Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Published purpose

The Polestar payload aims to address outstanding questions on the mechanism of space anemia. Polestar will test three key hypotheses: 1. Older red blood cells (RBC) are preferentially destroyed in space; 2. Space can induce a shift from adult to fetal hemoglobin; and 3. Space induces RBC morphological changes, causing RBC dysfunction. Using blood and air samples collected from the SpaceX Polaris Dawn five-day mission, Polestar will measure the effect of high-altitude space and space radiation on space hemolysis in four astronauts compared to four age-related and sex-matched ground controls. Polestar will investigate the subpopulation of hemolyzed RBCs, hemoglobin gene-switching, and RBC anomalies, using state-of-the-art methods often applied for the first time to space samples. Polestar leverages private space missions to speed up critical space life science advances.