Design, Development and Testing of a Suborbital NanoLab Research Experiment in Microgravity

Research and Education Missions (REM) provide scope and capability for students to conduct their own science experiments in suborbital and orbital space. Recent advances in miniaturization have facilitated these science experiments to be carried out in small containers referred to as NanoLabs. These small payloads are becoming increasingly popular for its low cost design, fabrication and testing, which is evident with the increasing demand of CubeSats. This paper will document the research and engineering development of a NanoLab which will carry an experiment to study the effects of microgravity on cellular processes of T cells. Computational methods such as Computer Aided Design (CAD) and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) were used to design and test the compliance of the payload housing structure with loads and vibrations that the payload will undergo during suborbital flight. 3D printing technology is utilized to rapidly prototype the design of our payload. Mass optimization techniques are employed and a total mass reduction of 38% from the original baseline is obtained. A parametric study and validation of the suborbital payload using state-of-the-art materials, such as, Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS), Polylactic Acid (PLA) and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP) is performed. The parametric study revealed that ABS material is the optimum candidate for the payload structure. Sloshing tests of the liquids contained in the payload are carried out using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and the forces experienced by the T cells due to vibrations are computed. The combined objective of this research is to ensure the safetyand survivability of the biological payload and to meet the technical requirements of the launch provider by using computational and engineering methods