Principal Investigator: Jason Hill
Affiliation: Benevolent Technologies for Health
Improve an adjustable component for prosthetic sockets necessary to attach artificial limbs. The socket design exploits properties of granular materials. Reduced fluid movement in microgravity offers advantages in measurement accuracy and sample preparation—enabling creation of lighter and stronger socket components.
Cobra Puma Golf Microgravity Electrodeposition Experiment
Principal Investigator: Mike Yagley
Affiliation: Cobra Puma Golf
Examine electroplating, the process of coating a metallic surface using an electric current, in microgravity. A variety of coating materials will be applied to materials used in commercial golf products, and differences in the bonding, strength, and weight of the resulting materials will be analyzed. Examining the bonding of dissimilar materials in space might yield insight into improved alloy development for stronger and lighter golf equipment on Earth.
Espresso Cup
Principal Investigator: Dr. Mark Weislogel
Affiliation: IRPI LLC
Demonstrate capillary effect mechanics in a space environment. Fluids behave in surprising ways when the effects of gravity are small as is common aboard orbiting spacecraft like the ISS. Simple daily activities such as drinking are so complicated in the absence of gravity that engineering workarounds require all astronauts to drink from sealed bags. In this research we investigate the drinking process from specially designed cups that exploit surface tension, wetting, and special shape to mimic the effect of gravity. Scientific measurements are made in parallel with fun demonstrations of a variety of drinks including water, juice, tea, coffee, etc.
Milliken:Vertical Burn
Principal Investigator: Dr. Jeff Strahan
Affiliation: Milliken
Examine the flame resistant behavior of new fibers in micro-gravity. The findings may lead to new Flame Resistant Textiles used in clothing and fabrics in the future.
TangoLab-1
Space Tango’s TangoLab-1 facility, a fully automated system allowing multiple experiments to run simultaneously and independently, is a general research platform launched on the SpaceX CRS-9 mission and installed on the International Space Station in 2016. This architecture minimizes astronaut interaction reducing complexity while increasing scalability. Users will also be able to interact with and retrieve their data via a web based customer portal. We are currently working towards TangoLab-2 that is expected to dock the ISS in August, as well as a TangoLab-3 for suborbital flights.
Learn more about Space Tango
Analytical Containment Transfer Tool (ACT2)
Great for:
- Safe doubly-contained sample transfers to orbit, from orbit, and between equipment in space
- Freezable down to -80°C
- Standard Luer connector
Learn more about Techshot
Space Tango, Inc
Services Provided:
Space Tango designs and builds integrated systems that facilitates microgravity research and manufacturing focused for application on Earth. Our unique offering allows users to focus on their research while Space Tango manages the complexities of traveling to and operating in microgravity. Space Tango provides a wide array of services for ISS customers. Including experiment design (including Exomedicine), mission manifesting*, on-orbit operations and terrestrial logistics.
ISS Hardware:
Space Tango’s TangoLab-1 facility, a fully automated system allowing multiple experiments to run simultaneously and independently, is a general research platform launched on the SpaceX CRS-9 mission and installed on the International Space Station in 2016. This architecture minimizes astronaut interaction reducing complexity while increasing scalability. Users will also be able to interact with and retrieve their data via a web based customer portal. We are currently working towards TangoLab-2 that is expected to dock the ISS in August, as well as a TangoLab-3 for suborbital flights.
Design & Assembly Studio, Testing Facilities:
Locations:
- Headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky
- Space Life Sciences Lab at Kennedy Space Center
- Building 19 at NASA Ames Research Park
Facilities Available:
- Class 10,000 & Class 1,000 Clean Room*
- Vibration Table*
*Through partner Kentucky Space LLC
[embed]https://youtu.be/jSrY0ELlzOU[/embed]SUBSONIC MOTION OF A PROJECTILE IN A FLUID COMPLEX PLASMA UNDER MICROGRAVITY CONDITIONS
Chemical Potency and Degradation Products of Medications Stored Over 550 Earth Days at the International Space Station
Medications degrade over time, and degradation is hastened by extreme storage conditions. Current procedures ensure that medications aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are restocked before their expiration dates, but resupply may not be possible on future long-duration exploration missions. For this reason, medications stored on the ISS were returned to Earth for analysis. This was an opportunistic, observational pilot-scale investigation to test the hypothesis that ISS-aging does not cause unusual degradation. Nine medications were analyzed for active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) content and degradant amounts; results were compared to 2012 United States Pharmacopeia (USP) requirements. The medications were two sleep aids, two antihistamines/decongestants, three pain relievers, an antidiarrheal, and an alertness medication. Because the samples were obtained opportunistically from unused medical supplies, each medication was available at only 1 time point and no control samples (samples aged for a similar period on Earth) were available. One medication met USP requirements 5 months after its expiration date. Four of the nine (44% of those tested) medications tested met USP requirements 8 months post expiration. Another three medications (33%) met USP guidelines 2-3 months before expiration. One compound, a dietary supplement used as a sleep aid, failed to meet USP requirements at 11 months post expiration. No unusual degradation products were identified. Limited, evidence-based extension of medication shelf-lives may be possible and would be useful in preparation for lengthy exploration missions. Only analysis of flight-aged samples compared to appropriately matched ground controls will permit determination of the spaceflight environment on medication stability.
Related URLs:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26546565
Concurrent flame growth, spread and extinction over composite fabric samples in low speed purely forced flow in microgravity
As a part of the NASA BASS and BASS-II experimental projects aboard the International Space Station, flame growth, spread and extinction over a composite cotton-fiberglass fabric blend (referred to as the SIBAL fabric) were studied in low-speed concurrent forced flows. The tests were conducted in a small flow duct within the Microgravity Science Glovebox. The fuel samples measured 1.2 and 2.2 cm wide and 10 cm long. Ambient oxygen was varied from 21% down to 16% and flow speed from 40 cm/s down to 1 cm/s. A small flame resulted at low flow, enabling us to observe the entire history of flame development including ignition, flame growth, steady spread (in some cases) and decay at the end of the sample. In addition, by decreasing flow velocity during some of the tests, low-speed flame quenching extinction limits were found as a function of oxygen percentage. The quenching speeds were found to be between 1 and 5 cm/s with higher speed in lower oxygen atmosphere. The shape of the quenching boundary supports the prediction by earlier theoretical models. These long duration microgravity experiments provide a rare opportunity for solid fuel combustion since microgravity time in ground-based facilities is generally not sufficient. This is the first time that a low-speed quenching boundary in concurrent spread is determined in a clean and unambiguous manner.