Category Archives: Space Station

Back in 2012, researchers exploring the thermal springs of Yellowstone National Park happened upon a hearty new microbe called Fusarium strain flavolapis. Having survived the acidic volcano springs of Yellowstone meant the microbe, a fungus, might just survive in a challenging environment like outer space.

That was the theory, but researchers will soon know how Fusarium flavolapis performs 254 miles above earth as the fungi heads to the International Space Station aboard SpaceXs 25th cargo mission for NASA on Friday, June 10th. The fungi will go to space as part of NASAs EPSCoR (Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research), under a project where Montana State University, BioServe Space Technologies,and a startup called Natures Fynd will test how it performs and see if it could be used as a source of food for astronauts.

The fungi, now better known by its commercial name of Fy, was initially isolated by Dr. Mark Kozubal under a research program funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation. Kozubal would go on to found Natures Fynd as part of an effort to commercialize Fy as a complete protein that could be used in plant-based meat and dairy substitutes. Earlier this year, Fy made its way to market as part of a series of consumer products that includes meatless breakfast sausage and dairy-free cream cheese

As Natures Fynd worked to develop Fy into new consumer-facing products, the company continued to work with NASA under their Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, which had opened a call for microbial biomanufacturing technologies in space. Natures Fynd worked with researchers from Montana State University to build a bioreactor prototype that could grow FY in microgravity environments like the International Space Station (ISS). And earlier this year, Natures Fynd, MSU, and Bioserve Space Technology, a Center within the University of Colorado Bouldertechnologies, received a grant under NASAs EPSCoR to test the bioreactor in space.

One of the reasons Fy is so attractive as a potential food source for astronauts is its a source of complete protein, meaning it has all nine of the necessary amino acids humans need as part of their diet. Its also a source of net new protein, meaning unlike pea or animal protein it isnt simply a protein thats been converted from one source to another. In space, efficiency is the name of the game, and Fys ability to create protein without an intermediary makes it a promising new candidate to feed long-term space travelers. Starting this Friday, researchers will soon know whether Fy will live up to that promise.

This project is one of many being funded by NASA as part of its effort to develop sources of food for long-term space travel. Earlier this year, the space agency announced $1 million in prize money for Phase 2 of its Deep Space Food Challenge, a NASA Centennial challenge that aims to foster innovation around sustainable food production technologies or systems that require minimal resources and produce minimal waste. The space agency has also experimented with baking cookies and printing pizzas in microgravity environments.

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Fungi Protein Heading to Space Station Aboard SpaceX to Test Viability as Astronaut Food - The Spoon

Jessica Meir had dreamed for decades about what it would be like to sail among the stars. And when she got her chance in 2019, the experience surpassed all of her expectations. This weekend, the UC San Diego alumna will return to the university to share the wonders of her journey to space as a NASA astronaut and offer words of wisdom to the Class of 2022 at All Campus Commencement on June 11.

Portrait of NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir in an Extravehicular Mobility Unit (spacesuit). Photo by Josh Valcarcel/NASA, September 2018.

In advance of her visit, we spoke with Meir about the potential for scientific breakthroughs without the influence of gravity; how her love for our planet exponentially grew after seeing the magnificent landscapes from above; her belief in the power of getting out of your comfort zone to achieve great heightsliterally; and how even astronaut training could not prepare her for the pandemic when she returned home in 2020.

Q. You believe in taking risks to achieve great things, even if it means facing failure along the way. Have there been moments of disappointment on your journey to becoming an astronaut?

A.I absolutely believe that it is necessary to take risks and push yourself slightly outside your comfort zonethat's when the great things happen. Perhaps my biggest failure was in trying to become an astronaut. I had first applied in 2009 when I was completing my doctoral studies at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. I made it all the way to the final round of about 40-50 people, but when I arrived for the interview, I saw I was surrounded by incredible people with remarkable resumes and extraordinary accomplishments. I thought, okay, I'm never going to get selected. When the calls went out that year, I was not among them. Knowing that I had come that close and it hadnt worked out really hurt.

It would have been quite easy at that point to just give up because I had my other career as a scientist that I loved. When the chance came four years later to apply again, I thought, maybe I shouldnt take that risk and put myself through the mental anguish. But if I hadn't put myself out there again and applied, I wouldn't be here today. I hope that I can show that you have to take risks and fail on the way to making your dreams come true.

Q. You embrace challenges with zeal. Is there anything that you fear?

A.As astronauts, we train for years in advance of space missions, so we are incredibly prepared for everything that comes our way. Even though I haven't had to respond to a real emergency scenario in the space environment, I have been through simulations so many times that it's almost like I have muscle memory. We also have thousands of people working in mission control who have designed all of these systems and help maintain them to keep us safe. That's the top priority of everything that we do here at NASA:safety.

The only thing that I've ever feared as an astronautand I've heard this from many other astronauts as wellis the fear of making a mistake. You are so fortunate to be the one in space, and there are so many people that are depending on you and have been involved in this whole process. You feel this huge responsibility because you don't want to let anyone down.

Meir observes a floating sphere of water formed by microgravity inside the International Space Station's Kibo laboratory module. Photo by NASA, February 9, 2020.

Q. What is something you learned about yourself while working at the International Space Station that you didnt expect?

A.Ive wanted to go to space since I was 5 years old. I thought I was prepared for what that might be like because I had contemplated it so much. What surprised me was that it was even more incredible than I ever imagined. When you're anticipating something, you often build it up and sometimes it becomes a disappointment later. Yet being in space surpassed all of my expectations. Just being up there, weightless and floating 24 hours a day, having the privilege of looking down at the earth below, it changes you as a person.

Q. Youve conducted thousands of experiments throughout your career. What is the most exciting part about conducting science in space?

A.If you think about it, we have one variable here on Earth that is always with us in any scientific system: gravity. It affects us all and everything around us. You can only imagine what might happen to those systems if you remove this omnipresent variable. That's what makes the science we do on the space station so exciting. From physiology and medical experiments to combustion experiments and cell biologyyou name it and we're doing it up there. With this variable removed, who knows what's going to happen? There are so many areas of potential for extraordinary findings that we can unravel when we're doing experiments in space.

Q. We are experiencing an echo pandemic right now with many impacted by mental health struggles. How do you maintain wellness when you face challenges?

A.Psychological wellbeing is a very important part of our job as astronauts and plays a big role in our selection as well. We have a number of teams working to support our mental health, especially when were on long-duration missions in an isolated environment that contains a lot of stressors. During space missions we receive care packages and have the chance to do regular video chats with family members once a week.

There are many parallels to what we go through as astronauts and what the whole world has experienced with the COVID-19 pandemic. I launched to the International Space Station in September2019 before the pandemic began, and I landed April2020. Coming back to a completely different planet was much more difficult for me to deal with than the isolation and confinement on the space station. We tried to share some of the lessons we learned while living in space, such as maintaining a consistent schedule, exercising regularly and making time to communicate with family members.

Meir conducts an experiment inside the Life Science Glovebox that compares the microgravity-exposed samples to magnetically levitated samples on Earth for insights into bone ailments such as osteoporosis. Photo by NASA, March 3, 2020.

Q. Youve explored the deep ocean and the edges of the universe. What are the connections, and what draws you to these environments?

A.There are absolutely connections between ocean sciences and space sciences. A key similarity is the need for a life support system. In the ocean, this may mean scuba diving or using a robotic submersible to carry us into the water. In space, we may do a space walk or use a robotic spacecraft to complete our explorations.

What draws me toward both pursuits is the spirit of explorationgoing a little bit further, taking a look around the corner to see what places we haven't gone before. I've always been drawn toward extreme physiology; my expertise is the physiology of animals living in extreme environments. That's easily connected to what we're doing here in space, except now I am the animal in the most extreme of environments.

Q. Did your worldview change after returning to Earth?

A.Ive always been an environmentalist, but I can say it now resonates even more loudly. Seeing Earth from above, you realize how special it is and how we need to protect it. I remember watching the gradient blues of the thin, tenuous band of the atmosphere. You can see it change from a darker blue at the surface, then it gets thinner and thinner with altitude. In no time at all, it has disappeared into the void and blackness of space. When you see that with your own eyes, this extraordinary palette of beauty and how connected all the landforms are, it is so utterly gorgeous and breathtaking.

Being in space also made me realize just how interconnected everything is. Looking down at the earth from the space station, you see contiguous land masses with no borders. And you realize that we're all in this together, from addressing the COVID-19 pandemic to taking care of our planet. Its a view that I really hope I can share with more people.

I also noticed it's really an innate characteristic of humans to focus on small, trivial matters right in front of us. Sometimes, we need to be reminded to take a step back and not focus so much attention on those little things. Space does that for you. I feel so incredibly fortunate to have gained that kind of perspective.

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Take the leap: A conversation with UC alumna and NASA astronaut Jessica Meir - University of California

Artist Ajax Axes Aspen Space Station installation, which last summer took over a swath of Aspen Mountains backside with a group of artists, is returning for summer 2022 and landing in the more accessible Ashcroft ghost town site in July.

It is due to run July 17 through Aug. 15.

The inaugural Station in August 2021 filled a 30-acre property on the remote backside of Aspen Mountain with work by Axe and local artists including Chris Erickson, Wally Graham and Lara Whitley. The works playfully critiqued the billionaire class for spending resources on space rather than on saving Earth from climate change. Visitors could sign a pledge to 1. Stay on Earth. 2. Enjoy it. 3. Stop thinking I can torch this planet and then escape to another one.

While blue-chip multinational pop-up galleries proliferated in Aspen last summer, the Aspen Space Station improbably became one of the most talked-about art experiences of the season and a destination for creative and sustainability-minded events that included performances, hikes, salon-like discussions, knife-throwing and painting.

The 2022 Station at the top of the Castle Creek Valley will host six workshops and parties during its four-week run along with a fundraising dinner titled The Wild Future Feast on July 23.

This years Aspen Space Station initiative will be The Wild Future Outpost during which we will envision a mostly pleasurable coming millennia where we pull our sh-t together as a species, decide not to let Earth burn and learn to live in harmony with our ecology, Axe said in an announcement, utilizing technology where its needed and refraining from consuming every last resource on the planet until our progeny starve to death.

Early this year, Axe teamed with a group of Kenyan artists and nonprofits to open the Lamu Space Station in an abandoned stone house on the island of Lamu about 60 miles south of the Somali border. Run by their self-proclaimed Earth Force Climate Command, the African station was built around the same principles as the Aspen original, calling for the billionaire class to invest in saving natural resources on Earth instead of going space. It also focused on the most prominent local issue of ocean pollution.

Axe is working toward expanding the space station with installations in Nairobi, Athens and Namibia in coming years.

More info at thefutureisonearth.org.

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'Aspen Space Station' to land in Ashcroft - The Aspen Times

Boeing's Starliner as it prepared for launchat Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida last week. NASA / Joel Kowsky

Two and a half years later than initially planned, Boeings Starliner spacecraft successfully reached the International Space Station last week. The arrival marks an important milestone in NASAs bid to partner with commercial companies to transport astronauts to and from the aging space station.

After launching from Florida'sCape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday, the unmanned vessel arrived and docked at the space station on Friday, where astronauts opened its hatch and unloaded 800 pounds of food and supplies. The Starliner will remain docked there for four or five days while crews pack it with cargo to take back to Earth.

Many people back on Earth breathed a sigh of relief when the Starliner reached the space station during a mission thats been dubbed Orbital Flight Test-2. In 2019, software issues prevented the uncrewed spacecraft from reaching the space station and, in 2021, Boeing postponed its second attempt because of a mechanical issue.

Since then, Boeing staffers have been hard at work troubleshooting and correcting the issues. Meanwhile, NASAs other commercial partner, SpaceX, has taxied five crews to the space station since May 2020.

If all goes to plan for the remainder of this Starliner mission, NASA may be confident enough to put astronauts on the Boeing vessel in the near future, likely by the end of next year. Researchers are measuring g-forces and other impacts to the human body during Starliners mission with help from Rosie the Rocketeeer, a test dummy named for World War IIs Rosie the Riveter.

After retiring its space shuttle fleet in 2011, NASA entered into crew transportation agreements with Boeing and SpaceX in 2014. The space agency is partnering with two companies, instead of just one, to create redundancies in case something goes wrong with one or the other, reports Kenneth Chang for the New York Times. Partnering with commercial companies also allows NASA to be less reliant on Russia for transporting astronauts. For years, NASA paid Russia to transport astronauts to the space station, an arrangement that's become increasingly problematic amid growing political tensions between the two countries.As Air & Space's Tony Reichhardt reported in 2018, the new commercial vessels may also be safer than NASA's space shuttles, which had a 1-in-90 chance of a fatal accident.

The Starliner had a few minor issues during the orbital approach and docking phase of this mission, reports the Washington Posts ChristianDavenport. Two of Starliners 12 main thrusters did not fire after the vessel separated from the Atlas V rocket that launched it into space, but other thrusters automatically fired up to compensate. The thrusters worked without issue during subsequent tests.

We have a lot of redundancy, Steve Stich, manager of NASAs commercial crew program, said at a news conference, as reported by the New York Times. That really didnt affect the rendezvous operations at all.

The Starliners temperature control system also malfunctioned, but Boeing staffers overcame that issue by making manual adjustments that would typically be automated, per the Washington Post.

Still, both Boeing and NASA officials were buoyed by the mission so far and are optimistic that Starliner will become a viable space taxi for astronauts.

"Those are the kinds of things we expect in flight test and that is why we test," says Robert Hines, a NASA astronaut onboard the International Space Station, as reported by Space.coms Josh Dinner. "If we didn't find something like that we're probably doing something wrong."

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Boeing's Starliner Reaches the International Space Station | Smart News - Smithsonian Magazine

"And I realized at one point that all the bad guys were Russians."Movie Night

Things have been a little more tense than usual on board the International Space Station lately, given the geopolitical crisis brewing back on the ground.

For the most part with the exception of several bizarre incidents operations have largely continued as planned, with American astronauts and Russian cosmonauts working alongside one another peacefully.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who recently spent 355 days on board the aging orbital outpostbefore returning to Earth on a Russian spacecraft, recentlysat down with The Washington Post for an interview probing those issues and more.

On one level, Vande Hei said that he would sometimes poke holes in cosmonauts logic, implying that they would sometimes spar about international issues. On the other, though, he said that his time on the station has sometimes forced him to confront American cultures misrepresentations of Russian people and that it all came to a head on movie night.

Stereotypes run deep in Hollywood, which sometimes made catching up on cinema during the stations weekly movie nights awkward.

I realized at one point that all the bad guys were Russians, Vande Hei told WaPo. It kind of gives me chills even thinking about it because at one point, I looked at my cosmonaut crewmates and said, How does that make you feel? And they said, Its kind of scary when we see that everybody in the United States, the mass media in the United States, is portraying Russians as the bad guys.'

The crew adapted by adopting a strategy in which everybody got a turn to pick a movie theyd seen and wanted to share with everybody else, Vande Hei recalled.

A further clue about contemporary US-Russian relations on the station: Vande Hei said the movie nights were on a previous flight, suggesting that NASA and Roscosmos space voyagers are no longer getting together for the weekly ritual.

READ MORE: How this astronaut approached U.S.-Russian relations in space [The Washington Post]

More on the ISS: NASA Alarmed That Astronauts Spacesuits Keep Filling Up With Water

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Things Apparently Got Awkward During Movie Night on the Space Station - Futurism

Astronauts on the International Space Station have developed a green thumb, growing a variety of plants while in space.

Red romaine lettuce, mustard plants, and peppers are being grown on the Vegetable Production System, a space garden on the space station, and the Advanced Plant Habitat, a growth chamber for plant research.

PLANTS SPROUT FROM MOON SOIL IN GROUNDBREAKING TEST

"It's really fun to see all these leafy greens that we've been growing in space for the last few years because the astronauts can eat them right away. We call them pick-and-eat crops. We grow them. They can pick them and eat them right away," said Christina Johnson, post-doctoral fellow at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, in a podcast episode of Gravity Assist published Friday. "We're looking not at replacing their diet. We're looking at supplementing their diet. So, it's like, OK, they can make lettuce wraps with this lettuce. They can do all these fun things with the food that they have."

Plants grown on the space station are being used as a nutrient-rich food option to supplement freeze-dried and prepackaged meals that astronauts receive.

"So, spicy hot peppers grew in the advanced plant habitat, and those did so well, and the astronauts loved them, and they took their tortillas and made tacos with them and things when it came time to eat them," Johnson said.

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Through the space garden, astronauts have successfully grown a variety of plants, including three types of lettuce, Chinese cabbage, mizuna mustard, red Russian kale, and zinnia flowers.

Scientists hope the garden will provide astronauts with the ability to grow supplemental food crops for longer missions as NASA explores space, including possible trips to Mars.

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Space botany: Astronauts grow peppers, lettuce, and more on space station - Washington Examiner

Japanese astronauts will ride on NASA Artemis missions to the moon, and potentially even reach the surface, amid an interagency push to expand lunar exploration.

President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida confirmed that commitment Monday (May 23) during a meeting in Tokyo, NASA and the White House said in separate announcements.

A Japanese astronaut will visit NASA's planned Gateway moon-orbiting space station, and the two leaders also said they have a "shared ambition" to put a Japanese astronaut on the moon, NASA officials stated (opens in new tab).

Related: NASA's Artemis 1 moon mission explained in photos

"I'm excited about the work we'll do together on the Gateway station around the moon and look forward to the first Japanese astronaut joining us in the mission to the lunar surface under the Artemis program," Biden stated in the agency announcement.

Japan's space work is part of a larger set of agreements between that country and the United States on matters ranging from 5G cellular networks to cybersecurity to science and technology collaborations, a White House explainer document (opens in new tab) indicated.

If confirmed, the space agreement would see Japan further expand its range and reach of exploration following prominent missions of the past few years. It also would align with Kishida's inauguration promises since October to put a Japanese astronaut on the lunar surface, including revising Japan's space policy (opens in new tab) to include a push for a crewed landing on the moon.

Japan is a major space player already. In December 2020, for example, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) brought back a sample of an asteroid to Earth. JAXA is a long-time International Space Station (ISS) partner, best known, perhaps, for its Kibo science module and robotic arm technology. And later this year, veteran astronaut Koichi Wakata will become the first Japanese person to join a SpaceX Dragon mission to the ISS.

JAXA is looking to refresh its astronaut corps. The agency opened its first recruitment in 13 years in 2021 and attracted a record 4,127 applicants (opens in new tab) for the opportunity, the Japan Times reported.

The Biden administration, meanwhile, is working in a rapidly changing international space arena. Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 is still ongoing and has broken apart numerous space partnerships; while the ISS interagency agreement persists with Russia, there are no guarantees the orbital complex will see its mission extended beyond 2024, even though Biden has authorized the United States to continue operations for six years more.

The United States is rapidly expanding its space work in Asia. On May 21, Biden and South Koreas president Yoon Suk-yeol held a summit in Seoul, during which Biden agreed to expand their collaborations "across all sectors of space cooperation," according to SpaceNews (opens in new tab).

Japan is a signatory to the Artemis Accords that seek to govern civil space activities among allies; several more nations have signed on to the agreement in recent weeks, bringing the total number of participants to 19. The United States and Japan plan to deepen their accord via an implementing arrangement later in 2022.

The White House wrote (opens in new tab) that the forthcoming agreement "will expand bilateral cooperation for decades to come across a wide variety of space exploration, scientific and research activities."

That collaboration is symbolized by the two nations trading asteroid samples from two recent missions, the White House noted. Japan has already given over a sample of Ryugu returned to Earth in December 2020 by its Hayabusa2 mission, and NASA will do the same with bits of the asteroid Bennu in 2023 via the returning Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft.

More specifics are not available yet on how Japan and the United States will conduct the implementing arrangement, but a similar arrangement with the United Arab Emirates in 2018 established some regulations for cooperation, training procedures and ground-based research projects. It also allowed for UAE astronauts to come on board the ISS, starting with Hazza Al Mansoori in 2019.

Earth observation may also form a part of the forthcoming agreement, given that this activity was highlighted in the White House fact sheet. "The United States and Japan are cooperating to use Earth observation data to improve our capability to predict how our climate is changing," the White House stated.

This is likely an allusion to a May 19 NASA announcement (opens in new tab) of a new "dashboard" allowing for public access to climate information. The dashboard includes Japanese and European Space Agency information based upon individual and shared missions by the three space agencies.

NASA's ultimate goal for human exploration in the 2020s is to return astronauts to the moon's surface for the first time since 1972. It also plans to extend the short-term Apollo explorations with a permanent landing presence near the lunar south pole, where water ice appears to be abundant inside permanently shadowed craters. The Gateway lunar station will support these missions in orbit around the moon.

One other country besides the United States already has a committed seat on an Artemis mission. Canada, an early signatory to Artemis, promised a robotic arm in 2019 known as Canadarm3 to support Gateway operations. In exchange, the Canadians received several astronaut seats on future missions, among them the Artemis 2 mission that will circle the moon no earlier than 2024. Landings should start in 2025 with Artemis 3, if current schedules hold.

That said, this timeline in large part depends upon Artemis 1, an uncrewed around-the-moon test mission that NASA aims to launch this summer. The mission cannot lift off until NASA completes a "wet dress rehearsal" of the Space Launch System megarocket that will launch it. The wet dress originally started on April 1 but was delayed and then halted by several technical issues. NASA plans to resume the testing next month.

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Japan will send an astronaut to the moon with NASA, President Biden says - Space.com

Learn more about the intersection of food and culture on the International Space Station.

In honor of Asian American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month, learn about the intersection of food and culture in space from NASA astronaut Sunita Suni Williams, whose father immigrated to the U.S. from India, and International Space Station (ISS) food scientist/system manager Xulei Wu, a first-generation Asian American born in China.

Hear their stories about cultural representation in space, the importance of food in Indian and Chinese cultures, and the inclusive standard menu aboard the ISS.

Video Transcript:

This is our kitchen. You might notice theres all sorts of foods here. Its like opening the refrigerator, you got all your different stuff that you want to have.

Food in the Indian culture is super important. It is like the time of course when everybody gathers but it means so much to have somebody prepare food for somebody else and give it to them as a gift.

At the JC space food systems laboratory, we develop, process, package, and supply the majority of the food on ISS for US OS crew members.

So we have all this type of food. Some of it is dehydrated and so we have to hydrate it, fill it up with water. Some of it is already made, and then all we have to do is heat it up.

Food on the ISS is sort of an example of the many cultures that come and live on the International Space Station.

Among the standard menu, there are about 10 percent of main dishes that are inspired by Asian culture. They bring a unique flavor profile and allow ways to compensate for the low sodium requirement we have to meet. This adds to the variety to the food system.

When I realized that there were Indian dishes on the standard menu I was pretty excited because this is something that Ive eaten for my whole life, grew up with, in particular, reminds me of when I was a kid and at home with my family.

There is a popular Chinese proverb which means that food is most important to the people.

Food is always present in our traditions. In any forms of rituals, ceremonies, and celebrations.

So meal time on the ISS is a little bit varied, but really the most important meal in my mind is dinner. Because thats really at the close of the day. Everybodys sort of winding down. Everyone can eat dinner together which is really nice. Sharing food from maybe your family or your culture and telling each other about where it came from when you experienced it and what that means to you and your family.

NASA celebrates Asian American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage Month.

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Whats on the Menu? Food and Culture on the International Space Station - SciTechDaily

Does the ocean need its version of the International Space Station?

A Canadian research centre based in Halifax says the answer is yes and is promoting an ambitious observation system for the North Atlantic.

"The North Atlantic Carbon Observatory is a structure that allows nations to invest in ocean observation as a consortium, the way they do in the International Space Station or with some international telescopes," saidAnya Waite, CEO and scientific director of the Ocean Frontier Institute.

The North Atlantic, and Labrador Sea in particular, is one of the largest carbon sinks on the planet, where carbon dioxide from the atmosphere is absorbed and stored deep in the ocean.

Understanding its role in mitigating greenhouse gases is behind the proposed carbon observatory and one of the themes at an Ocean Frontier Institute conference underway in Halifax this week.

"We need to reduce uncertainty in the carbon uptake," Katja Fennel, a professor in the oceanography department at Dalhousie University, told the conference Tuesday. Fennel was awarded a $3-million Canadian Foundation for Innovation grant to deploy Argo autonomous floats in the North Atlantic to measure changing ocean conditions.

"We need better predictive understanding for projectionsfor carbon accounting, monitoring and verification of carbon dioxide reduction."

So do businesses like e-commerce company Shopify.

It was the first to buy carbon credits from Nova Scotia-based Planetary Technologies, which wants to use purified mine tailings to neutralize carbon in the ocean.

Stacy Kauk, Shopify's head of sustainability, saidit is a bet on a good idea, but companies like hers need more certainty if carbon credits are based on promised benefits derived from the ocean.

"We basically buy an odourless, colourless gas that's going to be stored in the ocean," Kauk told the conference. "You can't see it. You can't touch it. You can't feel it. And we're actually not doing the work. We're buying an environmental attribute.

"In order for that to be something that we can rely on to allocate against our corporate carbon footprint down the road in the future, we need monitoring, reporting and verification protocols to give us the confidence to be a buyer."

These are big questions, and Ocean Frontier Institute is promoting its observatory as a way to co-ordinate and expand international efforts already underway to better understand carbon absorption and what to do about it.

"It's about getting that global reach and integration, then coming to a solution, figuring out the design of how you then execute," says Waite.

In briefing notes from May 27, 2021 prepared for then Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan, officials were hesitant to commit to the project, saying DFO "does not have incremental resources to scale up ocean observation capacity from existing levels."

The note was in preparation for a meeting with Clearwater Seafood founder and billionaire John Risley, who was lobbying for the observatory project.

The notesaid proponents suggested the cost to Environment and Climate Change Canada would be $40 million, but Risley told the previous minister "it was too early to discuss potential resources."

The note was obtained by CBC News through an access-to-information request.

"Because the NACO has not yet been scoped. It is not possible to estimate the resource implications for DFO. While Dr. Waite has indicated a cost of $40-million to Environment and Climate Change Canada; it is understood that Mr Risley subsequently told (then ECCC) Minister Wilkinson that it was too early to discuss potential resources," the briefing note reads.

DFO Minister Joyce Murray, Innovation Minister Franois-Philippe Champagne and Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault have been briefed.But Canada has not committed to the project.

Guilbeault did not even mention it in his opening remarks to the Halifax conference.

Waite saidthe project is making progress with the federal government.

"We're working with three or four ministries right now. We've talked to ministers, but also to the researchers and the modellers. I think what's happening is that the conversation is getting more intense and we're starting to flesh out what are the roles of federal agencies in such a big program."

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Scientists push for ocean version of International Space Station - CBC.ca

The Boeing Starliner prepares to dock at the International Space Station on Friday. NASA via AP hide caption

The Boeing Starliner prepares to dock at the International Space Station on Friday.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. With only a test dummy aboard, Boeing's astronaut capsule pulled up and parked at the International Space Station for the first time Friday, a huge achievement for the company after years of false starts.

With Starliner's arrival, NASA finally realizes its longtime effort to have crew capsules from competing U.S. companies flying to the space station.

SpaceX already has a running start. Elon Musk's company pulled off the same test three years ago and has since launched 18 astronauts to the space station, as well as tourists.

"Today marks a great milestone," NASA astronaut Bob Hines radioed from the orbiting complex. "Starliner is looking beautiful on the front of the station," he added.

The only other time Boeing's Starliner flew in space, it never got anywhere near the station, ending up in the wrong orbit.

This time, the overhauled spacecraft made it to the right spot following Thursday's launch and docked at the station 25 hours later. The automated rendezvous went off without a major hitch, despite the failure of a handful of thrusters.

If the rest of Starliner's mission goes well, Boeing could be ready to launch its first crew by the end of this year. The astronauts likely to serve on the first Starliner crew joined Boeing and NASA flight controllers in Houston as the action unfolded nearly 270 miles (435 kilometers) up.

NASA wants redundancy when it comes to the Florida-based astronaut taxi service. Administrator Bill Nelson said Boeing's long road with Starliner underscores the importance of having two types of crew capsules. U.S. astronauts were stuck riding Russian rockets once the shuttle program ended, until SpaceX's first crew flight in 2020.

Boeing's first Starliner test flight in 2019 was plagued by software errors that cut the mission short and could have doomed the spacecraft. Those were corrected, but when the new capsule awaited liftoff last summer, corroded valves halted the countdown. More repairs followed, as Boeing chalked up nearly $600 million in do-over costs.

Before letting Starliner get close to the space station Friday, Boeing ground controllers practiced maneuvering the capsule and tested its robotic vision system. Everything checked out well, Boeing said, except for a cooling loop and four failed thrusters. The capsule held a steady temperature, however, and had plenty of other thrusters for steering.

Once Starliner was within 10 miles (15 kilometers) of the space station, Boeing flight controllers in Houston could see the space station through the capsule's cameras. "We're waving. Can you see us?" joked Hines.

There was only silence from Starliner. The commander's seat was occupied once again by the mannequin dubbed Rosie the Rocketeer, a space-age version of World War II's Rosie the Riveter.

The gleaming white-with-blue-trim capsule hovered 33 feet (10 meters) from the station for close to two hours considerably longer than planned as flight controllers adjusted its docking ring and ensured everything else was in order. When the green light finally came, Starliner closed the gap in four minutes, eliciting cheers in Boeing's control center. Applause erupted once the latches were tightly secured.

"These last 48 hours have just been a barnstorm, so it's going to be very good to sleep tonight," said Mark Nappi, vice president and director of Boeing's commercial crew program.

It was a double celebration for NASA's commercial crew program director Steve Stich, who turned 57 Friday. "What an incredible birthday it was," he told reporters.

The space station's seven astronauts will unload groceries and gear from Starliner and pack it up with experiments. Unlike SpaceX's Dragon capsule that splashes down off the Florida coast, Starliner will aim for a landing in New Mexico next Wednesday.

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Boeing finally docks a capsule to the space station - NPR