An artist's impression of an electric rocket powered by an array of solar panels that can deliver 30 kilowatts. Courtesy NASA.

At the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics' 2010 Space conference currently underway in Anaheim, California, NASA announced the latest revision of its programs to develop new technologies that will transform human spaceflight. NASA first began developing these plans in February following the Obama administration's unveiling of its new space policy, and revealed them to the space community in May. Already however, significant changes have been made, in small part due to feedback from the space community, but mostly due to Congressional opposition to the White House's policy. The House and Senate are fashioning a compromise, but NASA's representatives cautioned that the impasse over the 2011 Financial Year budget is not likely to be resolved until several months into FY2011, and so even more changes are likely in the near future.

However, at least in broad strokes, the agency's commitment to developing and demonstrating certain technologies it believes are critical to its future are clear, with four test missions slated for launch between 2014 and 2018 by NASA's new Flagship Technology Demonstration program.

The first mission is a Solar Electric Propulsion test flight, scheduled for 2014--a large solar array fitted to a small unmanned spacecraft will generate 30 kilowatts of power that will be used to drive an electric rocket. The mission will last two years, first visiting a dead satellite in geosynchrous orbit to test new proximity sensors for an automated rendevous and docking system NASA hopes to build, and then the spacecraft will go on to visit a near Earth asteroid, studying it with a small set of science instruments. NASA hopes such a propulsion system will let them build efficient space tugs, or power space debris removal vehicles.

The second mission will launch a satellite that will demonstrate the ability to store cryogenic propellants such as liquid oxygen, and then transfer propellants from one spacecraft to another. The 200-day mission is targeted for 2015 and will demonstrate the technologies needed to build in-space refueling depots. Such depots could make it much easier and cheaper to send manned and unmanned spacecraft beyond low Earth orbit, as the fuel for long journeys won't have to be brought up all in one go, meaning smaller rockets can be used.

NASA hopes to launch the third mission in 2016; this would be an inflatable habitat module more or less permanently attached to the International Space Station, similar to the modules currently being developed by Bigelow Aerospace for a private space station. In 2018, NASA would use the inflatable module as a test bed for an advanced life support system intended for long-duration manned missions.

The fourth and final mission planned would also launch in 2018, and demonstrate how NASA can use aerocapture and other techniques to land large payloads on Mars. With current technology, NASA can't land more than 1,000 kilograms on the Martian surface at a time, far too little for a human mission. It hasn't yet been determined if the flight test would actually take place at Mars, or if useful results could be obtained by testing the technology with Earth's atmosphere.

The National Institute of Health (NIH) has awarded the first new grants for biomedical research on the International Space Station (ISS). The grants are part of an initiative between NIH and NASA to spur research on health issues in microgravity.

Research has shown that bacteria and microorganisms can become more virulent in space. This is worrisome for space agencies planning long manned missions. But on the flip side such experiments could give microbiologists new insights into bacteria like Salmonella (studied in space in 2007) that may lead to new therapies for infections on Earth. Another space-related health issue researchers have been trying to better understand is how weightlessness affects bone loss, which is experienced by astronauts.

"BioMed-ISS offers a novel opportunity for gaining scientific insights that would not otherwise be possible through ground-based means," said Stephen I. Katz, director of the NIH's National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, and NIH liaison to NASA, in a press release. "The beauty of this initiative is that it offers an unprecedented opportunity for benefitting human health on earth, while leveraging the American public's investment in the ISS."

According to the release,

Scientists will conduct their experiments under a two-stage mechanism. The first is a ground-based preparatory phase to allow investigators to meet select milestones and technical requirements. The second is an ISS experimental phase that will include preparing the experiments for launch, working with astronauts to conduct them on the ISS, and performing subsequent data analyses on Earth.

The first round of awards were granted to,

Paola Divieti, M.D., Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston: Weight-bearing activities contribute to the development and maintenance of bone mass, while weightlessness and immobility -- as experienced by the astronauts and bedridden and immobilized patients -- can result in bone loss and a weakened skeleton. Osteocytes, the most common type of bone cell, are believed to have gravity-sensing abilities. These cells play a key role in bone remodeling, a process that is vital to skeletal health. In studying osteocytes in a gravity-free environment, Divieti aims to uncover new therapeutic targets for osteoporosis and related bone diseases.

Millie Hughes-Fulford, Ph.D., Northern California Institute for Research and Education, San Francisco: The immune system, which protects the body against foreign substances, is suppressed in space. A reduction in the immune response also occurs in the elderly, who, like the astronauts, are at increased risk for infection. As a former astronaut, Hughes-Fulford aims to apply lessons learned from studies of immune cells in microgravity to a new model for investigating the loss of immune response in older women and men.

Declan McCole, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego: Excessive alcohol use is a leading lifestyle-related cause of death in the United States. A major factor in alcohol-related disease stems from the ability of alcohol to compromise the natural barrier function of cells in the gastrointestinal tract, increasing the movement of toxins from the intestines to other organs in the body. Using microgravity three-dimensional cell culture models, McCole plans to generate insights regarding the barrier properties of the intestines, and to explore how the absence of gravity affects alcohol's ability to diminish this barrier.

The three main parachutes on SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft carry to a landing in the Pacific Ocean during a drop test. Credit: Chris Thompson/SpaceX

Space Exploration Technologies (or SpaceX) has successfully drop-tested a capsule designed to take cargo and crew to the International Space Station.

The capsule, called Dragon, was dropped from 4,240 meters to validate its parachutes and splashdown systems. It has three main parachutes, each 35 meters wide, which are used to slow the spacecraft's descent, and thrusters that fire to help it navigate to it's landing location. Eventually, SpaceX wants to bring the capsule down on land. The drop test was the final in a series of tests designed to ensure that the spacecraft is ready for its maiden test flight on the Falcon 9 rocket, scheduled for later this year.

"Data gathered during the drop test will be invaluable as we prepare for the upcoming demonstration flight of the first operational Dragon spacecraft," said Chris Thompson, SpaceX vice president of structures in this Space.com article.

SpaceX received a $1.6 billion contract from NASA to provide the agency with a launch vehicle and spacecraft to carry cargo to the space station, with the option of manned missions, once the space shuttles retire next year. Cargo-carrying flights are scheduled to begin in 2011, and SpaceX says crew capabilities can be ready within three years of NASA's orders.