Cygnus Is Taking E. Coli, Sextants, And A Cold Atom Lab To The International Space Station

Also related to the study of bacteria, the Biomolecule Extraction and Sequencing Technology (BEST) experiment is heading up to the ISS to examine how microbes react to zero gravity and whether spaceflight influences the way in which they mutate.

The project will be testing a novel technique of sequencing the genome of microbes found on board the ISS by using their DNA and RNA. This eliminates the need to culture the organisms first, explains principal investigator Sarah Wallace.

"That way, we can identify microbes that cannot be detected using traditional culturing methods, and we aren't increasing the number of potential pathogens that might be present on the station."

The Cygnus spacecraft will be supplying the crew of Expedition 55 with old-fashioned sextants as part of a science experiment meant to find out if these instruments can be used as emergency navigation tools.

The Sextant Navigation experiment aims to uncover whether the centuries-old instrument can be used as a handheld navigation aid to help astronauts find their way into space by looking at the angles between the moon, stars, and planets.

"No need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to celestial navigation. We want a robust, mechanical back-up with as few parts and as little need for power as possible to get you back home safely."

Last year, the ISS released the IceCube mini-satellite and sent it on its Earth-orbiting path. This year, the space station is taking in a different kind of ICE Cube. Officially dubbed ICE Cube Service, where the acronym stands for International Commercial Experiment, this science project represents the first European commercial opportunity to conduct research on board the ISS.

This novel experiment is based on a "unique lab" that is made up of modular containers no bigger than a microwave oven neatly arranged into a laboratory rack as part of a "plug-and-play" model, NASA explains.

Developed by the European Space Agency in partnership with Space Application Services (SpaceAps), the ICE Cubes will be installed in the space station's Columbus module and will each contain a different experiment, ranging "from pharmaceutical development to experiments on stem cells, radiation, and microbiology, fluid sciences, and more," NASA reveals.

According to Space.com, one of the ICE Cubes will be dedicated to an experiment that will examine how methane can be produced in microgravity by using bacteria, while another one will hold different plant seeds to study how they germinate in various space conditions.

Hilde Stenuit, from SpaceAps, comments on the nature of the project, revealing that it would free up the access to space for a large number of companies that wish to conduct scientific research on board the ISS.

"The idea is to provide fast, direct and affordable access to space for research, technology and education for any organization or customer."

The icing on the soon-to-be-delivered science cake is without a doubt NASA's Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL), a physics research facility that acts as an atomic fridge and aims to study ultra-cold atoms in microgravity.

In order to take a close look at these atoms, CAL will first create a spot within the facility that is 10 billion times colder than the vacuum of space, thus making the space station the coldest known place in the universe, Motherboard reports.

Then, the atomic fridge will use "lasers and magnetic forces to slow down atoms until they are almost motionless," states the NASA news release. The goal of this unparalleled experiment is to find answers for some of the most puzzling questions of quantum physics.