Christine Joseph and Danielle Wood of Team Space Enabled published a peer reviewed journal paper with the Journal New Space.

Abstract: "Analysis of the Microgravity Research Ecosystem and Market Drivers of Accessibility"

For decades, the International Space Station (ISS) has operated as a bastion of international cooperation and a unique testbed for microgravity research. In recent years, private industry has also been affiliating with NASA and international partners to offer transportation, logistics management, and payload demands. As the costs of flying projects to the ISS decrease, the barriers limiting nontraditional partners from accessing the ISS also decrease. However, the ISS in its current form cannot be sustained forever. As NASA looks toward commercialization of low Earth orbit (LEO) and the development of a cislunar station, concrete plans for shifting the public–private relationship of the ISS are unclear. With the consistent need to continue microgravity research—from governments and private industry—understanding the socio-technical and policy issues that affect the ecosystem for future microgravity platforms is essential to maintaining an accessible and sustainable space economy. Through this work, the authors seek to evaluate the accessibility of the evolving microgravity research ecosystem. To measure accessibility, the authors propose a new framework in which accessibility is defined along new metrics of economic and administrative openness. Through case study research, the authors conducted interviews with industry experts and organizational representatives and reviewed publicly available data about microgravity research platforms from the ground to LEO. This article then leverages Systems Architecture methods to examine the stakeholders, needs, objectives, system functions, and forms for the ISS and microgravity research platforms now and in the future. Particular attention is paid toward the market dynamics affecting barriers to entry for emerging space nations and nontraditional spaceflight participants. Evaluations found that end users utilize a variety of fully public, mixed public/private, and fully private pathways to gain access to microgravity research platforms and that mixed public/private pathways fostered the highest levels of economic and administrative openness. 

Christine Joseph is an alum of the Space Enabled research group, having worked with Prof. Danielle Wood on microgravity and human spaceflight related research. She also worked with Prof. Leia Stirling in the Human Systems Laboratory investigating the utilization of wearable technology to quantify human performance metrics. Christine strongly believes that the development of space technology and pursuit of human space exploration can directly benefit applications here on Earth. She graduated from MIT in 2019 with a dual SM in aeronautics & astronautics and  technology & policy. Christine also holds a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame (’16). Her research interests include human spaceflight, space policy, wearable technology, spacesuits, human-machine interaction and human motor behavior.

Danielle Wood serves as an Assistant Professor in Media Arts & Sciences and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Within the MIT Media Lab, Prof. Wood leads the Space Enabled Research Group which seeks to advance justice in Earth's complex systems using designs enabled by space. Prof. Wood is a scholar of societal development with a background that includes satellite design, earth science applications, systems engineering, and technology policy. In her research, Prof. Wood applies these skills to design innovative systems that harness space technology to address development challenges around the world. Prior to serving as faculty at MIT, Professor Wood held positions at NASA Headquarters, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Aerospace Corporation, Johns Hopkins University, and the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs. Prof. Wood studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she earned a PhD in engineering systems, SM in aeronautics and astronautics, SM in technology policy, and SB in aerospace engineering.