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Miniature Lab Begins Science Experiments in Outer Space (reuters.com)

Posted by msmash on from the moving-forward dept.

An anonymous reader shares a Reuters report: Orbiting the earth at more than 500 kilometers (300 miles), a tiny satellite with a laboratory shrunk to the size of a tissue box is helping scientists carry out experiments that take gravity out of the equation. The technology was launched into space last month by SpacePharma, a Swiss-Israeli company, which on Thursday announced that its first experiments have been completed successfully. In space, with hardly any interference from earth's gravity, cells and molecules behave differently, helping researchers make discoveries in fields from medicine to agriculture. Nestle turned to zero gravity -- or what scientists refer to as microgravity -- to perfect the foam in its chocolate mousse and coffee, while drugmakers like Eli Lilly have used it to improve drug designs.

11 of 27 comments (clear)

  1. Miniature Lab by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Arf Arf Arf!

  2. After Trump.... by pablo_max · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sadly, after Trump's massive cuts to science, miniature was the best they could do. I believe they have the below list of experiments to choose from..
    http://www.toysrus.com/product...

  3. Of all the potential benefits... by ItsJustAPseudonym · · Score: 1, Insightful

    This benefit makes me sad: "Nestle turned to zero gravity -- or what scientists refer to as microgravity -- to perfect the foam in its chocolate mousse and coffee"

    Really? I never considered "imperfect food foam" to be a pressing problem. This seems both arrogant and wasteful.

    1. Re:Of all the potential benefits... by thinkwaitfast · · Score: 1

      What's sadder is that the SCSC was cancelled so that the ISS could be doing this r&d for cheaper. At least that was NASA's promise.

      The SCSC would have been three times larger than the LHC.

    2. Re:Of all the potential benefits... by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      I can see the ad now: "$70 billion dollars has been spent by world governments so YOU can have the very best fluffy bar from Boondoggle Chocolate Company!"

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    3. Re:Of all the potential benefits... by religionofpeas · · Score: 1

      Assuming they figure out how to perfect the foam in zero gravity environment, how is this going to help them here on Earth, I wonder.

    4. Re:Of all the potential benefits... by ItsJustAPseudonym · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that seemed pretty infeasible to me, too. However, I finally found a reference about this Nestle research. (http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Human_Spaceflight/Space_for_dessert)

      Two things emerge:
      1. The research was *not* actually on the ISS. It was on a research airplane. So, it's a little less difficult than I thought it was.
      2. The article implies -- but does not explain exactly how -- Nestle was intending to benefit in the production of Earthbound foamy products, by studying them in microgravity.

      In conclusion, it's not as weird as it seemed from reading TFA. Kinda weird, though. Sounds almost like Nestle food scientists managed to boondoggle a ride on the "vomit comet" airplane.

  4. Did they at least call it "Scoop"? by Grog6 · · Score: 1

    If I lived in Piedmont, I'd be worried; a lot of things seem to be repeating lately. :)

    --
    Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
  5. Re:Terrible summary by Sir+Holo · · Score: 1

    The Earth still exerts a gravitational pull at orbital altitudes. They're not doing experiments outside of the influence of Earth's gravity, they're doing experiments in free fall.

    You were close. Because the unit was orbiting, it was not in "free" fall. Whatever the decay rate of its orbit, then that's the micro-gravity it was under (ignoring atmospheric braking).

    What's the difference between free fall and stable orbit? Well, hmmn, it's got to do with orbital speed and altitude. Take any satellite, like the ISS, and just stop its orbit, leaving it at the altitude it is. The earth's gravity will exert a noticeable effect on it – it will go into free fall.

    Difference without a distinction, almost.

  6. How is this news? by Sir+Holo · · Score: 1

    You can buy a Cube-Sat online. 10 x 10 x 10 cm^3, and it fits into a standard deployment thingie – which the rocket going up, with a bit of space/weight to spare, is happy to "fill-up the bus" before launch. You can buy double and triple-sized Cube-Sats, and it sounds like this one was 20 x 10 x 10 cm^3.

    High-school kids do projects with these routinely. Commercial giants getting into the game is no surprise––they just don't get a subsidy to put the thing into orbit.

    It is not news that anyone ran an experiment with a Cube-Sat: http://www.cubesat.org/about/

  7. Bullshit by dschiptsov · · Score: 1

    Earth gravitational force is absolutely negligible compared to molecular forces. Even hydrogen bonds are to strong to be affected by gravity.