The Rodent Centrifuge Facility ? Quad Locker (RCF-QL) offers the largest diameter centrifuge research tool flown on ISS. The RCF-QL is a unique and powerful instrument for novel life and microgravity science research. Techshot?s initial targeted application of the proposed innovation is an offering of both the equipment and services associated with flight hardware and integration activities, which are highly desired by NASA-funded scientists as well as other governmental agencies. The RCF-QL will enhance NASA?s position in exploration research by allowing rodent experiments at, for example, Mars gravity ? a long-standing interest of NASA?s intramural and extramural gravitational physiology users. Its large cage geometry will allow the investigation of a variety of systems, biological and physical, with larger allowed volume than any other ISS centrifugal research device. Obviously the RCF-QL can provide 1-g control conditions for experiments in stationary hardware such as animal and plant habitats. The RCF-QL will have the additional advantage that Techshot is uniquely qualified to provide these space flight services, just as the company has done for PI?s on a variety of flight experiments for the past 27 years, including, for example, our Avian Development Facility (ADF). Techshot is also supporting future ISS experiments for NASA PI?s utilizing the Bone Densitometer flight hardware that Techshot developed and integrated in 2013-14.
Techshot sees tremendous potential commercial applications for the Rodent Centrifuge Facility ? Quad Locker (RCF-QL) in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies where life science research holds promise for cell replacement therapies for bioregenerative diseases. Techshot already has been in talks with U.S. biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies regarding long-term rodent research aboard the ISS. Furthermore, the company has begun to establish international connections with commercial entities in Canada, and most recently Brazil, where strong interest has been expressed in buying microgravity research tools and opportunities. Just as exciting, Techshot expects to commercialize the RCF-QL by incorporating it into the company's spaceflight service program it offers to other Government agencies like NIH, NSF, and DoD. In combination with the long list of other proven flight hardware developed by Techshot, the facility is expected to greatly expand the company's range of services. More importantly, its unique medium radius centrifuge capability should further enhance Techshot's commercial competitive position.
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