Plus: A new way to monitor astronaut health
| By Dan Robitzski
Welcome back to our weekly newsletter highlighting the opinions and perspectives of the SpaceNews community.
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Students teams are designing payloads, launching rockets and leading scientific research missions in space. Student space programs are essential for fostering a world-leading space workforce, but they're under threat, argues a recent commentary article penned by StarSense CTO Michael Lembeck and Mark M. Gittleman, chairman of the Board of Advisors for the ISS National Laboratory User Advisory Committee.
They argue that the United States is being outspent and outmatched when it comes to supporting student interested in space, with China being estimated to graduate several times the amount of engineers and STEM PhDs coming out of American institutions. Therefore, they say, the American government and investors need to double down on student programs.
"These missions are targeted investments in orbital infrastructure and talent pipelines," they wrote. "Yes, they deliver research, but they also inspire and train future STEM leaders, accelerate technology and build resilience in the commercial space ecosystem."
See the full article here. | | | | |
As humanity's journeys into space last longer and venture farther from Earth, they'll also reveal yet-unknown impacts that space travel has on human health, from the long-term effects of radiation to the changes caused by life in microgravity. But with proper investment and support, new advances in tissue chip technology could help researchers get ahead of any health concerns, Rihana Bokhari, the scientific research director at the Translational Research Institute for Space Health, argued in a recent opinion article.
She envisioned a world where samples taken from future crewmembers and astronauts could be used to grow mini tissue or organ cultures that would be launched ahead of any crew mission, offering personalized medical insight into each person's unique health risks and responses to space travel, so that the proper countermeasures can be taken.
You can see the full article here. | | | | | |  | | NASA astronaut Jessica Meir conducts cardiac research using tissue chip platforms in the Life Sciences Glovebox aboard space station in March of 2022. Credit: NASA
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