Patrick O'Neill (7:01)

Recent activities being conducted on China's Tiangon.

Maria Varmazes (7:04)

Space Station, and we're seeing a few announcements out of SmallSat. Most notably, Safran DSI has been selected.

Patrick O'Neill (7:10)

To supply electric propulsion systems for Astroforge's asteroid mission.

Maria Varmazes (7:14)

Best of luck to them. Absolutely. Those links can be found on our website space.n2k.com just click on the episode title. Hi T minus Crew. If you'd like daily updates from us directly in your LinkedIn feed, be sure to follow the official N2K T minus page over on LinkedIn. And if you're more interested in the lighter side of what we do, here we are us daily on Instagram and that's where we post videos and pictures from events, excursions and even sometimes some behind the scenes treats. Links are in the show notes for you. Hope you'll join us there.

Patrick O'Neill (8:07)

I'm Ben Yellen, co host of the Caveat Podcast. Each Thursday we sit down and talk about the biggest legal and policy developments affecting technology that are shaping our world. Whether it be sitting down with experts or government officials officials or breaking down the latest political developments, we talk about the stories that will have tangible impacts on businesses and people around the world. If you are looking to stay informed on what is happening and how it could impact you, make sure to listen to the Caveat Podcast.

Maria Varmazes (8:39)

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Patrick O'Neill (9:04)

Dairy free your mind.

Maria Varmazes (9:05)

Visit sodeliciousdairyfree.com today we have our monthly update from friend of the show Patrick o' Neil, who who is the public affairs and outreach lead at the International Space Station U.S. national Laboratory.

Patrick O'Neill (9:22)

I was recently out in Las Vegas for the Ascend Conference which was a great opportunity to bring a variety of partners from the space community to talk about what's happening in low earth orbit on the space station, what's going to be happening beyond the space station. And you know, it was really interesting because there's a obviously there's a lot going on from a D.C. perspective and there was a lot of people that were very focused on making sure that voices are being heard on the critical importance of us to not only have a space station but also to continue to do great R and D on that. So it was really exciting to see the partner community really stepping up and talking about the great things that are happening and how we can do even better things as we continue to move on through the next few years of the space station and potentially beyond.

Maria Varmazes (10:08)

So since we Last talked crew 11 has headed up to the ISS. So that's always exciting. Now we know also who they're zero G indicator is. That was kind of a.

Patrick O'Neill (10:18)

Was that the coolest thing ever? Oh my gosh, that was awesome. Love that. But yeah, we have some new astronauts that are on the space station. Four new astronauts, two. Two NASA astronauts. And I think we might have touched on this last time too. But I just love the juxtaposition between you have Mike Fink, someone that, who has been in the space program for the better part of 30 years and has not been to the space station since 2011. And then you have Zena Cardman, this is her first spaceflight. So to be able to have both of them up there being able to an array of research that's going to be happening over the next couple of months. Really excited for what it is that that they're going to have the ability to, to focus on and the value that that can bring to the scientific community and humanity alike.

Maria Varmazes (10:59)

And also we there's a Jax astronaut and a Roscosmos cosmonaut joining. So it's just love seeing that International collaboration. And it's, it's a really beautiful thing. I remember hearing when they were, I think right after they, they were, they were on after the launch and they started saying their own greetings in their different languages and they were sort of handing off to each other in respective languages. It was so collegial. I'm sure that's standard, but it was just really beautiful to hear and it's just always a nice reminder of what.

Patrick O'Neill (11:23)

It'S all about, the beauty of the space station. I mean, again, you have people from all walks of life living and working in space in harmony and being able to be supportive of one another, to support research for those that are on the ground. That's why we have it. And so it's great, to your point, to be able to see them, communicate to their people, to get them excited and inspired about what it is that they are about ready to embark upon.

Maria Varmazes (11:45)

Absolutely. So we did touch a lot on what I think Crew 11 is going to be doing, so we don't need to rehash all of that. But you did mention something cool about your recent trip to Texas, to Austin, Texas, I think it was.

Patrick O'Neill (11:58)

Well, I was going to try to go out there, but this actually did fly on Crew 11. It's a yeast investigation from Starbase Brewing, if memory serves. And we've done a variety of projects on the space station looking at either plant biology, yeast. And I think that what's unique about this one is obviously there is a company that probably specializes in the development of things that we don't necessarily do on station. But to take a step back, yeast is a very important element for us to be able to explore in space because it goes beyond just being able to produce things that we might drink. But it goes from everything from bionutrients to energy. I mean, it just really spans the gamut. And if we're trying to eventually get to places like the moon and Mars, we need to learn how to grow and to cultivate and to take advantage of things that we leverage here on the ground. So that, that way, you know, we can live as nominal of a life as we can when we are on these extreme environments, that otherwise, you know, we're not familiar with trying to grow anything around. So again, I look at those types of investigations. Yes, there's a fun novelty associated with it if it's from a brewery and people can deduce what they will from there. But there is major scientific implications for this type of research. And I'll give another example where over the years we flew multiple projects from Anheuser Busch and Budweiser where they were looking at barley and they wanted to see how barley would react in extreme environments. And it wasn't just so that they could bring that into their product line, but barley was, I believe is the fifth largest cereal crop in the world. And there's so many applications for it across the agricultural community. So how can we take these types of R and D to low Earth orbit and put it in that stressful environment and see if maybe there's ways that it could be extrapolated across a myriad of disciplines for the agricultural community? So sometimes there's fun names that are associated with them and yeah, they might have, you know, some grandius visions, but that doesn't mean that there's not fundamental or cool knowledge that could be gained that could be applicable for a lot of different audiences.

Maria Varmazes (14:10)

Absolutely. And I, I guess I, I may have touched on this last time and stop me if I did, but I'm very curious about how like the, the beer sausage was made. I mean, it may be, it may be in this case and in a lot of these, it's just they responded to a solicitation, but I'm just imagining if I was walking into Starbase Brewing, I'd be going, you guys got to do what? How did that happen? So, like, yeah, how did that happen?

Patrick O'Neill (14:31)

So to your point, there's, there's a variety of ways in which you can leverage the space station. One of them is through just general solicitations. We have them, NASA has them. They are across a lot of different scientific disciplines, but other ways now that you can leverage the space station. We've talked at length about the private astronaut missions. You can go straight to those entities. But then we also have multiple companies that own and operate their own facilities on the space station. We call those ISS National Lab, commercial service providers. And so if you go straight to them and say, hey, I don't see any solicitations that are kind of focused on what I'm looking to do, but you have facilities on station that I think could support this type of research. Could we maybe collaborate? And if they have a viable project that needs space, that this, the, the, that they're working with a partner that has a facility on station that could support that research, then we can try to get that into the manifest. Now obviously there's got to be scientific merit behind it. It can't just be a marketing thing. Right. Again, as mentioned, you know, yeast is something that we need to better understand. So again, That's a pretty cool relationship. And so that's what they did. They went straight to a commercial service provider and they said, this is what we would like to do. Can we make this happen? And the answer was, well, by golly, yeah, I think we can. And so they worked in tandem that flew with crew 11. It's going to be up there for a while and it's going to come back down in a couple of months. And so we'll see what it is that they've been able to learn from that. But again, that's one of the ways in which you can leverage station now. And that's the beauty of how we've evolved this platform over all these years, too, is there's not one cookie cutter way to make it happen.

Maria Varmazes (16:07)

That is really cool. I love hearing those stories because it is. There is that novelty factor, as you mentioned. But the as I told you before, I love to bake, so yeast importance is not lost on me at all. And certainly, you know, I think people might want a fresh loaf of bread in. On orbit one day or beyond.

Patrick O'Neill (16:24)

Right.

Maria Varmazes (16:24)

You know, or on another planet. And that actually really would matter for a lot of people. Like the smell of it.

Patrick O'Neill (16:29)

When we bring cargo supply missions to the space station. What is one? What are some of the things we always try to bring with it? Fresh freight, whether that's veggies or bread or something like that. Because it gives a sense of, you know, home, and it allows for them to kind of feel like, oh, gosh, okay. It reminds them maybe in some ways what it is that we're doing a lot of this for. In the first place, it's to benefit where that food just came from or give us the opportunity to grow food in distant places so that we can have that sense of home again.

Maria Varmazes (16:55)

Yeah, It's a humanity thing. And all of this matters, especially when you're talking about being away from Earth for months, years, potentially. We have to think about this stuff. It's actually really cool when you get down into it.

Patrick O'Neill (17:06)

I'm with you 100%.

Maria Varmazes (17:07)

Yeah. And nerding out a little bit. It's good. So, yeah, I mean, you just wrapped up quite a bit of travel. I'm wondering what's up next for you. Hopefully things maybe are quieting down a bit, but I'm sure not too quiet. Right.

Patrick O'Neill (17:19)

Things are quieting down from a travel perspective, but that does not mean that things are slowing down from a space station program perspective. So as we alluded to, we had the crew 11 astronauts. They are now up there, they have got their space legs about them, which now means it's time for us to send them a whole bunch of research. And so we have the SpaceX's 33rd commercial resupply services mission that's going to be launching to the space station in mid to late August time frame. I'm not looking forward to the launch time because it's going to be right in the middle of the night, so there will not be a lot of sleep, but there will be a lot of science that's going to be flying up with that. And so I think we touched on some of it with the crew 11 astronauts last time around. But again, it's going to be a lot of biomedical research. We're going to have some edge computing and technology demonstrations that are going to be flying. We're going to have some student projects that are going to be flying up. So it's about not only inspiring the next generation, but also inspiring the next, the workforce of tomorrow and letting them know about the opportunities that will one day be available to them as researchers and maybe, who knows, astronauts one day too. But there's a lot of great science on this mission. Again, in space, production continues to be a very, very strong driver for us. How can we use the space environment to create or manufacture things that could be brought to patients or consumers back on Earth? We have a lot of that science that's flying up. We have some 3D tissue samples that are going to be going up to see again. Can we, how do they evolve in space? Can we, can we grow them more effectively? Can, can we eventually, you know, grow organs or tissues in space that could be applicable for patients on Earth? I mean, it, it's, it's always exciting to talk about some of the science it's going to be going up there because every single time we're just, we're anning things further. And there's, you know, it's not just the, you know, there's the importance of the fundamental research, but the fundamental research happens so that we can start to apply it more and more and more. And so that's why I say that, you know, I look at the next five years of Station, maybe beyond, you know, the research that's going to be going up is truly the best of the best because it builds on the foundation of all of the great work that's happened over the last 25 years. And so now is the time for us to really maximize the remaining years that we have on station so that we can create novel innovations. But also further business models and allow for us to have that successful segue to those commercial destinations in low Earth orbit.

Maria Varmazes (19:54)

We'll be right back.

Patrick O'Neill (19:58)

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Maria Varmazes (20:30)

Welcome back. Today we are taking a moment to remember Captain James, better known as Jim Lovell. One of NASA's most seasoned explorers and beloved figures in space history. Lovell passed away on Thursday, August 7th at the age of 97 in Lake Forest, Illinois. From his early feats on Gemini missions to orbiting the moon aboard Apollo 8, Lovell was part of the pioneering era of human spaceflight. But it was his calm leadership aboard Apollo 13 that truly defined his legacy. When an oxygen tank exploded en route to the moon, Lovell guided his crew back to Earth through a daring and improvised mission that NASA dubbed a successful failure. His famous line Houston, we've had a problem etched him into public lore and Tom Hanks portrayal of him in the film Apollo 13, where that line was tweaked to Houston, we have a problem introduced his cool headed heroism to new generations. And Tom Hanks paid a heartfelt tribute to the incredible man that he portrayed on screen, saying there are people who dare, who dream, who lead others to places we would not go on our own. On this night of a full moon, he passes on to the heavens, to the cosmos, to the stars. Godspeed to you on this next voyage, Jim Lovell. Lovell's legacy endures as a reminder that even in the face of peril, human ingenuity, courage and calm can chart a path home. And in his memory, his family shared this statement. We are saddened to announce the passing of our beloved father, USN Captain James A. Jim Lovell, a Navy pilot and officer, astronaut, leader and space explorer. We are enormously proud of his amazing life and career accomplishments highlighted by his legendary leadership in pioneering human spaceflight. But to all of us, he was dad, granddad and the leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our hero. We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible. He was truly one of a kind. Fair winds and following seas to the one and only Jim Lovell and that's T minus Brought to you by N2K CyberWire 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. We're conducting our annual audience survey to learn more about our listeners. We're collecting your insights until the end of this month, so check out the link in the show notes and fill out the survey. We're proud 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 helps space and cybersecurity professionals grow, learn and stay informed. As the nexus for discovery and connection, we bring you the people, the technology and the ideas shaping the future of secure innovation. Learn how@n2k.com N2K Senior Producer is Alice Carruth. Our producer is Listo. We are mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Ivan. Peter Kilpe is our publisher and I am your host, Maria Varmazes. Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow.

Patrick O'Neill (23:52)

T minus.