CosmoAlex
🌌
NASA Space Apps Challenge 2025

Query the living universe

CosmoAlex is an open, queryable knowledge engine for space biology — linking NASA experiments, missions, and literature into one navigable knowledge graph.

Start ExploringUnderstand Ontology

The Problem We Solve

Space biology research is scattered across databases, making discoveries nearly impossible to connect

The Challenge

NASA has conducted 558+ space biology experiments and published 572+ research papers. But this knowledge is scattered, making it nearly impossible to find patterns, gaps, or build on past discoveries.

Scattered research files

Our Solution

CosmoAlex connects every experiment, publication, and mission into one living knowledge graph. Think Google for space biology research, but smarter.

Connected knowledge graph

By the Numbers

A comprehensive knowledge graph connecting decades of space biology research

Studies
558
Studies
Publications
572
Publications
Full-Text Sections
1,704
Full-Text Sections
RDF Triples
30K
RDF Triples

Ask CosmoAI in Natural Language

Not sure about using SPARQL? No problem. Ask questions in plain English and CosmoAI will generate expert queries for you, powered by a curated AI with deep knowledge of our space biology ontology.

Try CosmoAI

What You Can Discover

Run real queries against our knowledge graph and see results instantly. These examples showcase what's impossible with traditional research databases.

Find All Plant Studies in Space

Discover every experiment conducted on a specific organism. Instead of manually searching through hundreds of studies, get instant results for any species - from plants to mice to microbes.

for researchersfor studentsorganism search
PREFIX osdr: <http://osdr.nasa.gov/ontology/>
PREFIX dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/>

SELECT ?title ?releaseDate
WHERE {
  ?study a osdr:Study ;
         dcterms:title ?title ;
         dcterms:issued ?releaseDate ;
         osdr:organism "Arabidopsis thaliana" .
}
ORDER BY DESC(?releaseDate)

⏳ Results will appear here after running the query

Expected: 59 plant studies

Which Papers Discuss Actual Experiments?

Connect scientific publications to the actual experimental data they describe. This reveals the data behind the research papers, enabling reproducibility and deeper analysis.

for researchersfor developersdata-literature linkagereproducibility
PREFIX osdr: <http://osdr.nasa.gov/ontology/>
PREFIX dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/>
PREFIX bibo: <http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/>

SELECT ?pubTitle ?studyTitle ?organism ?doi
WHERE {
  ?pub a osdr:Publication ;
       dcterms:title ?pubTitle ;
       bibo:doi ?doi ;
       osdr:relatedStudy ?study .
  ?study dcterms:title ?studyTitle ;
         osdr:organism ?organism .
}

⏳ Results will appear here after running the query

Expected: 180 publication-dataset pairs

Mouse RNA-seq Studies During Spaceflight

Perform complex multi-criteria searches across studies. Find experiments that match specific organism, technology type, and experimental conditions simultaneously.

for researchersfor mission plannersadvanced filteringRNA-seq
PREFIX osdr: <http://osdr.nasa.gov/ontology/>
PREFIX dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/>

SELECT ?title ?spaceflight ?platform
WHERE {
  ?study a osdr:Study ;
         dcterms:title ?title ;
         osdr:hasAssay ?assay .
  ?assay osdr:organism "Mus musculus" ;
         osdr:technologyType "RNA Sequencing (RNA-Seq)" ;
         osdr:factorSpaceflight ?spaceflight ;
         osdr:platform ?platform .
}
ORDER BY ?title

⏳ Results will appear here after running the query

Expected: 202 mouse RNA-seq experiments

What Hasn't Been Studied Enough?

Aggregate data across all experiments to identify under-researched areas. This meta-analysis helps mission planners decide what to study next.

for mission plannersfor program managersgap analysisstrategic planning
PREFIX osdr: <http://osdr.nasa.gov/ontology/>

SELECT ?organism (COUNT(DISTINCT ?study) as ?studyCount)
WHERE {
  ?study a osdr:Study ;
         osdr:organism ?organism ;
         osdr:projectType "Spaceflight Study" .
}
GROUP BY ?organism
ORDER BY ?studyCount

⏳ Results will appear here after running the query

Expected: 50 different organisms

Recent SpaceX Mission Research

See which experiments were conducted on specific missions, with timeline analysis. Track research trends across missions and years.

for educatorsfor historiansfor mission plannerstimeline analysis
PREFIX osdr: <http://osdr.nasa.gov/ontology/>
PREFIX dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/>
PREFIX rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#>
PREFIX prov: <http://www.w3.org/ns/prov#>

SELECT ?missionName ?startDate ?studyTitle ?organism
WHERE {
  ?mission a osdr:Mission ;
           rdfs:label ?missionName ;
           prov:startedAtTime ?startDate .
  ?study osdr:relatedMission ?mission ;
         dcterms:title ?studyTitle ;
         osdr:organism ?organism .
  FILTER(CONTAINS(?missionName, "SpaceX"))
}
ORDER BY DESC(?startDate)

⏳ Results will appear here after running the query

Expected: 23 mission-linked studies

Which Papers Combined Multiple Studies?

Find publications that performed meta-analyses by examining multiple datasets. These high-impact papers often reveal patterns invisible in single studies.

for researchersfor developersmeta-analysishigh-impact research
PREFIX osdr: <http://osdr.nasa.gov/ontology/>
PREFIX dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/>
PREFIX bibo: <http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/>

SELECT ?pubTitle ?doi (COUNT(DISTINCT ?study) as ?datasetsAnalyzed)
WHERE {
  ?pub a osdr:Publication ;
       dcterms:title ?pubTitle ;
       bibo:doi ?doi ;
       osdr:relatedStudy ?study .
}
GROUP BY ?pub ?pubTitle ?doi
HAVING (COUNT(DISTINCT ?study) > 1)
ORDER BY DESC(?datasetsAnalyzed)

⏳ Results will appear here after running the query

Expected: 30 meta-analysis papers

Search Inside Publications: Bone Loss Research

Search the full text of publication Results sections to find specific research findings. This goes beyond titles and abstracts. CosmoAlex indexes scientific findings from publications.

for researchersfor mission plannersfull-text searchNEW: Phase 2
PREFIX osdr: <http://osdr.nasa.gov/ontology/>
PREFIX dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/>

SELECT ?publication ?title (SUBSTR(?results, 1, 300) AS ?excerpt)
WHERE {
  ?publication osdr:results ?results ;
               dcterms:title ?title .
  FILTER(CONTAINS(LCASE(?results), "bone loss") || CONTAINS(LCASE(?results), "bone density"))
}
LIMIT 10

⏳ Results will appear here after running the query

Expected: 10 publications with bone loss findings

Find Experimental Protocols: RNA Sequencing

Access detailed experimental protocols from 557 studies. See how researchers performed RNA-seq experiments, sequencing platform - critical for reproducibility.

for researchersfor studentsprotocolsreproducibilityNEW: Phase 2
PREFIX osdr: <http://osdr.nasa.gov/ontology/>
PREFIX dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/>

SELECT ?study ?title (SUBSTR(?protocol, 1, 250) AS ?protocolExcerpt)
WHERE {
  ?study dcterms:title ?title ;
         osdr:protocolDescription ?protocol .
  FILTER(CONTAINS(LCASE(?protocol), "rna") && (CONTAINS(LCASE(?protocol), "sequencing") || CONTAINS(LCASE(?protocol), "seq")))
}
ORDER BY ?study
LIMIT 15

⏳ Results will appear here after running the query

Expected: 15 RNA-seq studies with protocols

Built on NASA Standards

Designed for interoperability with NASA's knowledge ecosystem

Traditional Databases

Most research databases use custom formats that can't talk to each other. This creates data silos that prevent integration with future NASA systems.

×
Custom schemas incompatible with NASA standards
×
Cannot integrate with future mission data
×
Requires manual mapping for every new system

CosmoAlex Standard

Built on NASA's Space Life Sciences Ontology (SLSO), the official semantic framework used across NASA's biological research programs.

✓
SLSO-compliant: Uses NASA's official ontology for space biology
✓
OBO Foundry: Interoperable with 200+ biological ontologies
✓
W3C RDF/OWL: Designed for future Mars missions & NASA knowledge systems
Explore our ontology