The organisations worked together to create a tiny vial of “flying gut cells” that blasted off onboard a suborbital rocket from Sweden last week.
Researchers hope data analysed from the experiment will also give scientists a better understanding of how gravity-controlled biological processes could be harnessed for new therapeutics on Earth.
“Gravity is the only constant force present throughout evolution,” said Professor Patrick Humbert, the lead researcher from La Trobe.
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“Conducting experiments in space where gravity is absent provides a means to ask how it is involved in the processes of cell regeneration and cancer.”
The MAPHEUS-15 research rocket, launched on 11 November, included gut cells housed in “mini-labs” specially engineered by Melbourne’s Enable Aerospace.
These small modules housed tiny temperature-controlled vials of cells with microscopes and cameras so scientists could watch in real time how they reacted to the environment.
The enclosure was designed to keep the biological samples alive, capture images and record data, with storage that could survive radiation, launch vibration and other mission environments. It was one of 21 experiments onboard and marked the 600th launch from the Esrange rocket base in the north of Sweden.
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La Trobe said its scientists will also consider gravity’s effect on astronauts’ health.
“As astronauts continue to spend extended time in microgravity and the space environment, the decline in their health is a growing concern,” Humbert said.
“Astronauts experience issues with bone and muscle loss, brain fog, blood production issues and intestinal problems. They are also at higher risk of cancer.”
Enable said its “Gastronaut-01 mission” reached an altitude of 309 kilometres, providing seven minutes of microgravity for its experiments – an increase over the previous six minutes.
“While this additional minute may not seem like much, it is significant for science research where terrestrial microgravity experiments, like those conducted in drop towers or on parabolic flights, typically offer just a few seconds of ‘weightlessness’,” it said.
The mission also overcame a significant setback after much of the intestinal cell sample originally intended for the shuttle did not survive the trip to Sweden.
La Trobe said a post-graduate researcher, Samantha Melrose, was able to quickly find more from another researcher, coincidentally working with the same cell line at a nearby university.
Adam Thorn
Adam is a journalist who has worked for more than 40 prestigious media brands in the UK and Australia. Since 2005, his varied career has included stints as a reporter, copy editor, feature writer and editor for publications as diverse as Fleet Street newspaper The Sunday Times, fashion bible Jones, media and marketing website Mumbrella as well as lifestyle magazines such as GQ, Woman’s Weekly, Men’s Health and Loaded. He joined Momentum Media in early 2020 and currently writes for Australian Aviation and World of Aviation.
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