+++ UPDATE 19 January 2024: Axiom-3 mission with Swedish ESA astronaut Marcus Wandt launched to the International Space Station on Thursday,18 January at 22:49 (CET). +++
On 17 January 2024, Marcus Wandt, the Swedish project astronaut from the European Space Agency (ESA), will embark on his Muninn mission aboard a Dragon capsule provided by the US space company SpaceX from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. This will be the first time an ESA astronaut has been enlisted for a commercial mission organised by the US launch service provider Axiom. During his 14-day mission, Wandt will conduct 20 experiments and perform maintenance on experiment hardware aboard the International Space Station ISS.
Ten of these activities involve experiments with German participation. The German Space Agency at the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) is overseeing the scientific involvement of German experiments. This includes collaboration with the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine, the DLR Institute of Materials Physics in Space and the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics. In addition, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), the Charité hospital in Berlin, the universities of Giessen, Greifswald and Kiel and ACCESS Aachen, are participating in these experiments.
Following the tradition established by ESA astronauts since Alexander Gerst in 2014, Marcus Wandt will undergo scientific tests at DLR's ':envihab' facility in Cologne immediately following his return to Earth. :envihab, a state-of-the-art research facility of the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine, is conveniently located adjacent to the European Astronaut Centre (EAC). In addition to scientific experiments, medical examinations will also be conducted here.
Voice assistants have become integral to daily tasks and aboard the ISS, and Marcus Wandt will benefit from a unique digital companion: the Crew Interactive MObile companion (CIMON). Serving as a 'crew member', CIMON, a flying, intelligent astronaut assistant, utilises artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance human-machine interaction, enabling astronauts to work even more efficiently on the ISS. Following successful technology demonstrations with Alexander Gerst, Luca Parmitano and Matthias Maurer, CIMON is also poised to embark on its inaugural scientific mission alongside Marcus Wandt. The primary objective is to advance innovations on Earth, particularly in the fields of robotic industrial production, education, medicine and care. Airbus was commissioned to develop CIMON for deployment in the European Columbus Module on the ISS by the German Space Agency at DLR. CIMON incorporates Watson AI technology from the IBM Cloud for voice-controlled AI. The human-centric aspects of this assistance system were co-developed and supervised by scientists from the LMU hospital.
Marcus Wandt will also support the 'Surface Avatar' series of telerobotics experiments, commanding various robots on Earth from the ISS. The project aims to develop human-robot collaboration technologies that are essential for future exploration missions to the Moon or Mars. Led by the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, this initiative is being carried out in collaboration with ESA.
The impact of life in space on bone density, especially in the lower extremities, is a well-established consequence that sets in shortly after leaving Earth. Astronauts experience a notable loss of up to one percent of bone mass per month, raising concerns about the increased risk of fractures and injuries. As part of an experiment on bone health, the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine is investigating how Marcus Wandt's bone density changes after his two-week stay in space. Will the bone loss continue or continue after the mission? How long will it take for his bones to fully recover when he returns to Earth? Bone Health could answer these questions, uncover the general mechanisms of bone loss and thus help patients on Earth who suffer from osteoporosis and spinal injuries. The DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Cologne is also involved in the Bone Health experiment.
The ESA experiment 'Cardio-Deconditioning', which is being led by an international team from Belgium, Germany and Italy, aims to identify cardiovascular changes in astronauts using state-of-the-art cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Existing data from microgravity simulations will be compared with missions in low Earth orbit and future interplanetary missions to differentiate between acute and chronic changes. On Earth, the results of this study are promising for enhancing the follow-up care of patients confined to bed and individuals undergoing radiotherapy for cancer treatment. Marcus Wandt is the first ESA astronaut to carry out this experiment. The measurement with Marcus Wandt is the first time in the world that an astronaut has undergone real-time MRI.
Life in space poses significant challenges to the human brain. The absence of gravity causes signals from an astronaut's body to behave erratically. Inner ear signals suggest a sense of falling, while those from the eyes convey a stationary environment. Fluid shifting into the head adds to the complexity, as the brain typically interprets this pressure as a sign of being upside down. Yet, in space, traditional notions of up or down make no sense. The internal clock, accustomed to a 24-hour day, must adjust to the disorienting phenomenon of witnessing 16 sunrises and sunsets in a single 24-hour period.
Despite these conflicting signals, the human brain demonstrates an astonishing ability to adapt. Within a few days, astronauts navigate their new home in space with a sense of ease, as if they were born into the environment. Interestingly, experience plays a crucial role in this adaptation process. Seasoned astronauts require less time to acclimatise to microgravity than their less-experienced counterparts, even when missions are years apart. Addressing these intricacies, researchers from the universities of Antwerp, Liège and Leuven in Belgium, in collaboration with the LMU, have initiated the 'Brain-DTI' study. The objective is to delve deeper into understanding how astronauts' brains adapt to the distinctive conditions of space.
The PK-4 plasma crystal experiment provides a remarkable visual representation of processes occurring at the atomic level, rendering them observable to the human eye. Plasma, an ionised and electrically conductive gas, forms the basis of this experiment. When combined with dust particles or other microparticles, a 'complex plasma' is created. In microgravity, these particles disperse freely, organising themselves into structured, three-dimensional crystal formations. This research yields fundamental insights with far-reaching applications in space physics, plasma physics and technology, fusion research and technical liquid studies.
This will drive advancements in semiconductor and chip technology, the development of modern propulsion systems, valves and shock absorbers and, most recently, in medical applications for combating multi-resistant germs in wound treatment and disinfection. Conducted on behalf of the German Space Agency at DLR and ESA, the plasma experiments involve collaboration with the universities of Giessen and Greifswald. During his ISS mission, Marcus Wandt will lead the 19th PK-4 experiment campaign together with the scientific team on the ground.
During his mission, Marcus Wandt will also carry out maintenance on experiments with German participation. Among other things, he will reinstall the DOSIS 'main box' for the DOSIS 3D MINI experiment, intended to increase our understanding of the radiation environment on board the ISS. The DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine has been conducting experiments in the European Columbus module of the ISS together with international partners since 2012. This involves determining the distribution of radiation exposure using passive and active radiation detectors and creating a 3D dose map of the entire ISS.
Marcus Wandt will also carry out preparatory calibrations in the Material Science Laboratory (MSL) facility so that further experiments can take place there following his mission. The MSL is a furnace in which 'solidification tests' with metallic alloys are better understood under microgravity, which should contribute to technological progress in industrial casting processes for customised, sustainable high-tech materials on Earth – for example new and lighter aircraft turbine blades and battery housings. Samples are melted and re-solidified in various ISS melting furnaces in the MSL, which can be done more precisely in microgravity than in a laboratory on Earth due to the reduced flow. The DLR Institute of Materials Physics in Space, ACCESS Aachen e.V. and Kiel University are among those involved in these experiments. Marcus Wandt was trained in advance for his mission by the DLR MUSC MSL Operations Team on the Material Science Laboratory engineering model ground facility at the Institute of Materials Physics in Space.
Germany and Sweden maintain a close and successful partnership in space. One example of this is the cooperation in the student programmes REXUS/BEXUS (Rocket/Balloon EXperiments for University Students) and TEXUS (Technological EXperiments in microgravity), which are funded and managed by the German Space Agency at DLR, as well as the DLR MAPHEUS research rocket programme for material and life science experiments. MAPHEUS (Material Physics Experiments in Microgravity) is operated by the DLR Institute of Materials Physics in Space, the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine and MORABA of the DLR Spaceflight and Astronaut Training Facility. It serves as a development and technology transfer platform for research under space conditions. Students launch their experiments on sounding rockets and balloons from the Esrange Space Center of the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), utilising the launch infrastructure in Kiruna, northern Sweden. The next TEXUS launches are scheduled for the end of January 2024, immediately followed by the launch of MAPHEUS-14 in February 2024.
