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Space Tango engineered a fully automated CubeLab to investigate how microgravity alters the expression of virulence pathways in enteric bacterial pathogens. This platform enabled controlled growth of three reference strains—Escherichia coli, Salmonella bongori, and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium—under spaceflight conditions, while maintaining synchronized Earth-based controls. The CubeLab preserved the environmental conditions necessary to evaluate global gene expression changes, supporting high-fidelity comparisons of bacterial physiology between space and ground. By isolating the influence of microgravity on microbial behavior, this investigation aims to identify molecular mechanisms that may contribute to increased virulence or antibiotic resistance during spaceflight, with implications for astronaut health and the treatment of terrestrial infectious diseases.
What science requirements guide the selection of the CubeLab design?
Careful attention was paid to selecting the interfacing science systems and safety-critical components to ensure mission success and bacterial containment throughout the mission. To achieve the scientific objectives, a custom optical density (OD) measurement system was implemented to monitor bacterial growth and stop the process at the desired endpoint, providing necessary on-orbit data. To maximize the microgravity effect, agitation was minimized, but some was still needed to promote gas exchange and ensure proper growth and accurate experiment readings. The fluidic circuit was designed to initiate growth on orbit, observe trends by sampling bacteria during the growth period, and fix bacteria at the required OD endpoint.
How was the science loaded? Who loads the science? What did the integration process look like?
Stock Salmonella Bongori and Salmonella Typhi were loaded into the bacteria bags through custom-designed science loading ports by the Space Tango team and remotely verified by the Principal Investigator (PI), Dr. Ohad Gal-Mor, in Tel Aviv, Israel. The CubeLab was inspected and checked for normal operation, then sealed, pressure tested, and handed over to NASA for conditioning down to 4°C before launch.
What equipment is used to get to microgravity? How is science kept alive?
To keep the CubeLab in its early stages until it reached orbit, it was stored at 4°C for launch with the Crew-10 astronauts. After arriving at the ISS, the hardware was transferred and installed in a Tangolab facility for the duration of the experiment. Once the experiment was completed (~6 hours after installation), the CubeLab was placed in -80°C storage to preserve the fixed scientific samples for post-analysis.
What did the deintegration process look like?
The hardware was received in California and then shipped back to Space Tango in Lexington, Kentucky, where the PI and the Space Tango team jointly removed the samples. A ground unit was also run in parallel with the flight experiment, and its science data were processed.
What did the on-orbit data look like, and what details were communicated via the partner portal?
At the start of the experiment, partners gained access to Space Tango’s web-based telemetry and media portal. Data included real-time monitoring of temperature, CO2, OD, pressure, and fluidic sequence execution. Real-time data was observed to detect potential anomalies during the experiment. The experiment was launched, operated, and returned within 12 days, providing near-immediate results to inform microbiology insights.
