Multi-Specimen Variable-G Facility for Life and Microgravity Sciences Research

MVF offers innovative new technology needed for on-orbit processing, as well as the chance to leverage existing ISS facilities for new scientific payloads. This is expected to lead to many new potential NASA commercial applications and opportunities. In particular, Techshot expects to commercialize the MVF by incorporating it into the company's spaceflight service program that it offers to NASA mission programs, as well as to other Government agencies, including investigators funded by the National Institute of Health's Biomed-ISS program. In combination with the long list of other proven flight hardware developed by Techshot, MVF unique centrifuge capability is expected to greatly expand the company's competitive position and range of services. The unique advantage of the MVF is its capability to provide synchronous controls in the same environment as the test specimens, while permitting on-orbit access to the specimens, which provides the opportunity to conduct real-time analysis on the experimental samples. Furthermore, on-orbit specimen access reduces the up and down mass required to conduct scientific investigations since only the generic multi-specimen sample holders need to be transported to and from orbit. Overall, the science research community will be better served with the MVF's advanced experiment processing capability, and NASA can more fully realize its goal of utilizing ISS as a national laboratory.

The novel approach to the automated balancing system for the MVF centrifuge could become a very valuable asset to washing machine manufacturers who struggle with vibration associated with unevenly-distributed washed clothing being spin-dried in a rotating tub. MVF's unique approach to environmental control for cell cultures offers commercial applications in closed-environment bioassay situations. For commercial spaceflight, Techshot serves as an Implementation Partner for enabling space flight experimentation on ISS. Techshot offers flight experiment services to researchers from universities and the private sector. Techshot's successful space flight experiments with processing facilities like ADF and ADSEP position the company as a leader in offering these unique services. MVF is expected to give Techshot an even greater competitive advantage in attracting microgravity research customers. Furthermore, with the ability of commercial launch vehicles (e.g. SpaceX, Orbital Science) to get more experiment samples into orbit, once these vehicles begin routine visits to the ISS, the economics of transporting and processing materials in microgravity should become far more compelling. Eventually, given sufficient economical commercial launch vehicle transporting capacity, when coupled with Techshot's cadre of space processing equipment, MVF could become an important element for processing larger quantities of high-value materials in the unique microgravity environment of space.