The Cell Science Validation mission, CS-V, will be the first mission to test the capabilities of the Bioculture System on-orbit in the International Space Station and will validate its ability to meet the science, engineering, and operation requirements of future researchers. The Bioculture System is a new research platform that will give researchers the capability to carry out long-duration studies on cell cultures grown in the microgravity environment. In comparison to earlier cell culture systems, the Bioculture System will allow for better monitoring and control of the conditions in which cell cultures develop while still ensuring sufficient containment for experimental specimens and chemicals. This initial mission will fully test the system to make sure it can function properly in microgravity, successfully grow cells in space, and produce samples ready for processing back on Earth.
This mission is organized around a series of objectives that the Bioculture System must meet in order to demonstrate that its critical capabilities are functioning properly. The main science objectives are to show that the Bioculture System can maintain viable cell cultures in microgravity while aboard the International Space Station and preserve them in good condition for analysis on the ground. The main engineering objectives are to show that all individual components of the system, including power systems, environmental control and monitoring systems, and software and data systems, are functional. Lastly, the main on-orbit operation objectives are to demonstrate the system’s ability to receive and execute commands from the ground and its usability for manual crew operations on-orbit.
These objectives will be tested with a validation experiment. Two different cell types, one that is continuously dividing into new cells and one that is not, will be maintained in two separate sets of cassettes within the Bioculture System to assess the system’s ability to support both basic types of cell cultures. Once aboard the International Space Station, all of the Bioculture System’s capabilities will be tested with a range of crew activities and commands sent from the ground control center at NASA Ames.
Validation of the Bioculture System aboard the International Space Station is an important step in developing capabilities for cell culture research in a microgravity environment. Future studies using this research platform will help scientists improve our understanding of a wide range of biological processes that affect human health both on Earth and in space.
Payload Manager: Paresh Bhavsar, NASA Ames Research Center
Hardware Development Project Manager: Edward Austin, NASA Ames Research Center
Project Scientist: Eduardo Almeida, Ph.D., NASA Ames Research Center
Mission Scientist: Natalya Dvorochkin, FILMSS, NASA Ames Research Center
More Information:
See the Bioculture System Fact Sheet
See the Bioculture System Hardware page
Author: Christina L. Cheung
