science we’re doing on board the station.

Host: All right. Well, that, before we get into that, I want to know, because this is the first time we’ve really, I mean, we’ve talked about science a lot on this podcast, but never really got the perspective from the European Space Agency. So, to get us started, I want to understand a little bit more about you, and your role. I’ve described it a little bit in the introduction, but I think you can do it a little bit better. So, what, what was your education? What led you to your current role at ESA?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yes, so I did a Ph.D. in medical sciences at the University of Antwerp in Belgium. My background is in the vestibular system, and during my Ph.D. I partly investigated how the brains of astronauts adapt to spaceflight. And the rationale behind that was that, of course, the vestibular system is very, let’s say, triggered and challenged in a microgravity environment. So we thought that not only at the vestibular system itself, at the organic level, there would be changes, which has already been researched for a few decades now, but also at the level of the brain, you know, like the neural projections, we thought that there would be changes. So this was a little bit the, the, let’s say, the inside of my Ph.D. We started to also research that, and then we did MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans, which is a noninvasive sort of brain scan, where you can look at the brain both from an anatomical point of view, so the structure of the brain, but also from a functional point of view. So, for example, how different brain areas work together when you do a specific task. And actually what we saw was not precisely what we anticipated in advance, but I think that’s also the nice thing about science, that it always brings you somewhere that you didn’t expect in advance. So actually, during my Ph.D. I already worked with the European Space Agency, and also with Roscosmos, because we, we tested European and Russian astronauts and cosmonauts. And I actually joined ESA in 2019, so I’ve been with ESA, let’s say, two years and a half now. I started as a science coordinator for human research, and I recently took a new position as discipline lead for life sciences.

Host: All right, well, awesome. You’re in a new position and everything. What, what, I’m curious, Angelique; this is, what you’re talking about sounds extremely complicated. Was there some inspiration earlier in your education, or maybe in your life that really made you want to dive deeper into this specific topic?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Well, I think it grew a little bit organically. As I mentioned, my background was in vestibular science. I came in this lab that also had a long history of, you know, testing astronauts in space before and after, and it grew a little bit organically. And as we went along I really got interested in the space medicine and got more familiar with it. I got to know the community. It was, of course, also very exciting and interesting, and then there was this, you know, this position at ESA available. I applied, I got it, and now, we’re here. It was really more of an organic kind of growth thing, rather than a pre-fixed or pre-termed thing that I was pursuing.

Host: Awesome. OK, very good. Now, now, you mentioned you’ve been at ESA a couple of years now, and we’ve never really explored just what ESA is all about here on the podcast. And so I was hoping we can start there, Angelique, if you can just sort of give us an overview of, of ESA as, as a space agency. So, so just to help us to understand how, how that space agency works, I guess compared to, to what our audience is used to, which is NASA.

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yeah, of course. So, the European Space Agency has 22 member states, which are full member states, let’s say, but we also have some associated member states, or cooperating states, like Canada, Slovenia, Lithuania, and Latvia. So of course we, we really stand as a, let’s say, multinational kind of agency, which is very interesting because you get to combine the inputs from all these different member states across Europe, and you really get to represent, let’s say, the full European science community, so that’s very interesting. This also means that ESA is scattered across Europe. We have different sites and establishments across Europe, and each establishment has little bit its own specific focus. So, for example, I’m based in the Netherlands at ESTEC (European Space Research and Technology Centre), which is basically the largest ESA establishment. We have 2,000 to 3000 people onsite, and it’s, let’s say, it’s really the technical and scientific hub for our European space missions and our activities. So, we do the, the technical and the scientific preparation there. We do the management of the big ESA space projects, and we also have, let’s say, the, the human spaceflight activities, or the science there. We have our headquarters in Paris. This is where our director general resides, and where we have the, let’s say, some of the program directors, and where the policy and decision-makers are also based. Then we have different establishments in Germany. There’s ESOC (European Space Operations Centre), which is the center for space operations, so basically where satellites are tracked and controlled, and where their systems monitoring, also of the payload operations. Also, in Germany is the European Astronaut Center, which is, of course, the home of the European astronauts, and where they also train, and a lot of the NASA and the other international astronauts also train. And also, the medical support is located there. We have ESRIN (ESA’s Center for Earth Observation), which is located near Rome in Italy. That is the ESA Earth observation center. So basically, we have Earth observation satellites, large, we also have a large archive there of environmental data, and the ground stations and ground segment facilities are coordinated there. Then we have the astronomy center at ESAC (European Space Astronomy Centre), which is located near Madrid in Spain, which is where we have the science operations for the astronomy missions and the planetary missions. We have ECSAT (European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications) in the UK (United Kingdom), which is more space applications and telecommunications. And then, we have also worldwide facilities. For example, we have the Houston office; we have a Moscow office; and then we have, of course, also the Europe spaceport in French Guinea, where we launch the satellites, like Ariane and the Vega launches. So, this is, let’s say, a little bit ESA in a nutshell.

Host: [Laughs] Awesome. I mean, what surprises me, I’m trying to think about it compared to NASA, right? We, you call them member states, and they’re all in different countries. And you said you have places to, really, really around the world. I’m thinking about at NASA, we have different centers across the country, but when we work together, we, we’re on calls, we’re on Teams calls and everything, and we all speak English. What you’re talking about here is different countries, all speaking different languages. How does that work? How do you guys work together across different languages and cultures?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yeah, well I think for the language part, it’s not so much of an issue, because the formal languages of ESA are English and French.

Host: Oh OK.

Angelique Van Ombergen: So, we all are supposed to be very good at speaking at least one of these two languages. So, I have to say for my work, most conversation are done in English, of course, but definitely the culture thing is, is quite fascinating to see. Because even, I’m from Belgium originally and I currently live in the Netherlands. We speak the same language, because I’m from the Flemish part of Belgium. But the culture is so different. So you really have to consider that when you work with people coming from different countries, different cultures, and you need to be very mindful of that. Because something that can be acceptable in your culture might be very offensive in another culture, and I think this is something that people working in the space environment are used to because, of course, we also collaborate at an international level, and a worldwide level, and there you have, I think, something very similar. And it’s, it’s very fascinating, and it’s also, I think, very enriching to get to work with people with these, you know, very different backgrounds.

Host: A hundred percent, it’s, it’s wonderful to experience so many different cultures. I absolutely love it. So, so Angelique, tell me about how it all comes together, right? So, so you’re, we’re going to be talking about science, specifically, at ESA. When it comes to getting everyone’s input as to the science that you want to put into a specific increment, or into a specific time period, how does that work where you come together as an organization and get the science you want, work with NASA, and get it all integrated to put into a mission?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yeah, so I think it’s, you know, we start, of course, with our European science community, because this is also where we get the expertise and the insight from into the different research topics that we have. So, I think when I went through the different ESA centers, you could already get a knack for the, let’s say, big science pillars that ESA focuses on. So, these are astronomy, Earth observation, planetary sciences, fundamental physics, human spaceflight, robotic exploration, solar system science, and so on. And let’s say that these are the big pillars. Now, in the team that I work, which is the SciSpacE team, SciSpacE stands for science in space environment, we have, let’s say, three big disciplines. So we have life sciences, that is anything related to biology, space biology, or human physiology experiments, or even psychology experiments, of course. We have physical sciences, and that really ranges from astronomy, fundamental physics, material science, and so on. And then we have planetary science. We, of course, also have overarching topics, like radiation, which are very multidisciplinary, and how we usually go about is that we, we internally have a specific interest or a need to investigate something, and then we really work very closely with our European science community. So what we often do is that we consult with the community. We release call for ideas where they can apply to, or we release announcements of opportunity that they can then solicit to, and that we then, of course, select the best science proposals that address a specific topic that we have set up front. Once a specific experiment is selected, then of course comes this whole, full swing of other teams, let’s say, involved, because of course we select and we coordinate the science, but there’s, of course, payload integration, there’s hardware development, so there’s a lot of other actors that come into play before we can actually do something. And I think this is very similar on the NASA side, of course.

Host: Yes, yes, of course. Now, now, I’m trying to get a full picture. I’m continuing with this theme, Angelique, of trying to get a full picture really of ESA, and how they’re folded into the mix of, particularly with, with space station operations. And I think one key element here, we talked about the different member states, and how you’re getting this science, coordinating it, and getting it up to the International Space Station. The space station itself has its own ESA module, the Columbus laboratory. Can you give us a general overview of what that is on board the International Space Station right now?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yes, of course. So, the Columbus module is basically something that we’re very proud of, of course, because it’s the European laboratory in space. It’s been up there since 2008. In essence, it has different payload racks, which allow us also to do really a variety of science in all the different disciplines. So it goes really from human physiology, to psychology, to Earth observation and astronomy. So the biggest modules, or racks that we have up there is the European physiology module, which, as the name already supposes, is related to human physiology and psychology experiments. There’s the Biolab, which is basically a facility that allows to do with biological experiments on, you know, microorganisms, cells, tissues, and so on. There’s the Fluid Science Laboratory, or FSL, which really focuses on liquids in microgravity. There’s the European Drawer Rack, which is a sort of modular or flexible experiment carrier, which, let’s say, allows for quick turnaround capability, and also more opportunities that, you know, that increases smaller opportunities that do not need a specific, complete rack to do inside. Last year, Columbus was also equipped with Bartolomeo, which is, let’s say, Bartolomeo platform is the first European commercial platform. It was done together with the Airbus company, and it really allows an easy and quick access to space. So, for example, we can do exobiology experiments on there, because of course you have the exposure to the space environments. So, it really allows for a very end-to-end, let’s say, access for any external payload that you would be interested in flying. Because you have an unobstructed view of Earth, you have direct control on the experiments from Earth, which is also very interesting for certain science teams. And you also have a possibility to retrieve samples. So again, from an exobiology standpoint, this is, of course, very interesting.

Host: All kinds of fantastic capabilities on board. Now, continuing with this theme of getting a picture of ESA, you mentioned some of the member states, and some of the different operations and priorities that are happening at some of these. Give us a quick view of the operations side. We, of course, have mission control here in Houston, and we have a bunch of different centers monitoring at NASA across the United States. But at ESA, what are the key players in terms of the operations for on orbit, onboard the International Space Station?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yes, so of course, we have the Columbus Ground Control Center, or Col-CC, as it’s known by its call sign, let’s say, which basically supports all the communication to the European Columbus module. This is located in Oberpfaffenhofen, which is near Munich in Germany. It’s located at the DLR (German Aerospace Center) site there, and it’s really this, the control center that has the direct link to Columbus in orbit. So, it commands and controls the different European space laboratory system, so the different racks, as I already mentioned. It coordinates the payloads on the ISS that we have, or the European payloads, and it also allows to operate the European ground communication network. So the center, of course, as any operational center, provides support 24/7, basically. And there is one room, let’s say, for operations, and one for preparations, for, for example, training controllers. Apart from that, we also have USOCs, and USOC is short for user support and operations centers. These are also scattered across Europe, and basically ESA created this user support and operations centers to support ISS users, like, like, for example, science teams that we have. So these USOC centers, they are responsible for the use and the implementation of the different European payloads that we have, and they basically conduct, you know, they conduct preparation of experiments, they conduct the operation of the experiments. So basically, these USOCs are the link between science teams on ground on one hand, and then, of course, the space station on the other hand. And they work very closely with the Columbus control center to, you know, get data distributed and so on, and yeah, so, this is basically how we work, let’s say, also again, in a nutshell, with regards to the direct link to the Columbus module.

Host: Fantastic, Angelique. That was perfect, laying a great foundation for what, you know, how ESA is organized, and how, how really the operations are working to support the science. And that’s really the focus of what we’re going to be talking about today. Particularly the science that’s happening right now with Thomas Pesquet on board the International Space Station. But before we go into that, I know, you know, ESA’s been doing science on board the station for, you know, years, for decades, really. So, and I know you’ve been a part of that, in a sense. So, can you give us an understanding of just, you know, just some of the things you’ve worked on, or maybe just that, that, just highlights from ESA science in the past, that’ll help us to set a foundation for some of the stuff that you’re doing?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yes, of course. So, of course, there’s the Brain-DTI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging) project, which is the project that I worked on myself before I joined ESA so I might be a little bit biased in this one, but it’s a very interesting project, I think, from, from several aspects. Because the brain is, of course, a very important organ, when you consider it in general, but it’s been very under-researched when you consider the space environment. And I think the reason for that is that it’s a little bit, it’s not so easy to really investigate it on orbit, so you need to really set your investigation around pre- and post-flight, let’s say, measurements, which is not always so easy for several reasons. So with the Brain-DTI project, and this is actually a project that is currently still running in the ESA portfolio, the team is really trying to get a better insight on how the brain adapts to spaceflight, and, and how certain changes in the brain could potentially have an impact on the performance of astronauts. And I think this is always an important nuance to make that, you know, with all these very fancy measurement methods, like an MRI for example, you can really measure very, very small differences. But that doesn’t necessarily always mean that this also has an impact on the performance of astronauts. And I think this is, of course, as a space agency, this is where we are particularly interested, because if it starts impacting, you know, the performance, then we really need to try and mitigate it, or we need to try and overcome it. So I think this is a very important experiment, and I know that the Brain-DTI team is now also working with a lot of the NASA science team, so it’s also very interesting and very nice to see this international collaboration across, overseas, let’s say, because this is not always so evident. So that’s very nice to see. Another experiment that I really liked, and I was not involved in this because this was before my time that I joined ESA, was the Seedling Growth experiment. And actually, I recently got a very interesting lecture on space agriculture and food production in space, which is not something that I was very familiar with before. So, the, the insights, or let’s say the background of the Seedling Growth experiment is that, of course, as everybody knows, plants can generate breathable air, and of course they can also be a source of food. So, from a space mission perspective, these are two very interesting aspects. So, what this experiment tended to do was, they wanted to look at better understanding how gravity affects the plant development, and also how light can impact plant development. So they looked at the seedling growth in different gravity conditions, and also in different lighting conditions. And then afterwards, what they did was that they extracted the RNA, and they sequenced to basically identify all differentially-expressed genes. And they could show that there was one gene that was different, that was expressed differently across all gravity conditions, and some genes that were, appeared to be differently expressed in different conditions. And this shows that, you know, these genes in particular were associated with light, chemical and hormone responses, and so on. So it shows that this also really has implications for the current use, and also the future implementation of, you know, plant, bioregenerative plant support systems in space, which I think is very interesting, and which I also find particularly interesting about this is that, of course, we, we can run the ISS missions already very well with what we have currently have foreseen. There’s, you know, cargo supplies and so on, so we don’t really need this, but this is really an experiment that is preparing us for, you know, missions that go beyond that, and I think that, that’s very interesting. Another experiment that I think is very nice is the SOdium LOading in microgravity, or the SOLO experiment. This was also from before my time, but this basically looked at astronauts’ blood volume in relation to their dietary sodium intake, in space and on Earth. So this experiment basically assigned two groups of astronauts. There was a low-sodium and a high-sodium group for five days, and all the other nutrients and water were kept constant across the two groups. And in general they found that astronauts tend to retain more sodium in space, and that they also excrete more sodium on Earth. So this is also, I think, very interesting, because it shows that really more, more research is needed into the role of sodium in blood volume regulation, and also to show whether these changes, which could potentially have an impact on the health of astronauts, are temporary or permanent. So this is just, let’s say, a few examples of some interesting experiments I think we have.

Host: You picked super-fascinating examples, Angelique, and, and I’m thinking about, you know, just, a lot of these you talked about, they’ve even preceded your time at ESA, and I wonder if, you know, there’s a lot of interesting information, like the sodium, and even just, you know, what’s happening with plants, what’s happening with the astronauts. You know, has there been follow-ups to those experiments to further investigate, or even, in, in cases, has any of the lessons learned from, from these investigations been implemented for current spaceflight, or even on the ground?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yeah, that’s a very good question, and I think what we often see is that, yeah, of course, in general, space research goes quite slow, because it, especially for human physiology experiments, you know, we need to get to a certain number of crew members that can participate, and often, this takes a few years. So it’s not always so easy to, to directly, you know, after you get some first results, to directly translate them back. But for example, for the sodium experiment, we know that the team that has been looking into this is now also running similar studies on the ground in some sort of ground analogs, like bed rest, which is, is simulating microgravity conditions doing a long-term bed rest study. And of course, this also helps to get to this higher number of subjects, and which allows to get, let’s say, more rigid conclusions, which of course, you can then try to translate into an actual countermeasure, or potentially it has applications for patient groups on Earth and so on. But I think in general, this often takes a little bit of time.

Host: Yeah, and that makes a lot of sense, right? All the more reason to continue doing the great science. Let’s get into Alpha. Let’s understand what some of the experiments on board that, that particularly Thomas has been doing, and I think even in your couple of examples of just stuff that ESA has done beforehand has shown just the variety of experiments. And so, that’s why I’m really excited to get into Alpha today. Let’s start with, there’s one experiment, I think it’s called Suture in Space, and it’s about tissue healing. Can you give us a description of what this is?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yes. So, I think this is also a very nice experiment, because as I said, it is really preparing us for these longer-term space missions that go beyond, let’s say, the ISS and beyond low-Earth orbit. Because especially when you consider medical emergencies, if we have a medical emergency on the ISS, which we hopefully will not have, but I mean, if this is the case, there are some possibilities to get to the astronauts relatively quickly. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it could be done relatively quickly, especially if there’s really an emergency. When you consider a mission to the Moon or Mars, of course, this is going to be more difficult. So wound healing in essence is something that of course is very important, and the Suture in Space experiment is basically looking at how tissues heal, potentially differently in weightlessness as compared to Earth. So what they’ve done specifically for this experiment is that they took living tissue from biopsies. They cut it and sewed it back together on Earth, and then they sent it to space to see how the healing mechanism is potentially impacted by microgravity. The samples will then, of course, be retrieved back and investigated on Earth, but it can help to understand how humans heal, and how, yeah, tissue, tissue heals in microgravity.

Host: Fantastic. Now, there’s a lot of human experiments, it seems, even though, a couple of examples. I know you have one that’s, I believe, a technology demonstration. It’s called the ESA Life Support Rack, is that it?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yeah, exactly. So the ESA Life Support Rack, the background of the experiment is that, of course, anything that you need to launch into space is expensive, and often cumbersome, and there’s often a limitation to what you can send into space. So previously, how it was done is that oxygen on the space station was extracted from water that was brought from Earth, and as you can imagine, this is, this is not a very efficient way of doing that. So ESA has been looking into designing a new system to basically recycle the carbon dioxide into oxygen, and to reduce the amount of water that must be shipped into space. So the ESA Life Support Rack will move to the Tranquility module, and there, it will produce oxygen for up to three astronauts. So this is part of, you know, the ESA aim of creating a closed life support system, including also water recovery and food production, and we hope, again, that this will help to avoid or minimize any costly resupply missions that we currently need from, from Earth. So this is basically a type demo in a bigger picture where we really want to look into advanced life support systems, and again, this is really preparing for the future.

Host: Yes, we’re going to need those smaller systems, perfect. That’s an awesome example. I know you’re also exploring radiation.

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yeah. So we have the Lumina experiment, which is, and this is, this is not fully my background, but I can give you a very high-level overview on this experiment. But basically, what it will look at is, it wants to demonstrate the reliability of a fiber-optic dosimeter in measuring the radiation inside the space station. So it has two spools, and it’s actually quite cool, but it has two spools of kilometer-long fibers that will hopefully improve how fiber-optic cables can cope with long-duration spaceflight. And of course, again, this is knowledge that’s going to be important to prepare, again, to, for these future missions, especially longer, that are going to be longer and further away from Earth, and then to help us protect astronauts and the hardware in particular that’s going to be on these missions.

Host: Very interesting. Now, you’re looking at, you’re looking at the hardware, you’re looking at the astronauts themselves when it comes to radiation. Another one that I found really interesting was and it’s such, it’s such an oversight, if you think about it, but it’s, you know, when you ship stuff to space, you got to, you got to pack it in material, and that material can take up space, and I know one experiment you guys are looking at is something called Eco Pack.

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yes, exactly. So, this one is also trying to make, let’s say, the, the launches more efficient, in terms of, yeah, space and weight. So normally, all hardware that is flown to the ISS is packed in fireproof foam-padded Nomex bags. As you already mentioned, these are necessary to protect it during launch, but of course, once the astronauts are, once the hardware arrives on the station this is unnecessary and it takes up space, which, yeah, is quite constrained at the ISS. Maybe not at the ISS, but in essence for space missions. So the Eco Pack is basically, it, it looks at a solution that is testing reusable, recyclable, and even edible packing materials. So they have three different sets. So one is experiment hardware that was packed which is made of recyclable and biodegradable blister strips. That’s one. The other one is the food processor hardware that, that was packed in consumable materials, like gingerbread, so might even be tasty to try. And, I mean, this could even go a little bit further. This is also just a testing, but, you know, in essence, if this works, then you could also develop a tool that can allow astronauts to prepare their meals according to their nutritional needs and available stocks, and you could basically add the packing material to that list. And then there’s also the freshness packaging. It’s also a demonstration, and that, you know, as the name already suggests, it aims to keep the food on the ISS fresh for a longer period of time. So moving the current shelf life from one week to more than 15 days, so it’s, of course, this would also be, I think, an interesting gain there for the astronauts.

Host: Very interesting. Yeah, really cool kinds of packaging. There’s another one that’s a human experiment, I believe, and it’s called Dreams. What’s this one about?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yes, so the Dreams experiment is basically, I mean, again, here, often the names already, they already tell you a little bit on what the experiment is about, but —

Host: Which I like, yeah.

Angelique Van Ombergen: — Dreams, yeah, exactly, is monitoring the astronauts’ sleep. So basically, it’s being done by a headband that’s worn during the night. It’s also a tech demo, and I think the, the most interesting thing is that, often, sleep assessment is very cumbersome. This is true for, you know, participants, research participants, on Earth. They often complain that it’s not very nice to wear this fully equipped assessment. The thing with Dreams is that they really want to basically have this as a less-cumbersome way of monitoring sleep, and potentially dreams, as the experiment name already suggests. So it’s basically a headband that’s fitted with an EEG (electroencephalogram) sensor, using specific electrodes, and hopefully this will allow to assess sleep in a more easygoing way.

Host: A little bit more comfortable, yeah, yeah. You don’t want anything too invasive when you’re sleeping. Awesome. I’m going to probably butcher this name, Angelique, but I’m going to go for it anyway. Is it called Pilote or Pilot? It looks like “pilot” with an “e”.

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yeah, good question. I think even internally there’s no agreement on the pronunciation of the name.

Host: [Laughs] OK, I’m glad it’s not just me.

Angelique Van Ombergen: Already different pronunciations, yeah —

Host: [Laughter] What’s that one about?

Angelique Van Ombergen: — yeah, so Pilote, I will also say it like this, is basically building on previous neuroscience experiments that already started a long time ago, even still at the Russian space station Mir. So basically, what this does is, yeah, again, the name already suggests that it’s like a pilot kind of, the idea is pilot. What they want, what this experiment wants to test is providing tactile and visual feedback to astronauts when they’re operating robots. So, again, here you have a sort of VR headset, and a haptic device, which basically creates the feeling of pressure and touch when you, you operate a robotic arm, and basically by getting these tactile and visual feedback it would be more intuitive to, to operate it. So of course, I mean, I think this is quite evident that if this actually works, then of course, this could really improve, for example, control interfaces on the ISS, and also future spacecraft operations. For, for example, lunar and Martian missions, where, you know, astronauts will need to, operate rovers, for example, on the surface.

Host: Very interesting. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense, because the, you won’t have to worry about that delay. That’s very interesting. All right, so we’ve talked about a lot, right? We’ve talked about radiation. We’ve talked about different packages. We’ve talked about human science. There’s one that’s more focused on the living environment of the space station, and it’s an air quality monitor called ANITA (Analysing Interferometer for Ambient Air) 2. Now, what’s this one?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yes, so, yeah, as you can imagine, astronauts live in a close environment at the station, so within this closed, let’s say, atmosphere, different irritating, poisonous, or even carcinogenic gas compounds can, can basically be present. So, they cannot just open the window to get a breath of fresh air, so they really rely on the air system. So, air quality is, of course, monitored continuously during a mission, also to make sure that this does not negatively impact the crew health and well-being. And in case there are any harmful contaminants, then a rapid response can be, can be implemented. So ANITA stands for Analysing Interferometer for Ambient Air. It’s an instrument that will constantly monitor the air quality, and the nice thing is that it’s considerably smaller than its predecessor, which was ANITA1, which already flew at the station in 2007. It has also improved software, and it will run automatically in the background. So, astronauts do not need to continuously monitor it. It’s running, you know, independently, and the system is not only useful for, for the station, but also for any other confined spaces, of course. An example that we typically use are submarines, but I think even now, with the pandemic still ongoing, that potentially this could be very useful for a lot of people who are stuck in, for example, a very small living space that they had available during the pandemic. So, I think this has definitely wider applications.

Host: Very, very interesting. There’s another one, and I can’t really grasp my head around it so, so I’m hoping you can help me to, to understand what this is, but it’s called Ultrasonic Tweezers, and it is, it is a no-contact acoustic tweezer? I’m curious what this is.

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yes, so also here, just very briefly, this is not my area of expertise, but I can give a very high-level overview. So, the Ultrasonic Tweezers is, as we already said, it can basically move objects without touching them. So, it uses ultrasound to basically trap objects, and by changing or moving the sound beam it is then eventually also possible to move an object, and even with very great precision. So, what this experiment wants to do is evaluate how this technique can basically be used in microgravity. So, so they have an experiment where they capture small plastic and glass marbles, and move it over, let’s say, an obstacle course. So, it’s potentially even a little game, let’s say. It’s a tech demo, and it will stay on the ISS, so that, you know, scientists and astronauts can use it to investigate different materials, they can use gels or liquids, and you know, even hazardous materials can be, can be dealt with, or, you know, biological material. The fact that you don’t need to touch it is, of course, very interesting, because then you don’t have the risk of contamination, for example, in the case of biological material. So yeah, I think this is very interesting, and it also has applications for, you know, terrestrial benefits, for example in health care, because this could be moved and is already being looked at to use it, for example, to remove kidney stones, or deliver very targeted medicine.

Host: Very interesting. There’s a couple more that I wanted to go over, because I found they’re fascinating. There’s, there’s another one that has to do with radiation. We talked about the, I think there’s the Lumina experiment, a little earlier, but this one is specifically about radiation damage to DNA. Now, what’s this one about?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yeah, so DNAmAGE (methylation age), or DNA Damage, the experiment is really looking at how cosmic, how the exposure to cosmic radiation basically impacts aging. So, we already know that, you know, as we age, our DNA sequence and structure changes, and it can also lead to certain, you know, cells and tissues, they’re going to function less as we age. We know that exposure to radiation can basically damage DNA, and it can accelerate this process. But we also know that it can be modified in, let’s say, specific positions of the DNA by, by aging, and this is basically what we call the epigenetic clock. So, we want to, this experiment wants to better understand whether this form of aging is also influenced by cosmic radiation, and if so by how much is it influenced, how big is the impact? So of course, we know on Earth that we’re protected from the cosmic radiation, but as astronauts go further, and especially considering also Moon and Martian missions, they’re going to be exposed to a bigger amount of cosmic radiation. So, this experiment is really trying to determine what the effect is, the added effect, let’s say, of cosmic radiation on, on the DNA. And they do so by taking saliva samples.

Host: OK. That’s how they get it, yeah. And that’ll be, yeah, that’ll be important for long-duration missions, also for Moon missions when we’re part of there as the, as the Artemis program. Couple, couple more, one of them looks pretty interesting. It’s called Immersive Exercise. What’s this one about?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yes, so again, I think the name already spoils a little bit the surprise, but it’s basically doing exercise in a, yeah, in an immersive environment, like virtual reality. So, as you know, astronauts need to exercise quite a lot to compensate for bone loss, muscle deterioration, and so on. And of course if you need to daily work out for two hours in the ISS, which is not a very, let’s say, the environment doesn’t change a lot, then, of course, this can become very repetitive, and maybe even boring, which can lead to really lack of motivation while this exercise is just so important for them. So the Immersive Exercise really tries to, let’s say, break the boredom and the monotony by adding virtual reality to the exercise. So what they do is that, with the VR, you can basically, when they’re on the bike ergometer in space, they can basically ride through landscapes on Earth. And these are videos that were filmed in 360 degrees on Earth, and, yeah, you can change the speed depending on how fast they bike. And, you know, they can pick different settings, for example. So I think that’s very nice, and for example, Thomas has regressed it to, to have, you know, a trip around Paris and the monuments, because of course, for him, that feels like home. And of course, it’s this, this can also be mapped individually. So depending on, you know, the crew member and their personal preferences, you can basically give them different programs that they can exercise in. And also here, I think this is also something that a lot of people would’ve liked to have, potentially, in the pandemic. I remember when they announced that we could not go outside, that we bought actually a bike ergometer for inside, just to make sure that we could still at least do something for exercise. And I would’ve loved to have one of these devices, to not just stare at the same wall the whole time. So I think I, it would be very interesting to, to add this to the exercise regime.

Host: Yeah, absolutely. I’m curious to hear, yeah, the feedback on that, and you’re right. I mean, that’s, it’s true for all of us. It’s something I think we can all relate with, and is definitely true for the astronauts. They go on the same treadmill, the same bike, and they’re staring at the same wall. So that’d be interesting feedback to get; very, very cool. One more, one more, and then we’ll, we’ll wrap it up. But I think just in general, this is not anything specific, but what we’ve captured here today is just what, what, you know, there’s just a huge variety of different investigations in different disciplines. I know for ESA, and especially for Thomas, I see him doing all the time on orbit, is he’s very engaged in different education activities, making sure that, you know, he’s doing not only the experiments but he’s, he’s doing his job to educate younger audiences and to inspire them to do great things. So, some of the things that I know that maybe Thomas is doing, but maybe just in general, things that have done in the past by ESA as part of education activities.

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yeah, I think the education is always a very important aspect that, that really should not be, you know, overseen or forgotten, because of course, through these space missions, and especially through the astronauts, as let’s say role models, you can really, yeah, reach a very wide audience, and you can really inspire, let’s say, a younger guard of, of, of students, and, you know, young boys and girls who have an interest in potentially science. And it’s a great way to, you know, encourage STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) in the general audience, or in the younger audience, but also to promote certain aspects. Think of, you know, the fact that they exercise so much; potentially this could also promote a certain healthy lifestyle. So, there’s a lot of things coming to that. So for the Alpha mission there is the Astro Pi Challenge, which is basically using two very, very small computers, which have, let’s say, sensors and cameras which are based in the station. And students from all over Europe up until the age of 19 years old, they have the opportunity to run their own computer program in orbit during their school year, let’s say, by joining two challenges. So they have Mission Zero, where the teams work to display a greeting message and, and the station’s temperature and humidity on the Astro Pi computers, and Mission Space Lab, basically allows them to design a scientific experiment to investigate life in space or life on Earth. So it’s really to get them involved directly into something that is then actually running in space, which is, of course, a very great incentive for them. There’s also Mission X Walk to the Moon, where future space explorers basically train like astronauts for the Mission X Challenge, and again, I think this is a little bit promoting this healthy lifestyle, of course. So it’s focused on health, fitness, and also healthy nutrition. So CNES (French Space Agency) and ESA are both supporting this initiative since its launch in 2011, so it’s been running for a very long time, and Thomas, of course, has encouraged the children participating in our 2021 edition. So, yeah, basically they practice scientific reasoning and teamwork, and they, you know, participate in hands-on training, you know, a little bit training like an astronaut. This is a little bit, the background to that.

Host: Fantastic.

Angelique Van Ombergen:Yeah, there’s a lot of other educational activities. All of them are very nice, and I think, you know, the background to all of them is really to get them involved. It’s not just a unidirectional thing. It’s not, you know, Thomas is explaining something, and they listen. It’s really to get them involved, it’s really to get them hands-on, to consider things, to really work on stuff in a team, sometimes even internationally, have it run on orbit. And I think this interaction is very motivating for them, and I think that’s very nice.

Host: Yeah, absolutely. Angelique, this was just so fantastic, to go through. I know I — I’m glad I sent you a lot of these ahead of time, because there’s a lot of different experiments, and you able to just go through all of that in a short amount of time was just fascinating, and even the inside look into ESA. I want to end with more just questions about just your experience, and working with ESA, and just what you’ve learned with working with so many different member states, and researchers, and the ESA community, and with NASA. Just, just having an understanding of what you have learned over the course of these past couple of years, with just the importance of microgravity, understanding the, the huge variety of different experiments that are going up, all over ESA, and you helping with, with a lot of it, particularly with your focus on human research, but just your perspective on what you have found in engaging a larger community with, with microgravity research.

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yeah, I think that’s a very great question, but sometimes also a difficult one to answer. I think in essence, it’s a very fascinating field to do research, and it’s so unique. And that is, I think, what I like most about it, that and I’m going to just speak from my personal experience, working of course with human crew, which is always a little bit different than, for example, when you do a physical sciences experiment. But the fact that you can, and I’m speaking also because I have a background in more clinical field, but normally when you test, for example, patients who have a certain disease, you only see them when they already have the disease, when they are already a patient. So then you need to set up an experiment, you need to compare them with controls which you try to match as good as possible, but it’s really not ideal. The very nice and unique thing about astronauts is that you get to test them before they fly in space, during spaceflight, and then afterwards. So this means that you can really test one individual from, you know, before a very extreme exposure to a very extreme environment, during, and after. And I think this shows us really, a lot of very unique insights on how humans in general are very capable in adapting to these extreme environments, and I think this is something that, yeah, not a lot of people realize, and that has a lot of applications for terrestrial medicine as well, because of course we can really do fundamental research in space that, that hopefully can also help a lot of patients and people on Earth, and in the human physiology field, for example, I think of elderly people; I think of immobilized people. So, there’s a lot of things that we try to target with that, and I think that is what I find most fascinating about the work. It’s not only doing research for space. Of course, that is a very important aspect, but it’s also doing research for Earth, and I think we need to realize that sometimes a little bit more.

Host: That’s fantastic. Angelique, you know, we went over a lot of experiments that, that, as part of Alpha, and some recent experiments, but I wonder if there’s anything that you in particular are looking forward to for future missions, whether, whether it’s on ISS, or the Moon, or wherever, but particularly in your field. Is there anything that you’re looking forward to, to working on in the near future?

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yeah, I think the preparation of the lunar missions is, of course, very fascinating, and I think anybody who is working in the space field is looking forward to resume those, let’s say, lunar missions. And especially from a science perspective, these will yield an enormous, you know, new influx of, of data and insight. And I think it’s going to be very important for the scientific fields across all the different disciplines that are, that are, you know, applicable in space missions. So, I’m definitely looking forward to that, and yeah, I think that, that’s all really, very exciting.

Host: Awesome; well, I’ll leave it there, Angelique. Thank you so much. This was, this was super-insightful for me. I was happy to have you on, and just get a different perspective, making sure we’re getting a round view of just what is the space industry, and it is truly an international community. So, I very much appreciate your time calling in from the Netherlands today. Thank you.

Angelique Van Ombergen: Yeah, thank you for having me.

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Host: Hey, thanks for sticking around! I hope you learned something today, because talking with Angelique, I learned so much about the European Space Agency, how it works. I had a general sense, but never really got to go that in-depth. So, it was an absolute pleasure to have Angelique on today to describe it. There’s a lot going on board the International Space Station, and that, the European science aspect is just one of those things. So, to get the full perspective, go to NASA.gov/iss. We’re, of course, one of many NASA podcasts across the whole agency. You can check us all out at NASA.gov/podcasts. That’s where you can find us and our full collection. Listen to them in no particular order. We have full transcripts of every episode, if you’re interested. If you want to talk to us, we’re on the Johnson Space Center pages of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Just use the hashtag #AskNASA on your favorite platform to submit an idea for the show, and just make sure to mention it’s for Houston We Have a Podcast. This episode was recorded on September 22nd, 2021. Thanks again to Alex Perryman, Pat Ryan, Norah Moran, Belinda Pulido, Rachel Barry, Erin Anthony, Nicole Rose and Adelaide Thomas from ESA. And of course, thanks again to Angelique Van Ombergen for taking the time to come on the show. Give us a rating and feedback on whatever platform you’re listening to us on and tell us what you think of our podcast. We’ll be back next week.