Since 2011, the ISS National Lab has sponsored over 800 research projects in low Earth orbit, ranging from the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer to multiple investigations focused on developing new drug therapies and improved understanding about molecular determinants for the onset and progression of diseases like cancer, creating accelerated models of disease, testing advanced materials and technologies for a wide range of applications, and in space manufacturing. This portfolio represents the efforts of a growing community of researchers taking science innovation beyond the limits of gravity to improve life on Earth and fuel the creation of a new space economy. Working together with U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and industry, the ISS National Lab continues to advance opportunities for leadership in commercial space, pursue groundbreaking science not possible on Earth, and leverage the space station to inspire the next generation of innovators who will execute fundamental scientific research, use-inspired basic research, and commercial endeavors ranging from applied science to manufacturing and value creation via new commercial platforms in space. With the ISS scheduled to cease operations around 2030, NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Development Program is supporting the development of commercially owned and operated low Earth orbit destinations that will continue the ISS mission so that NASA and other customers can continue to leverage microgravity as a force for innovation and low Earth orbit as a destination for value creation.
Guest Speaker
Michael Roberts, Ph.D.
Chief Scientific Officer
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc. (CASIS), the non-profit, non-governmental organization that manages the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory
Michael Roberts is the Chief Scientific Officer of the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc. (CASIS), the non-profit, non-governmental organization that manages the International Space Station National Laboratory for the benefit of humanity on Earth.
Before joining CASIS in 2013, Michael worked as a principal investigator and research group lead in the NASA Advanced Life Support program at the Kennedy Space Center, acting as Principal or Co-Principal Investigator for research projects focused on technologies for bioregenerative life support systems and microbial ecology in natural and engineered systems on and off Earth. Prior to arriving at the Kennedy Space Center in 1999, Michael completed an undergraduate degree in biology at Maryville College, a doctorate in microbiology at Wesleyan University and post-doctoral research at the Center for Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University and the RIKEN Institute in Wako-shi, Japan
