PharmaSat
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 PharmaSat undergoing preflight testing | |
| Mission type | Biological research |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| COSPAR ID | 2009-028B |
| SATCAT no. | 35002 |
| Website | PharmaSat |
| Mission duration | 6 months (planned) 3 years, 2 months, 25 days (final) |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Bus | 3U CubeSat |
| Manufacturer | NASA Ames Space Center |
| Launch mass | 4.5 kg (9.9 lb) |
| Power | Solar cells and batteries |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | 19 May 2009, 23:55 UTC[1][2] |
| Rocket | Minotaur I |
| Launch site | MARS, Pad 0B |
| Contractor | Orbital Sciences |
| End of mission | |
| Decay date | 14 August 2012 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Geocentric orbit[3] |
| Regime | Low Earth orbit |
| Perigee altitude | 428 km (266 mi) |
| Apogee altitude | 466 km (290 mi) |
| Inclination | 40.4° |
| Period | 93.52 minutes |
PharmaSat was a nanosatellite developed by NASA Ames Research Center which measured the influence of microgravity upon yeast resistance to an antifungal agent. As a follow on to the GeneSat-1 mission, the Ames Small Spacecraft Division conducted the PharmaSat mission in collaboration with industry and local universities.[4]
PharmaSat was the first nanosatellite to implement biological science guided by its Principal Investigator. The mission was designed to aid the development of medicines or techniques to enable long-term crewed space travel and habitation.
The PharmaSat mission builds upon technology demonstrated by GeneSat-1, which used a CubeSat to study microfluidics and optics in the space environment. It was designed to provide life-support, growth, monitoring, and analysis capabilities for microorganisms.
Based, like GeneSat-1, around a three-unit CubeSat platform; PharmaSat was designed to accomplish five functions in an autonomous free-flying platform:[4]
- Provide life support and environmental control for growth of the yeast strain in 48 independent microwells;
- Dose the growing yeast with antifungal agent at the appropriate point on the growth curve with three distinct, well-defined dosage levels, plus a zero-dose control;
- Track the population of the yeast via optical density of each microwell before, during and after antifungal administration;
- Determine well-by-well yeast viability at multiple, well-defined times after antifungal administration using a colorimetric reagent, Alamar Blue;
- Telemeter the resulting population and viability data to Earth, along with system status data.
