Aerospace module for biological sample experiments

Zenaida Alzaga

A multidisciplinary group of experts, led by the Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), is designing an aerospace module called ASTROBIO-1 to conduct scientific experiments with harmless biological samples under extreme conditions of temperature, humidity, pressure, and ultraviolet radiation in the stratosphere.

The project's goal is to construct an instrument equipped with electronic support vital for monitoring and studying samples of living organisms and cells. These samples will be sent up in a sounding balloon.

Initially, the mission is planned to be carried out in the country, and eventually, it will become part of missions in which the Polytechnic has successfully participated, such as the Program for Scientific Balloons of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Dr. Mario Alberto Mendoza Bárcenas, a researcher at the Aerospace Development Center (CDA) of the IPN, reported that scientists from the Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral Regiona (CIIDIR), Sinaloa Unit; the Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marina (Cicimar), both from the Politécnico; the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Autonomous University of the State of Morelos (UAEM), as well as the Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (ICAT) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), are designing the ASTROBIO-1 project.

He added that they are currently in the conceptual design stage of the instrument based on the technical requirements of specialists in the biological and health fields who are participating in the project for its implementation in hardware and software.

Mendoza Bárcenas mentioned that they are analyzing the requirements based on the proposals for biological experiments, including mechanical design, material selection, and compatibility of the main container that will house the animal and cellular samples during the instrument's flight to Earth's stratosphere.

Furthermore, it should provide environmental conditions for the samples' survival (controlled temperature and oxygen monitoring) and ensure biosecurity measures in case of any contingencies. ASTROBIO-1 certification tests are expected to be conducted by the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, with a launch scheduled for April of the following year.

The module should reach an approximate height of at least 20 kilometers during a journey of about six hours, enduring temperatures close to -80°C, in an environment with barometric pressure close to a vacuum, and high doses of solar radiation.

The biological experiments conducted aboard ASTROBIO-1 by Cicimar will focus on the behavioral study of crustaceans and the effect of suborbital environments on them.

Meanwhile, CIIDIR Sinaloa will conduct behavioral studies on the pathogenicity of gall-forming nematodes in tomato root samples and the effect of subjecting them to conditions present in Earth's stratosphere.

UAEM will carry animal cell samples on board, studying DNA alterations resulting from exposure to environmental conditions in near space, which will eventually contribute to drug design.

ASTROBIO-1 certification tests (including vibration, temperature, and barometric pressure) are expected to be conducted by the end of 2023 and the beginning of 2024, with a launch scheduled from the national territory in April of the following year.

Finally, Dr. Mendoza Bárcenas highlighted the participation of Dr. Angélica Meneses from the Faculty of Pharmacy at UAEM, Dr. Guadalupe Minerva Torres Alfaro from Cicimar, and Dr. Marco Antonio Magallanes Tapia from CIIDIR Sinaloa, all academic units of the Politécnico.

Also, Master Rafael Prieto Meléndez and Dr. Alejandro Padrón Godínez, academics from ICAT at UNAM, will be involved in designing electronic instrumentation and data analysis.

Selección Gaceta Politécnica #165. (August 31st, 2023). IPN Imagen Institucional: Read the full magazine in Spanish here