Dave (8:37)

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Maria Varmazis (9:53)

Our guest today is Patrick O' Neill from the ISS National Lab. You spoke to the Internet's hero, Johnny Kim.

Patrick O'Neill (10:05)

I did.

Maria Varmazis (10:06)

You did. And I feel weird being like, what was that like? Tell me about an interview. But genuinely, what was that like?

Patrick O'Neill (10:15)

So it was cool For a variety of reasons. One, obviously you're talking with someone who has such a decorated background at such an early age. I mean, he's accomplished so much, but he's truly a very, very humble individual. And one of the things that the NASA team was talking with me about was let's not focus on, you know, the meme of Johnny Kim. Yes. Let's maybe focus a little bit because everyone wants to go out there and tell, oh, my gosh, your background. And, you know, if anything, let's maybe talk about how your background is one where it. The things that you've learned, the training that you've had along the way, how that can make you a more effective crew member on station for this. So that was. That was awesome in and of itself. One of the questions that I asked is, you know, because, you know, life imitates art type scenario where, you know, there's a lot of movies or things that sometimes inspire you as a younger person. And, you know, I knew that there was going to be some of the traditional movies like the Martian or Interstellar, but one of the ones that he brought up that I wasn't expecting was Gattaca. And I love that movie. It is one of the most fantastically made movies I've ever seen.

Maria Varmazis (11:28)

Yeah, it's a great film. Yeah.

Patrick O'Neill (11:30)

And it's so funny, too, because if you look at the way that. The way that the world is moving now as far as R D is concerned, and even the notion of personalized medicine, who's to say that one day down the road we can't get to a state where you can, you know, genetic. Genetically dispose your. Your child for what it is that you're looking for. And then, yeah, yeah, you know, he has a brother who ends up, you know, being the. The. The Gattaca version. And then he was supposed to be the lesser version, but then he. He worked his fanny off because he had something that he wanted to do. He wanted to be an astronaut. And, you know, I think that in what Johnny was saying, though, was that it's not really a space movie, but it's more a movie where space is the end goal for the lead character. But it's more about, you know, human adversity overcoming obstacles in order to achieve your goal.

Maria Varmazis (12:19)

That's amazing. Well, I mean, a science film inspiring someone like him who has, I mean, really touched on so many different facets of the sciences, of the cutting edge of the sciences. Yeah, I completely appreciate that. He probably is really sick of the Internet meme. When you spoke to Johnny, I Mean, how many weeks in was he on the iss? I mean how.

Patrick O'Neill (12:41)

He wasn't even in a full week. Yeah, so he was in less than a week at that point. I think he was, he'd gotten up there on a Tuesday. We did the interview on the following Monday and part of the conversation was how have you adjusted? I mean obviously space is doing. Yeah, it's a very harsh environment and you know, it's, especially if you are a first time space flyer, if you're a first time astronaut on station, I can imagine it takes a little bit more time for your body to figure out its space legs, so to speak. And so he was, he was pretty candid about that where it did take a couple of days for him to, you know, get, get his wits back about him and, but he was also marveled by just the adaptive nature of the human body being able to go to such a novel extreme environment and be able to assimilate and to do it in a matter of days. So he was again, I think that that's kind of the medical side of him where it kind of kicks in where you're like, wow, that's, that's really cool. I mean space is hard, space is stressful, but by golly, we can still find a way to make it work.

Maria Varmazis (13:44)

Humans are pretty darn neat as a.

Patrick O'Neill (13:47)

Doctor, we're pretty cool when we don't get in our own way. Right.

Maria Varmazis (13:52)

Isn't that a fact? So it sounds like he's doing all right and I would hope so, certainly. And he and the rest of the crew hopefully are acclimating well. I mean they've been up there now for a little bit now. I'm so curious what you've been hearing about what they're working on.

Patrick O'Neill (14:06)

Well, we had SpaceX's 30 second commercial resupply services mission to the space station a couple of weeks ago. And on that was a variety of projects that the crew is going to be focused on. Most of them are biomedical and nature or plant biology. So you know, those are kind of the main activities for them. They're also working on a few other, more like the astronaut ones themselves where there's like biomonitors and things of that nature. So they're, they're busy and they're also going to be prepping to have some, some new astronauts come to the space station in a couple of weeks. So we'll be having the AX4, that's the Axiom Space 4th Private Astronaut Missions. So there'll be four new crew members that are going to be coming up, we're talking about some of the science that's flying on that because we national lab is sponsoring a lot of it. So we're excited to collaborate with the Axiom team. I had a chance to actually go out to Houston and met with a research team that is from Axiom that's going to be sending a glucose monitor to station where it's going to be, it's going to be on one of the astronauts and hopefully they can validate the technology. And that might be able to set the foundation for having astronauts that traditionally would have been quote, unquote, disqualified from being able to live and work in space for extended periods of time. So through the validation of these types of technology demonstrations, again, maybe some of the best and brightest, as far as minds were concerned that again, previously wouldn't have had the chance to go and support research in space. Now they might have the ability to do that. And I think that you want research like that to happen that truly does open up access for other people and widens the aperture. And if more people that can do great things on the ground have the ability to do great things in space, then we're all going to be better for it as humans.

Maria Varmazis (15:51)

I mean, I know there's a lot of research and progress happening on the diabetes front and always more work to do, but it's so fascinating, always fascinating in this job to hear how things in space are interfacing with medical research on the ground. I just, it's just, it's the coolest thing.

Patrick O'Neill (16:11)

So it's funny when, when I met with the crew, 10 astronauts before they flew. So it was Anne McLean and Nicole Ayers and we did a, we did an interview and Ann was wearing a bio monitor. And, you know, it's got all like the bells and whistles and obviously it's done to go out there and really monitor all avenues of her body as an astronaut, to make sure that she's assimilating to space appropriately. But one of the other projects that's going to be flying on this Axiom mission is they're going to be sending an aura ring to the space station. One of the astronauts will wear that. And this will be, I think, the third time that they've flown this. But, you know, if you can have a ring or something like that, that is a much less invasive way of being able to evaluate your body effectively in space. And you know, again, we need sometimes like the big larger ones, but if you can have something like that, that again, doesn't distract or doesn't get in the way of your ability to perform your functions as an astronaut. That's pretty awesome, too. So, I mean, I'm excited about some of those projects that are flying. And, you know, I think that the Axiom team was really excited about it because they have more projects than any other private astronaut mission that they've done to date. So there's more than 60, 60 investigations that'll happen. And on top of that, they're excited because there's more than 30 countries that are equally represented along the way. So just it kind of brings in that notion of it is the international station, and they're doing a lot of great work. So we're excited to see that mission and being able to support it.

Maria Varmazis (17:39)

Patrick, every time I speak with you, I always not only learn a lot, but also it feels like a present. I receive from you every time about the incredible things that are happening on the iss and just like, ready to blow your mind. Here you go. This is all this cool stuff.

Patrick O'Neill (17:51)

Well, if I could do another shameless plug. So we were talking about the Johnny Ken conversation. We dropped our latest episode. It's now episode number three for our podcast. We're trying to catch up. And so this one features CNN's Jackie Wattles and Rafael Rutkin from E2MC, which I know him.

Maria Varmazis (18:12)

Indeed. Yep. Yeah.

Patrick O'Neill (18:13)

And so they were both talking about the business of space, and Rafael was talking a bit about the Orbital Edge Accelerator program that the ISS National Lab is in collaboration with alongside three investment teams. And Rafael's team is one of the ones that is putting in $1 million each that will then go towards six different cohorts. And so we were talking just the space economy in general, how it's evolved, but then also where we're going, and then how opportunities like this could set the pathway for additional startups to create things in space. So I encourage everyone to go and take a look at between a rocket and a hard space. If you do get a chance, you do have to listen to me talk for about 40 minutes. So there's that. But you also need to listen to other people talk, too.

Maria Varmazis (18:58)

That it sounds like a pleasure. So I'll make sure that we have that linked in the show notes so everybody can take a listen. Patrick, a joy as always. Thank you so much for coming on the show and speaking with me. Appreciate it.

Patrick O'Neill (19:07)

Absolutely. Thank you for having me.

Maria Varmazis (19:23)

We'll be right back.

Dave (19:32)

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Maria Varmazis (20:12)

Welcome back. If you've ever been lucky enough to see the Northern lights, then boy, am I jealous. But it seems that the auroras on Earth are nothing compared to the light display that Jupiter receives. And thanks to NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, we've captured these dazzling displays in unprecedented detail. On Earth, auroras occur when charged particles from the sun interact with our magnetic field and atmosphere. On the other hand, Jupiter's auroras are similar, but they are supercharged. Not only does the solar wind play a role, but Jupiter's own volcanic moon IO spews particles into space, which fuels the luminous spectacles on Jupiter. So using its near infrared camera, Webb observed that emissions from the trihydrogen cation are far more variable than previously thought. These rapid fluctuations suggest a dynamic and complex interaction between Jupiter's magnetic field and its atmosphere. But there's a twist. Of course there's a twist. Some of the brightest emissions detected by Webb don't actually match up with ultraviolet observations from the Hubble Space Telescope. So this discrepancy hints at unknown processes at play that could possibly involve low energy particles that are still a mystery to science. Well, isn't that lovely? These findings not only deepen our understanding of Jupiter, but they also pave the way for future missions like the European Space Agency's Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, AKA juice, which aims to explore Jupiter's environment and its intriguing moons. And it is en route, by the way. We look forward to hearing more about these cosmic light displays in the years to come. That's it for T minus for May 12, 2025. Brought to you by N2K CyberWire. For additional resources from today's report, check out our show notes@spare.n2k.com we'd love to know what you think of this podcast. Your feedback ensures we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. If you like the show, please share a rating and review in your podcast app. Please also fill out the survey in the Show Notes or send an email to space@n2k.com we're privileged that N2K CyberWire is part of the daily routine of the most influential leaders and operators in the public and private sector. From the Fortune 500 to many of the world's preeminent intelligence and law enforcement agencies, N2K makes it easy for companies to optimize your biggest investment your people. We make you smarter about your teams while making your teams smarter. Learn how@n2k.com N2K's senior producer is Alice Carruth. Our producer is Liz Stokes. We're mixed by Elliott Peltzman and Trey Hester with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Ivan. Peter Kilby is our publisher and I am your host, Maria Varmazes. Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

Patrick O'Neill (23:20)

T minus.

Dave (23:34)

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