On November 2, Virgin Galactic flew Unity 2 on the Galactic 05 mission. It carried two scientists, a private tourist, and an astronaut trainer on a sub-orbital trip flown by Pilots Mike Massuci and Kelly Latimer. It was the company\u2019s sixth successful flight in six months and the last for 2023.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The scientists aboard were Dr. Alan Stern of Southwest Research Institute (SWRI), joined by Kellie Gerardi, who was sponsored by the International Institute for Astronautical Sciences (IIAS) in Canada. Stern is also the principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt and is vice president at SWRI. He\u2019s a long-time planetary scientist who has served on a number of missions. Stern has conducted suborbital research aboard NASA sounding rockets. He is the former board chair of the Commercial Space Flight Federation and a current member of the National Science Board.<\/p>\n Kelli Gerardi is active in aerospace, and bioastronautics and served as a payload specialist for this mission. She leads mission operations for Palantir Technologies, serves on the Defense Council for Truman National Security Project, and served on the board of directors for The Explorers Club. In addition, she is a prolific science communicator with several books and a Website to her credit. She also maintains an active social media presence.<\/p>\n During its almost four minutes in microgravity at apogee at 87.2 kilometers (54.2 miles) above Earth, the science team performed a series of biomedical experiments aimed at tracking human performance in space. Also included was a microgravity fluids experiment and a human-tended practice session with a mockup of a camera that will fly on future space missions.<\/p>\n During his brief time in microgravity, Stern used the Accutracker II heart and pulse monitor to collect physiological data on himself. \u201cThis particular version flew on the Shuttle many times,\u201d he said. Stern and his co-investigator, Dr. Dan Durda have also flown with the harness on high-performance F-104 flights and parabolic missions aboard the so-called \u201cVomit Comet\u201d aircraft. Stern described the flight on Galactic 05 as a risk-reduction mission to test the technology. \u201cFor me, this was mostly a training flight,\u201d he said, noting that NASA will sign a contract with Virgin after 13 successful test flights like this one.<\/p>\n Their second experiment was a practice run learning to use a handheld Xybion wide-field visible and ultraviolet astronomical imager. \u201cWhat we carried today was a mockup of the camera we\u2019ll carry on the next flight,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a training and learning experience, but this is part of the new era that it\u2019s affordable enough that you can do that. I\u2019m going to recommend to my colleagues in the funding agencies that they give these training flights to people.<\/p>\n Essentially, the team has to show NASA that they can manipulate the camera in space efficiently. Stern\u2019s aim was to learn to maneuver the camera in space. He had to stabilize it in microgravity and get the timing sequences down for a successful run with the real thing. \u201cWe now, as a result of Galactic 05 have videos of it in flight that tell us how long it took to do all the steps,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Other aspects of using the camera in space revolve around the transmissive nature of Unity\u2019s windows on Unity. \u201cWhat you don\u2019t know is how glints affect the camera, how micro-abrasions and scratches on the windows produce flaws, what kind of exhaust film gets on them,\u201d he said. \u201d \u201cThe only way to find that out is to get data through the windows in flight, to get data from three different windows, three geometries, and then compare it to Shuttle data that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n Kellie Gerardi\u2019s experiments collected biomedical and fluid behavior data during the Unity 2 flight. Her sponsor developed all three through a series of reduced gravity flights prior to the mission. The first examined questions about how confined fluids behave in low-gravity environments. That has implications for everything from spacecraft life support systems to administering medications in space through special syringes.<\/p>\n In her second experiment, Gerardi gathered biometric data from the Astroskin biomonitoring device built into a \u201csmart shirt\u201d. It provided ECG data as well as heart rate, breathing rate, and air volume. It also measured skin temperature during flight. Unity 2\u2019s flight was the first time it collected data through all phases of a mission. Interestingly, hospitals, first responders, and others here on Earth also use this Astroskin.<\/p>\n The third experiment measured blood glucose changes during flight. Changes in blood sugar are a well-known aspect of long-duration flight aboard the Shuttle and International Space Station. This is because prolonged periods of weightlessness induced a sort of \u201cpre-diabetes\u201d condition in astronauts. This sort of insulin resistance affects the way the muscles and liver absorb glucose and regulate blood sugar levels. The aim of Gerardi\u2019s experiment was to see if that was affected during launch, apogee, and return to Earth.<\/p>\n After landing, both scientists talked about their experiences and the experiments they conducted. For Stern and SWRI, the mission was critical and went beyond just the two experiments he conducted. \u201cWhen we set the objectives for this flight for Southwest Research, we had 8 objectives. Some were what we call minimum mission success and then accomplishing what we call slow mission success,\u201d he said. \u201cWe got everything we wanted. All eight objectives were fully accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n For Gerardi, her Institute\u2019s tests were critical confirmation of prior work. \u201cThe Astroskin unit I was wearing is the identical unit that is flown currently on the International Space Station,\u201d said Gerardi. She noted that there was a significant difference between its use there and on her Virgin Galactic flight. \u201cI was able to wear it during the launch, reentry, and landing portions of the flight. Normally astronauts put it on once they\u2019re already in a microgravity environment,\u201d she said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s measuring pretty much all of the things you would expect. It\u2019s like free vector cardiography (VCG is a method of getting 2D images of cardiac electrical activity). It\u2019s got pulse oximetry and a number of different sensor data.\u201d<\/p>\n Her third experiment focused on continuous blood glucose monitoring during flight. This test is in response to evidence that long-duration space missions produce insulin resistance in astronauts. The data from the monitor she wore adds new data to studies of this condition in space flyers. It should help answer questions about how quickly that resistance resolves after flight.<\/p>\n Gerardi was particularly excited about the fluids payload, and its operation in microgravity. \u201cOne of the experiments we flew had Shuttle heritage. It was bolted down on the Shuttle and the G jitter really disrupted the data,\u201d she said. The Unity 2 flight was a good chance to see how the fluids in the experiment would behave. \u201cWhat we saw was extraordinary. We exceeded anything that we have seen in parabolic flight here on Earth\u2026we were collecting the highest-quality data and watching some really novel behavior from the fluid cell and being able to react to that in real-time.\u201d<\/p>\n A question that keeps coming up is, \u201cWhy do suborbital flights? Why not just go to the International Space Station?\u201d It\u2019s not like suborbital science is new. Scientists have been doing suborbital science for years\u2014using sounding rockets and high-altitude balloons. Those continue today. So, going to suborbital heights is not a new idea. Going to orbit, on the other hand, adds several challenges. One is accessibility. The ISS is a limited commodity. To get an experiment on it takes years of planning and waiting for a launch window. Getting onto a suborbital flight still has some lead time, but as more of these missions happen, the accessibility increases.<\/p>\n Another challenge is cost. Cost figures vary across launch platforms, but, for example, a seat on Axiom can cost in the range of $70 million. Going up on suborbital flights to microgravity to do short-term experiments (or even a tourist ride) is much more accessible and much less expensive, Stern pointed out. \u201cThe new commercial vehicles, such as the Virgin rocket ship that we just flew on, fly at ten times lower costs and they fly presently about ten times more often, and soon hundreds of times, and then soon many hundreds of times more frequently,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s opening up access in a way that we never could afford to do, or had the capacity to do all the way back to the 1950s, when rocket-borne research was really getting underway.\u201d<\/p>\n At the current time a tourist seat on Virgin Galactic\u2019s Unity 2 cost around half a million dollars. (Those prices may well rise to ~$1 million, according to recent announcements from the company.) Science teams can expect to pay around $650,000 for a seat and equipment to get four minutes of microgravity in suborbital space. By comparison, someone flying a hyperbolic \u201cvomit comet\u201d type flight pays around $10,000 for an experience in a lunar-gravity (1\/6 G) environment. An uncrewed suborbital rocket costs around $3 to $5 million (at the low end).<\/p>\n Suborbital flight puts scientists back in control of experiments to be done in space. \u201cYou know, volcanologists go to volcanoes, astronomers go to observatories, oceanographers go into the ocean space, but space scientists have been going to control rooms,\u201d Stern said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s not the best way to do your experiment because automating things is expensive and it\u2019s error-prone, with lots of failure modes.\u201d Gerardi agreed and pointed out that the research she did onboard allowed her to do things in microgravity that couldn\u2019t be done on the ground.<\/p>\n Putting people into space, even for short periods of time in microgravity, is changing the face of space flight, according to both Unity 2 astronauts. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be really transformative all the way across the 21st century and probably forever,\u201d said Stern, also pointing out that his flight put Southwest Research Institute (where he is a vice-president), in a very competitive place for continuing human spaceflight for suborbital science. For IIAS, it\u2019s a chance to enhance its robust educational programs that train future astronauts and explorers. \u201cIt\u2019s a new era of access to space,\u201d she emphasized, \u201cfor scientists and for civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n The Galactic 05 expedition was the last Unity flight of the year. The next Unity 2 mission is planned for January 2024 and the company will then begin phasing out those flights by mid-year. The company is already working on the Delta suborbital craft to replace it and plans to open a new spacecraft plant in Phoenix next year. Virgin has announced layoffs as part of a process of streamlining the non-Delta workforce. The first Delta craft may launch as soon as 2026, and the company expects to serve both tourist and science research passengers.<\/p>\n AstroskinCarrying Science to Apogee<\/h3>\n
Practicing for Future Flights<\/h3>\n
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More Biomedical Studies at Apogee<\/h3>\n
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Science at Suborbital Heights<\/h3>\n
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Why Do Suborbital Science?<\/h3>\n
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Suborbital Is Economical <\/h3>\n
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Training Scientists in Suborbital Space<\/h3>\n
For More Information<\/h4>\n
International Institute for Astronautical Sciences
Kellie Gerardi
My Suborbital Life (Part 9 of a blog series)
Southwest Research Institute
Virgin Galactic<\/p>\nLike this:<\/h3>\n