04.05° N Research / Education / Flight

Space health · Human factors · STEM leadership

Innovate. Inspire. Imagine.

Pushing the bounds of what's possible—making space safer for astronauts and preparing today's students to become tomorrow's space leaders.

Mission Highlights

Orbital
research

Lunar
systems

Human
connection

● NOW TRANSMITTING

PROJECT MOONDUST

GRAVITY GAMES® / ISS

HUMAN FACTORS

STEM LEADERSHIP

MISSION PRINCIPLE

The path to the stars runs through space health, student ingenuity, and imagination.

SPACE IS AN EXTREME ENVIRONMENT HUMANITY IS THE MISSION

MISSION HIGHLIGHTS

Work built for
life beyond Earth.

MJ brings students, researchers, and space-sector partners together to address practical human challenges—then turns the work into opportunities for the next generation.

INNOVATE / LUNAR SYSTEMS

PROJECTMOONDUST

A student-built answer to a problem that could shape the future of lunar exploration.

As creator and principal investigator, MJ led a collaboration between NASA Marshall Space Flight Center's SEE Lab and Aerospace Systems Management students to design a device that captures levitating lunar dust simulant found at the Moon's south pole.

The project proposed that lofted dust could indicate what is contained in the regolith below, with downstream analysis providing verification. Students presented findings from the proof-of-concept device at the annual Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium meeting.

Environment: Lunar south pole
Focus: Regolith capture
Impact: Research supporting lunar safety, construction, and resource planning for future Artemis missions.

View Project MOONDUST Poster ↗

Student researcher beside laboratory equipment at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center SEE Lab — Student researcher / NASA Marshall Space Flight Center SEE Lab

INSPIRE / ORBITAL EXPERIMENT

Gravity Games®

A student-led STEM initiative built around one deceptively simple question: what kind of game could only be played in microgravity?

StarCatcher in microgravity / International Space Station / Expedition 50–51 · Credit: NASA

01 / STARCATCHER

The first game made and played in space.

Students designed StarCatcher specifically for microgravity.

Working alongside Made In Space, students developed a game that could take advantage of conditions found aboard the International Space Station.

The project became an unprecedented collaboration between education and the commercial space industry, culminating in a game manufactured aboard the ISS using a zero-gravity 3D printer.

StarCatcher Rules of Play ↗

02 / MISSION SYSTEM

Three pieces.
One orbital first.

Gravity Games brought together the environment of the ISS, emerging orbital manufacturing technology, and students willing to design for conditions they had never experienced.

01 / ENVIRONMENT

Life aboard the ISS.

Astronauts conduct demanding scientific work on highly scheduled missions. Gravity Games explored how play and recreation could contribute to the human experience of living and working in orbit.

02 / TECHNOLOGY

Manufacturing in orbit.

Made In Space pioneered additive manufacturing aboard the International Space Station, making it possible to produce tools and objects directly in microgravity.

03 / TEAM

Students as contributors.

Bay Area STEM students became active participants in a real aerospace project, applying creativity, engineering, and iteration to an unusual design challenge.

College students today will lead tomorrow's return to the Moon and beyond.

IMAGINE / NEXT GENERATION

Preparing the people who will take us farther.

Tomorrow's Moon and deep-space missions need leaders who can think across disciplines, work through uncertainty, and build what does not yet exist. MJ helps students become proactive, imaginative, and effective contributors to the future of aerospace.

MJ Marggraff speaking with students in a classroom

SUBJECT PROFILE
MJ MARGGRAFF

Applied researcher · Educator · Commercial pilot

ABOUT / HUMAN FACTORS

Exploration
is human.

MJ is an applied researcher with projects on the International Space Station and at NASA, a Human Factors in Aerospace and Aviation adjunct professor, and a commercial pilot working at the intersection of space health and human connection.

Her doctoral research at USC focused on reducing the risks of isolation on long-duration space flights. She founded Gravity Games®, advised Students for the Exploration and Discovery of Space, served as a CapCom officer at the Mars Desert Research Station, and created Project MOONDUST.

Education EdD, USC · MS, Indiana University · BA, UCSB · FAA Certifications: Flight and Advanced Ground Instructor

Research

Can senior citizens be spacefarers too?

MJ is investigating how older citizens, 60+, can best prepare for and experience suborbital spaceflight: how they train, how their bodies and minds respond to testing before and during flight, and how they recover afterward. Very little research exists on spaceflight participants over 60, yet older adults are among the most likely future customers. By developing a clear testing protocol and contributing well-documented data, this project aims to help shape safe, evidence-based spaceflight opportunities for seniors.

How do we protect the human mind when Earth is no longer close?

Long-duration missions affect health, performance, sleep, cognition, and crew relationships. MJ's doctoral research explored social-support technology designed to strengthen connection between astronauts and the people who matter to them.

Can artificial intelligence create genuine connections across extreme distances?

Contacts are not always connections. MJ's work asks how technology can better support belonging, empathy, reciprocity, and human relationships—even under the most extreme conditions.

Field experience ISS · NASA Marshall · Mars Desert Research Station

Memberships & affiliations AIAA · LSCI · UC Alumni · Concord (MA) Authors

Additional Air & Space

Mission Support Representative — Virgin Galactic

Author — Finding the Wow: How Dreams Take Flight at Midlife, IPPY Bronze Award, and other publications

Speaker — Beyond the Cradle (MIT), Chautauqua Speaker (NY), Hallmark Morning Show (LA)

Media — Bay Area TV news and other interviews

FIELD NOTES

From the
Blog.

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OPEN CHANNEL / SPEAKING · RESEARCH · COLLABORATION

Ideas move farther
together.

Contact MJ