Astronaut Scott Kelly spent a year in space, while his twin brother Mark Kelly — known to many around these parts as the husband of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords — stayed on the ground. After a year, the elevated Kelly brother returned to Earth and spent a lot of time in enclosures even smaller than the International Space Station so he could be tested for the effects that long term exposure to free-fall and other aspects of space flight had on his body.
And, as you’ve likely heard if you watched the news at all this week, while in space, Scott Kelly’s genes changed. That phrase has been spoken with arched eyebrows and a big “ooooh” across the dial. The implication is that Kelly was exposed to something strange which did strange things to him up there in the void. Hosts from Fox to Today have made associations between this “gene change” and Kelly getting taller while in space. They’ve all but said the word mutant, as if they expected Scott Kelly to begin sprouting a third arm and maybe a pair of antenna.
But what happened to Kelly’s genes is not what all those TV folks have implied. It wasn’t that lack of gravity unraveled his DNA, or exposure to cosmic rays riddled his code with errors. What changed was his epigenetics. His genetic expression. The way his genes work within his cells.
Epigenetic change don’t represent an alteration in the DNA itself. All those little As, Cs, Ts, and Gs are still there, still in the same order. Scott Kelly likely suffered some damage to that code over the course of a year — all of us do — but that change was vanishingly small. Instead, some of the genes in his cells were … switched off. Or switched on. Or turned up or down. Everything you do has epigenetic effects. What you eat affects gene expression. Exercise, or lack of it, affects gene expression. Just getting older affects gene expression.
So it shouldn’t be surprising that Scott Kelly, after a year living in a unique environment, under very peculiar stresses, eating a very different diet, and not subject to the solid one-gee that tugs at all of us earthbound folk, should show some significant differences. What do those changes mean? Dammifino. And right now, neither do the scientists who are studying Scott Kelly.
But the most interesting thing that’s been discovered may be that about 7 percent of Kelly’s genes haven’t returned to baseline since he’s been back on Earth. These genes, which NASA researcher Chris Mason has labeled “space genes,” apparently had their activity modified over his year on the ISS in a way that seems to be persistent. From Mason’s study, there seems to be a decrease in the action of the mitochondria in Scott Kelly’s cells. This could have been triggered by above normal levels of CO2 in the ISS atmosphere. Maybe. Or maybe not. There were also changes in Kelly’s bones, something that NASA has seen in the past. Astronauts on long duration flights tend to shed a significant about of calcium from their bones. This probably come from the simple lack of stress applied to the long bones while in free-fall. With Kelly, they’ve probably pinned down the epigenetic response that goes along with this change.
In any case, Scott Kelly isn’t a mutant, and he’s not going to begin developing telekinesis — though that would be cool. Instead, the epigenetic changes in his cells are important to understand as we get ready to once again move beyond low Earth orbit and have more people in space for longer periods.
Okay, let’s go read some space news!
Dawn was supposed to complete its mission at Ceres last fall, but NASA authorized the craft to not only hang around longer, but make lower passes above the surface of the largest object in the asteroid belt. And it continues to be productive.
Observations obtained by the visible and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIR) on the Dawn spacecraft previously found water ice in a dozen sites on Ceres. The new study revealed the abundance of ice on the northern wall of Juling Crater, a crater 12 miles (20 kilometers) in diameter. The new observations, conducted from April through October 2016, show an increase in the amount of ice on the crater wall.
That’s a visible change in Ceres just in the time that Dawn has been in the neighborhood. Every time we expect to find a “dead world,” we seem to get a surprise.
Dawn is unique among space missions in that it has orbited two objects. It spent 14 months around the Vesta starting in 2011, then putted over to Ceres, where it has been taking images and performing analysis since 2015. Vesta, which at 525 kilometer average diameter is too small to pull itself into a sphere, is considered a giant asteroid. Ceres, with a diameter of 945 kilometers, is considered a dwarf planet — the only one inside the orbit of Neptune. It also makes up about a third of the mass of the entire belt.
The next big upgrade in the race to find planets around other stars will be the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). NASA has slotted TESS for launch on the afternoon of April 16. It will be flying on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Other Space Agency News
After the successful return of the KOUNOTORI 16 transfer vehicle in February, JAXA has lined up two more craft to ferry supplies and experiments to ISS. Each KOUNOTORI can carry about 6 metric tons of material to the ISS — making it the equal of the SpaceX Dragon when it comes to delivery of supplies. It’s carried aloft by Japan’s H-IIB Launch Vehicle.
The next flight is scheduled for some time this summer.
ESA and NASA used a swarm of small satellites to learn about the mysterious “Steve.”
Steve – a strange shimmering ribbon of purple light in the night sky – was discovered in 2016, but now, thanks to ESA’s Swarm mission, more is known about this weird feature of the aurora.
Steve turns out to be like an aurora … only not. Follow the link to learn more.
China has announced it will attempt five sea launches using a Long March-11 rocket, The Long March 11 uses solid propellants, so should be easier to support away from a classic gantry.
China’s Tiangong-1 space station is still up there … but not for long. Expectations are it will be heading for earth within the next two weeks somewhere over the US, China, or the Middle East.
News from the Manufacturers
ILS announced that in 2020 it will launch a pair of satellite servicing drones.
ILS, a U.S.-based leading global commercial launch services provider and UK headquartered Effective Space announce their intent to contract to deliver two of Effective Space’s SPACE DRONE™ spacecraft into orbit. The Proton Breeze M rideshare launch is planned for 2020 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
You can read about Effective Space and their Space Drone craft here.
On a less astral plane — ILS has redone their web site. Click the big link above to see some nice shots of the Russian Proton launchers.
It’s been a few weeks now since the first launch of the Falcon Heavy. And you may think you’re done with the hype around SpaceX’s bigger rocket and the launch of a red convertible. But if you haven’t watched this super-cut made from official footage of the launch, behind the scenes images, and home video of people on the scene, stop what you’re doing and watch it now. I can guarantee you a 130 percent increase in enthusiasm, space-faring gung-ho’ness, and simple joy.
The landing of the boosters is still so cool that it’s hard to believe it’s real. But whoever spliced in the little girl signaling “goal” just after this launch, is the real genius.
And if that that SpaceX news encourages you to hear more, here’s a full hour of Elon at SXSW, discussing the history of the company, future plans, and Fred Astaire.
Upcoming Launches
Apr 2 — SpaceX CRS 14, Falcon 9
Dragon spacecraft delivering cargo and experiments to the ISS.
Apr 5 — Bangabandhu 1, Falcon 9
First communications satellite specifically for Bangladesh. It will offer Ku-band and C-band services across Bangladesh and its territorial waters of the Bay of Bengal, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Philippines and Indonesia.
Apr 12 — AFSPC 11, Atlas 5
An Air Force launch that includes the EAGLE craft carrying unspecified experiments.
Apr 16 — TESS Mission, Falcon 9 Full Thrust, Launch Complex 39A
Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite designed to look for exoplanets that pass in front of 200,000 nearby stars. Delayed from March.
Mar 29 — Iridium Next 41-50, Falcon 9, Space Launch Complex 4E
Commercial communications satellites. Multiple satellite deployment. Delayed from Mar 18.
Apr 28 — Iridium Next 51-55, Falcon 9
See above.
Mar 22 — USIP 2, Terrier-Improved Malemute
Suborbital sounding rocking lofting scientific payload.
Mar 21 — Superbird 8/DSN 1, Ariane 5
Delayed from 2016. Replaces an existing, but aging comms satellite.
Mar 21 — ISS Crew Mission 55, Soyuz MS
Delivering three person crew, Oleg Artemyev (RU, commanding), Drew Feustel (US), and Ricky Arnold US) to International Space Station.
Apr 22 — Blagovest No. 12L, Proton M / Breeze
Russian communications satellite.
Mar 20 — Apstar 6C, Long March 3B
Communications satellite to geosynchronous orbit over Asia-Pacific. Mobile broadband, cellular, and broadcast bands.
Mar 24 — GSLV-F08, GSLV Mk II
A geosynchronous satellite launch on the updated version of India’s purpose-built Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle. Communications satellite. Delayed from Mar 15.
Apr ?? — GSLV Mk.2 • Chandrayaan 2
India’s ambitious second lunar mission launches some time in April. This mission includes an orbiter, a lander, and a lunar rover.