Enabling Technologies

Commercial Flight Hardware Developers

The companys listed below have developed much of the available biotechnology-related flight hardware. However, this list is not complete and will be expanded soon. The current plan is to provide a web-database containing summary information on biotechnology flight hardware with its availability status on this web site soon.

BioServe Space Technologies
BioServe, a NASA-sponsored Research Partnership Center, develops hardware for spaceflight to support research primarily on cell cultures and plants. The Commercial Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (CGBA), currently on the International Space Station, and the Plant Generic Bioprocessing Apparatus (PGBA) are both profiled on the BioServe Web site.

Orbitec
Orbitec develops space flight hardware and ground-based technologies. Several systems that support plant and animal research have been used on the ISS or are in development for use on the station.

SHOT
SHOT, an engineering and product development company, has developed payloads for several space flight missions and provides both ground-based and space-based research hardware and facilities for biotechnology applications.



Available and Emerging Technologies

The following hardware items, already developed or under development, are sponsored and/or developed by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), or Japan's space agency (JAXA).

2.5-m Centrifuge
The 2.5-meter Centrifuge, under development for the International Space Station by JAXA supports a variety of habitat types and provides a selectable, simulated gravity environment for biological specimens while on-orbit.

Advanced Animal Habitat
The Advanced Animal Habitat is a research environment for laboratory rats and mice that will be orbiting for up to 90 days and provides capabilities for studies at all stages of the animal's life.

Aquatic Habitat
JAXA's Aquatic Habitat, designed for use on the Shuttle and ISS, will be available for genomic and proteomic studies on freshwater fish and amphibians.

Biolab
The Biolab facility is designed by ESA for experiments with cell cultures, microorganisms, and small plants, and small invertebrates.

Biotechnology Mammalian Tissue Culture Facility
Under consideration for use by ESA, the Biotechnology Mammalian Tissue Culture Facility (BMTC) is a modular system conceptualized for research on cell and tissue culture in both space and terrestrial conditions.

Cell Biology Equipment Facility
The Cell Biology Experiment Facility (CBEF) is used for various life science experiments such as cultivating cells, plants, etc. in the Japanese Experiment Module on ISS.

European Modular Cultivation System
The European Modular Cultivation System (EMCS), for use on ISS, is dedicated to experiments on plants, especially multi-generation (seed-to-seed) experiments and studies on gravity effects on early development and growth, on signal perception and transduction in plant tropisms. Experiments with insects or amphibia as well as studies with cell and tissue cultures are also foreseen in the EMCS.

ISS Holding Racks
The Habitat Holding Rack (HHR) is a Host System that accommodates or habitats that house biological specimens (e.g. rodent, plant, insect, aquatic, egg, cell and tissue culture, etc.) in a low-acceleration environment on the International Space Station.

Life Sciences Glovebox
The Life Sciences Glovebox (LSG) is a sealed work area in the ISS that provides bio-isolation and waste control. Crew members can perform experimental procedures in cell, insect, aquatic, plant, and animal developmental biology. Habitats attach to the LSG in a manner that prevents any exchange of biological material between the cabin and Glovebox.