Flight Systems Implementation Branch
We Specialize in Space Biology Missions
The Flight Systems Implementation Branch of the Space Biosciences Division at NASA Ames Research Center leads space biology missions through all phases of the project life cycle. Our multi-disciplinary team has deep and specialized expertise in project management, systems engineering, and technical monitoring. Our organization’s capabilities include requirements definition, trades, design, fabrication, verification and validation, flight certification, operations, and management of bioscience experiments for crewed and uncrewed space biology missions.
Branch Chief (ACTING)
Tara Samuels
Assistant Branch Chief
Elizabeth Pane
A Long Legacy of Mission Success
Over the years, the Flight Systems Implementation Branch has developed well over 100 bioscience payloads and has been responsible for spaceflight research data on an enormous breadth of model organisms including fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), microbes, yeast, plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana, rodents, cell cultures, and more. The experiments we have launched contribute to astronaut health and safety, and, ultimately, trickle down to medical advances that improve the lives of citizens around the world.
Model Organisms are the Future of Space Biology Research
Model organisms are non-human biological species which make it possible to study specific traits or diseases efficiently (due to their short generation time) and effectively (due to their well-characterized genome or similarity to humans) where human research might be unfeasible, impractical, or unethical.
World Class Space Biology Research Hardware Development
The Flight Systems Implementation Branch has developed hardware platforms that enable efficient missions which can be deployed to test a variety of experiments without the need to engineer hardware from scratch. These include the BioCulture System (which has been used for a variety of cell culture experiments), the BioNutrient System (which has been used for experiments to develop human nutrition using engineered microbes), the CapiSorb Visible System (which was used to demonstrate replacing gravity with capillary forces to control liquids that can absorb carbon dioxide), the Vented Fly Box (for fruit fly experiments), the European Modular Cultivation System (a unique incubator aboard the International Space Station that provides dedicated, controllable life support for biological experiments in a multi-gravity environment), as well as the Rodent Research Hardware System (which includes a habitat, transporter, and animal access unit).
Hypergravity Facilities
Finally, the branch boasts ground centrifugation facilities for gravitational biology research, which can accommodate different experiment payloads. Centrifuge studies allow researchers to evaluate the effects of hypergravity on various biological specimens, or the effects of the gravitational gradients experienced by astronauts as they transition to and from earth gravity.
Research
Read our scientific publications
Projects
Bioculture System
CapiSorb Visible System
Centrifuge Facilities
Experiment Unique Equipment – EMCS
Fruit Fly Research
Lunar Explorer Instrument for Space Biology Applications (LEIA)
Microbial Tracking
Multi-use Variable-gravity Platform
Rodent Research
