Space Zoo Patrol – In-Space Testing

By Mark Gittleman, President & CEO Aegis Aerospace, Inc.

What is the name of the technology?

Aegis Aerospace has different technologies in a category called Space Testing as a Service (STaaS). We use our private facility on the International Space Station (ISS), called Materials International Space Station Experiment (MISSE pronounced “miss ē”). We also provide space testing services on the moon with two new facilities called “regolith adherence characterization” (RAC) and “space system test and evaluation facility” (SSTEF).

MISSE has been on the ISS since 2018 and will stay there until the end of the space station’s life in 2030. MISSE was the first woman-owned facility in space and the first Hispanic-owned facility in space.

The first RAC mission, RAC-1, will go to the moon in 2024 to test new materials and how they interact with lunar (moon) soil, which is called “regolith”. Our first SSTEF mission, SSTEF-1, will go to the moon in 2025 to test seven new technologies including solar cells and radiation protective materials.

What does it do?

STaaS gives researchers and scientists a way to test new inventions or perform science outside in space without having to design the whole testing system themselves. They design the experiment, and we take care of everything else!

How does it work?

First, a scientist or researcher has an idea they want to test in space. For example, their idea could be a new solar cell for generating electricity from sunlight, or a new material to protect people from radiation. (Space is full of radiation!)

Scientists and researchers can also use our space testing services to put environmental sensors and cameras outside in space or on the lunar surface to gather data in order to understand the space environment better.

Scientists and researchers design and build their experiment or sensor and deliver it to Aegis Aerospace. Whether it’s on the moon or the ISS, we test the new idea for them so that they can learn what really happens in the actual space environment. We integrate it with one of our testing facilities (MISSE, RAC, or SSTEF), and then we send it to space. For example, science on MISSE gets put into a part called a “MISSE science carrier,” and the science carrier is then installed on the MISSE facility at the ISS using the ISS’s robots. After the carriers are installed, we control them and the experiments from our payload control center in Houston, TX. The payload control center is where many things happen, like sending commands to the experiment, collecting experiment and local environmental data, taking pictures at least once a month, and even protecting the experiment in case a spaceship comes too close!

Experiments that go to the ISS stay there in space for about six months and then come back to Earth and are returned to the researcher. Experiments that go to the moon stay on the moon forever, but the actual experiments will only last about 14 days. Why? Because once the moon phase “goes dark” everything freezes solid, so solid that nothing works anymore!

How is it better than the older technology?

STaaS is the first in-space service of its kind. In the past, researchers had to design their experiment AND the testing system for it. Now, they design just the experiment and use one of our testing systems. This makes it faster, easier, and much less expensive.

MISSE, our first and very popular STaaS facility, was permanently installed on the ISS in 2018 and we have helped scientists and researchers conduct thousands of experiments!

What classes should I take in school to work on this?

Math and science, of course, but also logic and writing. Why? The science and math help you figure out what experiments to develop or how to help researchers conduct their experiment so they get useful results. The logic and writing are so that you can figure out what the results mean and explain it to other people!