The International Space Station National Laboratory Annual Report 2022 highlights a successful year

In fiscal year 2022 (FY22), the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory made great strides in its mission to return value to the nation and enable a sustainable economy in low Earth orbit.

This year’s successes are highlighted in the ISS National Laboratory’s Annual Report for Fiscal Year 22 (October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022), which was released by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, Inc. (CASIS).

CASIS served as Director of the ISS National Laboratory for 11 years through a cooperative agreement with NASA. During fiscal year ’22, NASA extended its cooperation agreement with CASIS to manage the ISS National Laboratory through 2027.

After 20 years of continuous human presence on the space station, we’re now in a decade of ISS results, and FY22 was a record year in terms of results emerging from research and development (R&D) sponsored by the ISS National Lab:

• Nearly 50 peer-reviewed articles related to research sponsored by the ISS National Lab were published in FY22 – the highest number ever identified in a fiscal year. Approximately 70 percent of these publications were related to basic science with funding from the US National Science Foundation (NSF), building a strong knowledge base to enable future applied research and development.
• Two patents have been granted to companies related to their space research, and four commercial products have been created from research and development sponsored by the ISS National Lab. One such production, the virtual reality exhibit International Space Station Experience: Infinite, has already attracted more than 170,000 viewers as it travels to several US cities.

Additional successes of the ISS National Laboratory for FY22 include:

• This year, 75 National Laboratory-sponsored payloads have been launched from the International Space Station to the station, 85 percent of which represent research from commercial entities—underlining continued strong demand for space-based research and development among industry users.
• The ISS National Laboratory selected 46 new projects in FY22, 60 percent of which were from users new to space, demonstrating the success of ISS National Lab research requests reaching new communities.
• The cumulative amount of capital raised by the startups after the ISS National Lab-sponsored runaway projects has reached more than $1.8 billion. To date, CASIS has facilitated more than 1,200 capital offerings between startups and investors in the ISS National Lab network.
• In fiscal year ’22, more than 9.5 million people participated in the ISS National Laboratory’s educational partner programs.

“Only through strong partnerships can we collectively find new and innovative ways to use the International Space Station to solve problems and find solutions for humanity,” said Ramón Lugo, CEO of CASIS. “We continue to work closely with NASA, our technology research and development community, and commercial partners to create new opportunities to impact humanity.”

These are just a few of the highlights described in Annual Report for Fiscal Year ’22, now available online.

About the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory: The International Space Station (ISS) is a unique laboratory that enables research and technological development not possible on Earth. As a public service organization, the ISS National Lab allows researchers to leverage this multi-user facility to improve life on Earth, mature space business models, advance scientific knowledge in the future workforce, and expand a sustainable and scalable market in low Earth orbit. Through this orbiting National Laboratory, research resources around the International Space Station are available to support non-NASA science, technology, and education initiatives from U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) operates the International Space Station National Laboratory, under a cooperative agreement with NASA, facilitating access to a permanent microgravity research environment, a powerful observation point in low Earth orbit, and the harsh and diverse conditions of space. . To learn more about the ISS National Laboratory, visit www.ISSNationalLab.org.