NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Scientists and payload developers can get more information on International Space Station research facilities by contacting the ISS Payloads Office or at 281-244-6187.

Overview | Description | Applications | Operations | Results | Publications | Images

Facility/Payload Overview

Brief Facility Summary

The Biological Research in Canisters for OptiCells^? (BRIC-Opti) provides a closed environment with an atmosphere of known initial composition for microbial growth in microgravity.

Facility Manager(s)

Information Pending

Co-Facility Manager(s)

Information Pending

Facility Developer

Kennedy Space Center, Space Life Sciences Lab, Kennedy Space Center, FL
The Bionetics Corporation Kennedy Space Center, Kennedy Space Center, FL

Sponsoring Agency

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Expeditions Assigned

|13|14|

Previous ISS Missions

ISS Expedition 13 was the first mission for BRIC-Opti.

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Facility/Payload Description

Facility Summary

• The Biological Research in Canisters for OptiCells^? (BRIC-Opti) is designed to provide a closed environment with an atmosphere of known initial composition for microbial growth in space.



• The BRIC-Opti has two redundant levels of containment for potentially hazardous materials and provide autonomous temperature data logging at each of three physical locations within each canister.

Description

The Biological Research in Canisters for OptiCells^? (BRIC-Opti) is a sealed aluminum container providing two levels of containment during all phases of operation. The BRIC-Opti has no active thermal control, and specimens are specifically selected to be tolerant of the ambient thermal environment onboard spacecraft. Each BRIC-Opti contains four sub-elements called OptiCells? that are commercially available from BioCrystal, Ltd.

The OptiCell^? comprises a sealed polystyrene frame with two gas-permeable polystyrene windows. Two self-sealing septa permit introduction of media and inoculum into the interstitial space between the membrane windows. Each BRIC-Opti also contains a single autonomous multichannel data logger made by Onset Corporation. The battery-powered HOBO^? data logger provides sensors for relative humidity and three channels of temperature. The data logger includes two T-type temperature sensors attached by short cables. Data loggers are activated prior to final canister integration and read out postflight. The ten integrated BRIC-Opti assemblies are passively stowed in the middeck of the Space Shuttle. The final stowage configuration, whether in a half middeck locker or an equivalent cargo transfer bag, is flexible.

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Operations

Facility Operations

Passively stowed on ISS. Periodic transfer from ISS stowage to MELFI or equivalent could be used based on experiment objectives.

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Results/More Information

Information Pending

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Availability

Operated on ISS

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Related Web Sites

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Publications

Results Publications

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Related Publications

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Images

NASA Image: ISS014E05120 - Astronaut Michael E. Lopez-Alegria, Expedition 14 Commander and NASA Space Station Science Officer, prepares to work with a Passive Observatories for Experimental Microbial Systems (POEMS) sample container in the Destiny laboratory module.
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NASA Image ISS013E64639 - Image on the left shows ground control and a flight sample of bacteria cultures growing through the solid media agar, and scientists can sample the genetic changes across multiple generations by sampling different places in the growth medium. Image on the right shows NASA ISS Science Officer, Jeff Williams inserting one of the POEMS samples into the MELFI freezer.
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Information Provided and Updated by the ISS Program Scientist's Office