BioSentinel Mission

BioSentinel Mission Latest News

Recently, the BioSentinel probe flew past the Moon with yeast to measure deep-space radiation.

About BioSentinel Mission

• It is a six-unit (6U) CubeSat launched on November 16, 2022.
• It was developed by the NASA Ames Research Center, California, USA.
• It is the first biological CubeSat developed to travel beyond low Earth orbit (LEO).
• It was selected as one of the secondary payloads – and the sole biological experiment – to have the rare opportunity to catch a ride to deep space on Artemis I, 
• Objectives
  • To develop the capability to support biological organisms in deep interplanetary space, and
  • To characterize the deep space radiation environment and its effects on biological organisms.
• Components
  • It is composed of two sections, one containing the scientific payloads, and a spacecraft bus equipped with solar panel arrays, batteries, micropropulsion system, star tracker navigation system, transponder, antennas, and command and data handling systems.
  • The two payloads are the microfluidic-based BioSensor instrument and a radiation detector.
  • The BioSensor instrument carried the budding yeast S. cerevisiae to assay biological responses to accumulated doses of deep space radiation. 

Source: HT

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