Microgravity Research and Innovation: The Challenge of a Capacity Gap in LEO and Opportunity for U.S. Leadership

But what is microgravity and why is the space environment important to the research community? Microgravity is a condition in which people or objects appear to be weightless (just like in the movies when astronauts can “fly” through their ship when they enter outer space). Aside from looking fun, microgravity allows researchers to perform unique experiments that are impossible on Earth, as well as observe new phenomena that are masked by Earth’s gravity or are subjected to low-dose radiation. In a nutshell, physical and chemical processes respond differently in this environment. There is tremendous potential for this kind of microgravity research to deliver better medicine and manufacturing techniques, as well as other benefits we are unaware of now.

In continuous operation since 2000, the International Space Station (ISS) has been a key platform for long-duration microgravity research, development, and innovation. Our nation has benefited greatly from the ISS, which has enabled advancements in new pharmaceuticals, breakthrough patient therapies, and more powerful semiconductors. Ultimately, these innovations stem from the ISS’s ability to offer a stable, accessible, and continuously operational microgravity laboratory – a setting unlike any on Earth – where gravity no longer limits discovery.

However, as the ISS nears its planned decommissioning around 2030, there is a looming challenge ahead. The demand for microgravity research in low-earth orbit (LEO) is increasing as various industries begin to recognize its potential, but the capacity of the ISS has begun to decline as its facilities, and ultimately the platform, begin decommissioning activities. The research community is already experiencing the impact of this decline as the backlog of payloads for the ISS begins to exceed the number of spaceflights to take them there. This postpones research results, delays return on investment for stakeholders, and stifles the development of the orbital economy.

Furthermore, there is no concise and immediate stop gap solution to replace and maintain U.S. microgravity research capability as NASA transitions to commercial crewed stations in the future that aligns with or is supportive of commercial endeavors in the near term. Some recent actions taken by Congress to ensure access to ISS will no doubt be helpful, but the budgetary future for the program and its follow-on remains murky. Without stronger leadership on this issue, the current and coming capacity constraint will harm our nation’s microgravity research enterprise, slow the development of groundbreaking new technologies, and hinder the commercial development of LEO. And because of that, our nation is on track to cede the critical technological advances of microgravity to China if we do not change course.

Fortunately, there are additional steps Congress and the administration can take to address this challenge.

First, a policy is needed that allows NASA and the ISS National Lab as critical stakeholders to allocate funds to support microgravity research on any U.S. platform that meets the requirements of the research payload. The existing policy does not allow for this practical diversity of options and acts as a brake on innovation, even as commercial research platforms have proliferated in the past five years. For instance, under existing policy, if a microgravity research payload is funded via the ISS National Lab, it can only be serviced on the ISS, even if the payload does not require human tending. Logically, if there are alternative autonomous and human-tended LEO platforms, NASA should have the flexibility to send those microgravity research payloads to other platforms as needed. Research payloads should be able to fly on the most appropriate platform that meets a researcher’s needs and the payload requirements.

Second, Congress and the administration should devote funds to microgravity research and commercialization that is not wholly dependent on the ISS, while in concert with continuing funding for ongoing ISS utilization to ease the transition after decommissioning. Budgets for microgravity research payloads and commercialization activities at NASA have not kept pace with advances in on-orbit platforms and access technologies, such as commercial launch and reentry. An easy way forward would be to establish a specific funding line to support research and development across a range of high-interest areas on LEO platforms. This would expand the availability of orbital flights and services, by simplifying resourcing for missions and considering the added expenses of launch, on-orbit services, reentry, and recovery of payloads. With this flexibility, researchers could access funds to leverage other platforms and seek the best, most cost-effective fit for their work.

Third, the administration should rethink our nation’s microgravity research strategy. As commercial platforms grow and access to LEO expands, the U.S. should refocus plans to include a whole-of-government approach. While NASA has for many years been the key stakeholder conducting work in microgravity to benefit both people on Earth and further space exploration, it is now one of many federal agencies looking to increase work in this area. The National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Pentagon are examples of other government agencies actively funding and conducting microgravity research. Expanding direct access to opportunities to work in microgravity across Federal agencies is in the national interest. White House leadership, coupled with adequate budgets, can enable the continued success and leadership of the U.S. in microgravity research, development, manufacturing, and applications.

We are at the beginning of a scientific and industrial revolution that takes advantage of the unique characteristics of microgravity. Everyday life on Earth will improve as new medicines, materials, and other discoveries made in microgravity and applied to solve practical problems facing humankind. Enabling U.S. leadership in this field requires a successful transition from the ISS to a diversity of microgravity research platforms, increasing Federal agency participation and access to microgravity, and properly budgeting for current and future microgravity research needs.