Space Station Operations Capabilities in a Shoebox: Marshall Space Flight Center’s Telescience Resource Kit

The International Space Station (ISS) has provided the world an unprecedented capability, establishing a continuous human foothold in outer space for more than 22 years now. But maintaining that capability and supporting the ambitious portfolio of scientific research it hosts has required another unprecedented capability – providing ground-based operations support for the crew and a diverse manifest of research payloads, all simultaneously. To help meet this challenge, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) developed TReK, the Telescience Resource Kit, providing a robust solution for data, command, metadata, and file transfer capabilities. In response to an increasingly wide and diverse need for operations support resources, the TReK team has worked to find ways to make the software more flexible in order to support a wide range of missions. Today it has supported not only hundreds of ISS payloads, but also free-flying spacecraft and even aircraft-based research. This presentation will discuss how the team has modified capabilities needed to enable 24/7/365 research aboard ISS to provide the flexibility needed to support Small Sat missions, going back to one of MSFC’s first “minisatellite” missions in 2010 and beyond

Software for Remote Monitoring of Space-Station Payloads

Telescience Resource Kit (TReK) is a suite of application programs that enable geographically dispersed users to monitor scientific payloads aboard the International Space Station (ISS). TReK provides local ground support services that can simultaneously receive, process, record, playback, and display data from multiple sources. TReK also provides interfaces to use the remote services provided by the Payload Operations Integration Center which manages all ISS payloads. An application programming interface (API) allows for payload users to gain access to all data processed by TReK and allows payload-specific tools and programs to be built or integrated with TReK. Used in conjunction with other ISS-provided tools, TReK provides the ability to integrate payloads with the operational ground system early in the lifecycle. This reduces the potential for operational problems and provides "cradle-to-grave" end-to-end operations. TReK contains user guides and self-paced tutorials along with training applications to allow the user to become familiar with the system

Interdisciplinary Design Studio: Programming Document Visioning for a Robotic Demonstration, Research, and Engagement Dairy

The 2022 COLLABORATE Design Studio brought together students from various disciplines to address a complex, real-world project which required collaborative input from different perspectives. The studio worked to advance the co-creation of knowledge between external stakeholders, students, and instructors. The course was co-taught by faculty from different disciplines, and areas of expertise. During the semester, Nate Bicak and Steven Hardy worked with students from Architecture and Interior Design in collaboration with students in Dr. Tami Brown-Brandl’s students in Biological Systems Engineering and Animal Science to explore the values, spatial qualities, and area requirements of a Robotic Demonstration, Research, and Engagement Dairy. Students organized a series of meetings and participatory activities to gather information from a range of project stakeholders including: Heather Akin (Agricultural Leadership, Education & Communication), Kris Bousquet (NE Dairy Association), Paul Kononoff (Animal Science), Eric Markvicka (Mechanical and Material Engineering), Julia McQuillan (Sociology), Santosh Pitla (BioSystems and Agricultural Engineering), Ling Ling Sun (NE Public Media), and Rosanna Villa Rojas (Food Science & Technology). The information gathered helped to frame the overall problem - both quantitative and qualitative - to be addressed during the design visioning stage (not included in this document). Student contributors included: Sarah Alduaylij, Noor Al-Maamari, Devyn Beekman, Kelsey Belgum, Lauren Chubb, Nicholas Forte, Mitchell Hill, Joshua Holstein, Dylan Lambe, Phuong Le, Mia LeRiger, Elizabeth Loftus, Josh Lorenzen , Megan Lovci, Alex Martino, Zade Miller, Hannah Morgan , Annabelle Nichols , Collin Shearman, Rebecca Sowl, Nalin Theplikhith, Angela Vu, Shaylee Wagner, Ethan Watermeier, Trever Zelenk

Cardiometabolic effects of genetic upregulation of the interleukin 1 receptor antagonist : A Mendelian randomisation analysis

To investigate potential cardiovascular and other effects of long-term pharmacological interleukin 1 (IL-1) inhibition, we studied genetic variants that produce inhibition of IL-1, a master regulator of inflammation. Methods: We created a genetic score combining the effects of alleles of two common variants (rs6743376 and rs1542176) that are located upstream of IL1RN, the gene encoding the IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra; an endogenous inhibitor of both IL-1α and IL-1β); both alleles increase soluble IL-1Ra protein concentration. We compared effects on inflammation biomarkers of this genetic score with those of anakinra, the recombinant form of IL-1Ra, which has previously been studied in randomised trials of rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory disorders. In primary analyses, we investigated the score in relation to rheumatoid arthritis and four cardiometabolic diseases (type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, ischaemic stroke, and abdominal aortic aneurysm; 453 411 total participants). In exploratory analyses, we studied the relation of the score to many disease traits and to 24 other disorders of proposed relevance to IL-1 signalling (746 171 total participants). Findings: For each IL1RN minor allele inherited, serum concentrations of IL-1Ra increased by 0·22 SD (95% CI 0·18-0·25; 12·5%; p=9·3 × 10-33), concentrations of interleukin 6 decreased by 0·02 SD (-0·04 to -0·01; -1·7%; p=3·5 × 10-3), and concentrations of C-reactive protein decreased by 0·03 SD (-0·04 to -0·02; -3·4%; p=7·7 × 10-14). We noted the effects of the genetic score on these inflammation biomarkers to be directionally concordant with those of anakinra. The allele count of the genetic score had roughly log-linear, dose-dependent associations with both IL-1Ra concentration and risk of coronary heart disease. For people who carried four IL-1Ra-raising alleles, the odds ratio for coronary heart disease was 1·15 (1·08-1·22; p=1·8 × 10-6) compared with people who carried no IL-1Ra-raising alleles; the per-allele odds ratio for coronary heart disease was 1·03 (1·02-1·04; p=3·9 × 10-10). Per-allele odds ratios were 0·97 (0·95-0·99; p=9·9 × 10-4) for rheumatoid arthritis, 0·99 (0·97-1·01; p=0·47) for type 2 diabetes, 1·00 (0·98-1·02; p=0·92) for ischaemic stroke, and 1·08 (1·04-1·12; p=1·8 × 10-5) for abdominal aortic aneurysm. In exploratory analyses, we observed per-allele increases in concentrations of proatherogenic lipids, including LDL-cholesterol, but no clear evidence of association for blood pressure, glycaemic traits, or any of the 24 other disorders studied. Modelling suggested that the observed increase in LDL-cholesterol could account for about a third of the association observed between the genetic score and increased coronary risk. Interpretation: Human genetic data suggest that long-term dual IL-1α/β inhibition could increase cardiovascular risk and, conversely, reduce the risk of development of rheumatoid arthritis. The cardiovascular risk might, in part, be mediated through an increase in proatherogenic lipid concentrations. Funding: UK Medical Research Council, British Heart Foundation, UK National Institute for Health Research, National Institute for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, European Research Council, and European Commission Framework Programme 7