NASA · Space

NASA Funds New Research for Space Exploration and Astronaut Health

NASA has selected 12 new investigations to support human space exploration, focusing on food production and astronaut health. The research aims to enhance life in space and enable longer missions.

Six projects, funded by Space Crops grants, will advance the ability to grow food off-planet. These studies include investigating plant-microbe dynamics, legume crop rotations, the genetic mitigation of spaceflight stressors on algae, and the resilience of resurrection plants to extreme conditions.

The other six investigations focus on precision health, aiming to understand how space exploration impacts astronaut well-being. Research areas include the effects of lunar dust on respiratory and immune systems, identifying drugs to mitigate space travel health effects, and studying how radiation and other stressors affect aging-related characteristics in organ systems.

Additional studies will assess molecular and cellular changes induced by space stressors that alter gene expression or protein function. The goal is to identify ways to mitigate health issues and develop early-warning detection systems for astronauts.

The research will be conducted by principal investigators from 10 institutions across eight states. Nine of these investigators are receiving funding from NASA's Space Biology Program for the first time.

The awards, totaling over $7 million for fiscal years 2026-2030, were made in response to proposals submitted to ROSES-2024. This research is part of NASA's Biological and Physical Sciences Division's efforts to pioneer scientific discovery and enable exploration.

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