NASA's Ames Research Center has entered the final phase of preparations needed for an upcoming six-month biology mission that aims to measure how space radiation can affect living organisms.
The BioSentinel mission would lift off with 12 other CubeSats on the Space Launch System (SLS) for the first Artemis flight, the space agency said Saturday. A biosensor payload would detect the radiation affecting yeast cells carried by the small satellite. Microfluidic cards will quantify how radiation impacts the cells.
Dan Rowan, an integration and test engineer at Ames, is working to prepare BioSentinel’s internal components including the biosensor, a radiation detection instrument, subsystems, batteries and a radio. BioSentinel's spacecraft systems have also undergone electromagnetic resistance testing.
Once ready, Ames will ship the spacecraft to the Florida-based Kennedy Space Center for launching.
