ERAU\u27s First Suborbital Payload for Cell Research

Commercial Space Operations and Aerospace Engineering students from Embry-Riddle are working with students and faculty from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and Medical University of South Carolina to launch a suborbital payload onboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket during the summer of 2017. This NanoLab experiment, exposed to microgravity, will consist of T-cells primed with different cytokines that may help us expand our understanding of future treatments for terminal diseases. The first team, Operations team, is conducting the physical testing of the NanoLab by measuring the survivability of the payload under extreme conditions of the suborbital flight. This team is developing operational procedures and data collection guidelines for the different mission phases. The data collected includes accelerations in the X, Y, and Z directions, temperature, and relative humidity. The Engineering team is in charge of the design, analysis and development of the 2U cube-structure that will house the experiment and will be capable of withstanding the forces experienced during the suborbital mission