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Science Integration

Encyclopedia
Updated Feb 12, 2024

Contents

Introduction

Johnson Space Center (JSC) has a long-standing history in scientific research to support exploration missions. Teams at JSC combine scientific and engineering expertise to advance knowledge of potential exploration destinations, to integrate terrestrial and planetary science research, to extend extraterrestrial materials curation, to conduct human research and to promote success for operational spacecraft by mitigating risk. Our scientists are members of mission teams, constructing and operating spacecraft instruments and sensors as well as providing applied science services to missions. We provide scientific expertise in the definition of mission objectives, spacecraft designs, suit and tool designs and operating protocols. We are Agency leaders in the formulation and operation of robotic and human exploration missions, making a sustainable presence beyond Earth possible. Explore our capabilities below and join us in advancing scientific research and planetary exploration.

Capabilities

NASA Airborne Science Program 

Overview | The Gulfstream (GIII) aircraft supports the NASA Airborne Science Program and provides a reliable, configurable, and comfortable airborne platform to the earth science community and other customers to support scientific research and advanced technology development and testing worldwide. 

Details |

  • An integrated process to support payload design and integration, test readiness, and mission execution
  • The aircraft can be modified to meet customer needs 
  • The cabin can be configured with standard equipment racks and operator consoles 
  • Up to 15 mission crew/passengers can be accommodated depending on internal cabin configuration
  • An external pod for radar, lidar, or other instrumentation is available 

Cold Stowage 

Overview | The Cold Stowage team is part of the International Space Station (ISS) Program. JSC manages the operation, support and integration tasks provided by Jacobs Technology and the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB). Cold stowage provides controlled environments to meet temperature requirements during ascent, on-orbit operations, and return, in relation to ISS payload science. 

Details | NASA’s vision for humans pursuing deep space flight involves the collection of science in low earth orbit aboard the ISS. As a service to the science community, JSC has developed hardware and processes to preserve collected sincere on the ISS and transfer it safely back to the Principal Investigators. These active and passive cold stowage systems include an array of freezers, refrigerators, and incubators. JSC’s Cold Stowage Lab can perform hold tests, fit checks, and thermal tests by request. Equipment in the lab allows the team to test articles at temperatures ranging between -196° C to +200° C. The team also provides support to payload developers through launch, on-orbit operations, and landing. 

Exploration Mission Science 

Overview | NASA JSC Astromaterials and Exploration Science Division (ARES) constructs and operates spacecraft, instrumentation, and sensors as team members of various missions. 

Details | We provide planetary expertise in the definition of mission objectives, spacecraft designs, suit and tool designs and operating protocols. We provide applied science services to missions, including remote sensing, imagery science and analysis, orbital debris environment predictions, spacecraft debris risk assessments and spacecraft shielding. Our unique integrated team of scientists and engineers also provide mission enabling services. We are NASA’s designated team for characterizing the orbital debris environment through space-based payloads, ground-based observatories and radar facilities, laboratory studies and modeling. We use our environmental knowledge to estimate risk to spacecraft and to guide vehicle design to mitigate risk, taking advantage of our in-house development of shielding technology. 

Science Operations 

Overview | NASA JSC Astromaterials and Exploration Research Division (ARES) pioneered science operations for human missions through support to the Apollo missions, which has been leveraged to all subsequent crewed missions, including International Space Station (ISS) missions and Orion missions. 

Details | The Astromaterials and Exploration Science Division (ARES) integrates science operations of Earth sensors onboard the International Space Station and leads the acquisition of Earth imagery by astronauts. We populate Mars mission teams, including the Curiosity, Opportunity, and Perseverance rovers. We also integrate into science teams for asteroid missions including Origin’s Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) and Hayabusa2. We lead the development of sensors to enhance the scientific return of planetary exploration, leveraging the International Space Station as a proving ground as needed. 

iss065e012827 (May 3, 2021) — NASA astronaut and Expedition 65 Flight Engineer Megan McArthur stows science hardware and reconfigures the Microgravity Science Glovebox inside the International Space Station’s U.S. Destiny laboratory module.
iss049e002655 (09/13/2016) — NASA astronaut Kate Rubins, a crew member of Expedition 49 aboard the International Space Station, works on an experiment inside the station’s Microgravity Science Glovebox. The glovebox is one of the major dedicated science facilities inside the Destiny laboratory and provides a sealed environment for conducting science and technology experiments. The glovebox is particularly suited for handling hazardous materials when the crew is present.
The Desert Research and Technology Studies (DesertRATS) is one of NASA’s analog missions to test hardware and operational scenarios in a remote environment with geographic similarities to the Moon and Mars. In October 2022, NASA evaluated rover design and operations, communications with the Mission Control Center and a Science Evaluation Room at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. A key element of the DesertRATS analog is the pressurized rover, a capability that is planned for astronaut surface exploration at the Moon and Mars. NASA has a study agreement with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for development of the Artemis pressurized rover, and JAXA representatives joined NASA at DesertRATS.
Dr. Kristen John, principal investigator for Hermes at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, talks to NASA Social participants during a What’s On Board science briefing at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 29, 2019. The briefing was held for SpaceX’s 17th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-17) mission to the International Space Station. John presented on the Hermes Facility, an experimental microgravity facility that enables science experiments, microgravity exposure testing, testing of engineering components and CubeSats and any payloads that can fit in the Hermes design and operations constraints. NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) and Space Test Program-Houston 6 (STP-H6) are two of the experiments that also will be delivered to the space station on CRS-17. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo module are scheduled to launch no earlier than May 3, 2019, from Space Launch Complex 40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

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