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Featured Image Credit: NASA
This collaborative effort involves NASA, various government agencies, and experienced industry partners, all leveraging commercial expertise to deepen understanding of human biology, disease, preventative measures, and personalized treatments.
Building on over 290 low-Earth orbit investigations, Space Tango’s automated systems and proven hardware will expand biological sample maintenance and data collection to lunar orbit for the first time.
“The Artemis II mission is a watershed moment for human space exploration,” said Twyman Clements, President of Space Tango. “With our automation and flight heritage, Space Tango can now extend biological data collection from low-Earth orbit to lunar orbit, helping answer the critical questions needed for crew health and mission success.”
During the Artemis II mission, AVATAR’s organ chips will be secured in a custom payload developed by Space Tango and mounted on the port-ECLSS wall inside the Orion Crew Module. The unit includes an aluminum outer structure selected for its lightweight strength. The structure provides the mounting interfaces and protects the science within from the launch and return loads.
The custom AVATAR payload was designed and built by Space Tango. Photo Credit: Space Tango.
Within the structure is a specialized science bay based on Space Tango’s heritage space systems. The science bay is composed of specialized components designed and selected for biological and chemical compatibility and sterility to prevent any adverse effects on the organ chips. A pressure-driven microfluidics system delivers nutrients and removes waste at an ultra-slow, precisely controlled flow – so subtle it is imperceptible to the naked eye. Coupled with continuous environmental control at 37 °C/98.6 °F, the chips remain as close as possible to natural human body conditions.
The system is powered by an internal bank of lithium-ion batteries designed to support the science for 14 days of operation, enough to sustain the mission and post-flight recovery. There are capacity margins to allow for three consecutive launch attempts. After activation on the ground, the payload operates autonomously and independently from Artemis II operations. Astronauts will only interact with the payload once per day by pressing a button to confirm system health and status.
“Through Artemis II and the AVATAR investigation, Space Tango is extending our automation heritage from low-Earth orbit toward new orbits and frontiers,” said Gentry Barnett, CTO of Space Tango. “This isn’t just about hardware, it’s about enabling science wherever we go in space.”
AVATAR will be the first program to utilize organ chips beyond low-Earth orbit, as Space Tango applies their findings from participation in the ISS National Laboratory and National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Tissue Chips in Space Initiative that flew multiple chip systems to the ISS from 2018 to 2023. Those earlier studies revealed how microgravity accelerates changes in immunity, bone loss, and tissue degeneration. Now, AVATAR expands on program findings into a new orbital domain where radiation levels and gravitational dynamics differ dramatically.
In collaboration with Emulate, the AVATAR payload will utilize their organ chips to culture bone marrow stem and progenitor cells obtained from Artemis II crew members. NASA’s Biological and Physical Sciences (BPS) Division is examining the effects of radiation on bone marrow, providing insights into how medical radiation and DNA-damaging agents like chemotherapy impair blood cell production. Its relevance to both space exploration and medical treatments on Earth makes the bone marrow an ideal focus for the Artemis II AVATAR project.
Four organ chips are installed into the AVATAR science bay to perform fluidic testing, which is critical to verify stable media delivery throughout the Artemis-II mission. Photo Credit: Space Tango
“Bringing astronaut-derived human Bone Marrow Chip into lunar orbit represents an exciting step towards a better understanding of human biology in space,” said David Chou, Principal Investigator at Emulate. “The AVATAR Science Team, including Ela, Prince, Chris, and Lisa, is grateful that Space Tango’s automation expertise allows our science to reach new environments, connecting spaceflight discovery with biomedical innovation on Earth.”
Space Tango’s automation has already powered a portfolio of tissue-chip investigations on the ISS, including:
For Space Tango, AVATAR also represents a broader pivot from operating across different platforms to operating across orbits.
“Artemis is about going farther than we’ve gone before,” said Clements. “Space Tango’s role is to ensure the science reaches that distance in an automated and reliable design so we can unearth answers for deep space exploration and enhance life on Earth.”
Space Tango has received Phase II NASA Safety approval for the AVATAR payload and successfully completed a Critical Design Review in late summer. The team is preparing for several integrated science tests to validate the payload’s performance under various conditions. Testing schedules are on track, with the final NASA safety, verification, and mission success tests set to be completed in the fall, supporting the launch planned for 2026.
Looking ahead, Artemis II is just the start of an exciting journey.