The life science experiments in space are full of mystery and very much worthy of our expectations. In the Ask Sky Experiment Module, in addition to the life ecology experiment cabinet, there is a biotechnology experiment cabinet. What scientific experiments will be carried out in this biotechnology laboratory cabinet?
The biotechnology experimental cabinet takes biological samples such as animal tissues, cells and biochemical molecules as objects to carry out experiments on cell tissue culture, space protein crystallization and analysis, protein and nucleic acid co-origin and space biomechanics, which will be explored at the frontiers of the origin of life, innovative biomaterials, drugs and medical technology, and will be important for research on human health and other aspects.
Zhang Tao, head of the space life science instrumentation team at the Shanghai Institute of Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences: This cellular experiment system, it is composed of two major parts. One part is the cell tissue experiment module, there is another called the cell tissue detection and control module, it is through the pipeline to provide it with environmental protection, such as gas, and gas concentration control, including laser light source to provide.
It is reported that, because this is an experiment in a manned space station, and many experiments are operated by astronauts to play a role in threading the needle, so the safety requirements for the device is higher, and the operational design also requires simplicity.
Zhang Tao, head of the space life science instrumentation team at the Shanghai Institute of Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences: Our unit is easy to operate but reliable, and it mainly stores a variety of liquids, as well as different pump sets, and light sources. Optical microscope from the top to the bottom, you can see that the inside is filled with liquid. There is also a small circuit board, which is actually a core controller of the unit, and it will control the flow of the experiment after receiving instructions from the whole cabinet.
Ask the sky module outside the exposed load to carry out materials experiments
Reporters in the Chinese Academy of Sciences Space Applications Center also saw that the material extravehicular exposure experimental device has also been developed for the positive sample. At the end of this year with the Tianzhou V on board, will be installed by the astronauts through the robot arm in the sky outside the experimental module to start space experiments.
CCTV reporter Shuai Junquan: materials outside the cabin exposure experimental device was taken to space, will be in the experimental capsule outside the experiment, it is about 60 cm side length of a cube, and its front materials and materials after the experimental box in space will open, the material will be exposed to space so that a variety of scientific experiments.
The extravehicular exposure payload deputy director-designer, space applications center senior engineer Lv Hongyu: after unfolding, the future will be covered with active or passive materials to be done. The former material box has atomic oxygen, you can see this has a few holes, it can be measured to space atomic oxygen flux is how much, and then for the following to go to the reference.
There are also two small tribological experiment boxes designed on the side of the materials module exposure experiment unit, which can perform extra-vehicular experiments on solid lubricated and liquid gel lubricated materials. In addition, a real-time observation camera in orbit allows for real-time observation and in-situ inspection of sample morphology and characteristics with a microscope during the experiment, and experimental data can be downlinked in real-time for scientists to study.
The extravehicular exposure payload deputy director-designer, space applications center senior engineer Lv Hongyu: there are some new material characteristics, on the ground is not visible, in the extravehicular this high-temperature alternation, or that under the vacuum, in this atomic oxygen flux corrosion, it will reflect a new characteristic, this characteristic to our ground has no other benefits, is also we want to explore.
