Open science practices in space biology: NASA’s Open Science Data Repository

Don Petit/NASA (2012)

The NASA Open Science Data Repository (OSDR) is part of NASA’s Division of Biological and Physical Sciences. It is an interactive open-access database, specimen repository, and collaboration space that incorporates the Ames Life Sciences Data Archive (ALSDA), the NASA Biological Institutional Scientific Collection (NBISC), the Space Biology Biospecimen Sharing Program (BSP) and GeneLab. From 2014, GeneLab has hosted omics data generated in investigations on the International Space Station, other spaceflight platforms, and in space-relevant ground studies

GeneLab Strategic Plan/NASA (2014)

This case study examines the data processing and sharing practices enabled by OSDR and the role of the Analysis Working Groups (AWGs) implemented by the program to bring together users of the data. The case study examines how the intricate experimental conventions and operational limitations of spaceflight experiments get inscribed in the datasets and become tools for researchers to generate new biological insights. We also look at how open science practices are transforming the space biology community as the AWGs bring together scientists from academia, space agencies, and industry to engage with the data in three main ways: first, providing feedback for OSDR regarding analytic pipelines and metadata standards; second, reanalysing and comparing datasets; and third, collaborating to design new experiments.

The goal is to shed light on how open science practices are transforming the research program in this field, and the complex relationship between the principles of maximizing discovery and democratizing access.

Publications

Reports

  • Castaño, Paola (2025). Expanding the Space Biology Community: NASA Open Science Data Repository’s Analysis Working Groups – Survey Report. Studies of Open Science, Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14857151

Recent Peer-reviewed Articles and Chapters

  • “Plant Biologists and the International Space Station: Institutionalising a Scientific Community”. In: Routledge Handbook of Social Studies of Outer Space edited by Juan Francisco Salazar and Alice Gorman. Routledge, 2023 https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003280507
  •  “Sociological Approaches to Outer Space” with Álvaro Santana-Acuña. In: Routledge Handbook of Social Studies of Outer Space edited by Juan Francisco Salazar and Alice Gorman. Routledge, 2023https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003280507
  • “Representations of the Uncertain: Art, Astronomy and Dark Matter.” In: Sociology of the Arts in Action. New Perspectives on Creation, Production, and Reception edited by Álvaro Santana-Acuña and Arturo Rodriguez Morato. Palgrave Macmillan, 2022. 165-187. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11305-5
  • “Postorbital discard and chain of custody: The processing of artifacts returning to Earth from the International Space Station.” Co-authored with Justin Walsh and Alice Gorman. in: Acta Astronautica, Volume 195, 2022.: 513-531. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2022.03.035
  • “From Value to Valuation: Pragmatist and Hermeneutic Orientations for Assessing Science on the International Space Station,” in: The American Sociologist, Volume 52, Issue 4:, 2023 671-701. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-021-09515-y
  • “The Scales of Plant Experimentation in Low Earth Orbit”. In: Off Earth Atlas edited by Perig Pitrou, Istvan Praet, David Jeevendrampillai, and Victor Buchli. Intellect Books, In press.

Work in Progress

  • “Understanding the ‘Spaceflight Treatment’ in Plant Space Biology: Metadata Analysis as Experimental Practice” with Sabina Leonelli. Under review. 
  • Book Beyond the Lab. The Social Life of Experiments on the International Space Station. In preparation.
  •  “From Concerting Expertise to Building a Community around Space Biology Data: NASA Open Science Data Repository’s Analysis Working Groups.” For Special Issue in BioSocieties on Data Communities co-edited with Federica Bocchi and Emma Cavazzoni. In preparation.
  • “More than a NASA Badge: MetaDocencia and Capacity Building for Open Science Communities in Latin America” with Laura Ación, Laura Ascenzi, Alejandra Daniela Calero,  Jesica Formoso, Patricia Loto, Paz Míguez, Francisco Palm, Nicolás Palopoli, Romina Pendino, Maria Angela Petrizzo Páez, Driselda Sánchez-Aguirre, Irene Vazano, and Verónica Xhardez.” For Special Issue in Social Epistemology on Openness and Inequity in Scientific Research co-edited with Sabina Leonelli and Rena Alcalay. In preparation.
  • “Realizing the Impact and Legacy of Plants for. Space Exploration” with Luke Fountain, Elison Blancaflor, et al. Viewpoint paper for New Phytologist. In preparation.

Posters

Reviews

 “Constellations of Inequality: Space, Race and Utopia in Brazil by Sean Mitchell” in: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute 27 (1), 2021: 212-213 https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.13475

Presentations

Submitted Conference Presentations

  • Social Science History Association. “The Institutional Character of the International Space Station: Modularity and Iridescence”. Toronto, October 2024
  • European Association for the Study of Science and Technology and Society for Social Studies of Science Joint Meeting. “Interrogating Openness and Equity in the Data-centric Life Sciences: Introduction” Session Convenor. Amsterdam, July 2024.
  • NASA Open Science Data Repository Analysis Working Groups Symposium. “Bridging Expertise for Space Biology: NASA Open Science Data Repository Analysis Working Groups”. Online, May 2024. 
  • American Society of Gravitational and Space Research. Panel co-organized with the NASA Open Science Data Repository “Building Open Science Communities in Space Biology”. Washington DC, November 2023
  • International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology. “What is an institutionalized community of data users? NASA’s GeneLab and the Analysis Working Groups”. Toronto, July 2023.
  • Philosophy in Biology and Medicine (PhilInBioMed) Network Meeting. “Defining ‘Space’ through Data Sharing: Plant Space Experiments and NASA’s GeneLab” with Sabina Leonelli. Cambridge University, May 2023.
  • International Conference on Large-Scale Experiments: Reflecting on Theories and Practices. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. With Dana Tulodziecki. “’Scaling Up’ Space Biology: The Concept of Reference Experiment”. Karlsruhe/Online, December 2022.
  • Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP) Conference. “Data Processing as Sharing Practice: Making Space Plant Biology at NASA GeneLab,” Ghent/Online, July 2022.

Invited Talks

  • European Low Gravity Research Association Student Chapter. “Sociology of Open Science”. Online, April 2025. 
  • NASA Open Science Data Repository Analysis Working Groups Catalyst. “Expanding the Space Biology Community”. Online, March 2025. 
  • British Library. Open and Engaged 2024: Empowering Communities to Thrive in Open Scholarship. Keynote Panel. “Cross disciplinary approach to open scholarship” London, September 2024.
  • University of Oxford. Off Earth Atlas Workshop. “The Scales of Plant Experimentation in Low Earth Orbit”. Oxford, September 2023
  • NASA GeneLab Plant Analysis Working Group. “New Insights about Plant Space Experiments through Data Sharing: A Philosophical/Sociological Perspective.” Online, May 2023.
  • NASA GeneLab for High Schools Program. “Sociology and Scientific Research in Space”. Online, July 2022. 
  • University College London. One O’clock Space Lecture. “Experiments, Communities, and Datasets: Sociological Notes about Plant Biology on the International Space Station.” Online, March 2022.
  • University of Exeter. Egenis Seminar. “The International Space Station as a Platform for Plant Biology: Institutionalising a Research Community.” Online, February 2022.

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