The International Space Station (ISS) is a great technical international achievement, designed as a flexible laboratory able to support the performance of science in a wide range of disciplines. Excellent research has been done on the International Space Station that is preparing us, humankind, for long-term space exploration. However, over the years, it has also been observed that a lot of the results obtained from human spaceflight research are of key relevance for biomedical and other applied research here on Earth. Therefore, more and more research is now being done in space for the benefit of earth and us earthlings. Making use of the ISS was not attractive for a large number of potential users in the not so distant past, due to the burden of complex rules, procedures, duration and costs associated with developing, certifying and operating equipment on board the Station. This has changed over the recent years, allowing the setup of commercial space access services such as the International Commercial Experiment Cubes service (ICE Cubes).<br/>Flow chemistry has been identified as one of the disciplines with a potential high benefit from a space environment for Earth’s gain, but can also offer a mutual high potential for future space exploration (such as “drug on demand” which would be of high relevance to space agencies and commercial mission providers).<br/>First activities related to Flow Chemistry in space have taken place on the ISS over recent years. We see high potential in investigating a multi-user modular platform on ISS with chemical reactors modules in space through a collaboration partnership to be setup. The results of a recent study co-financed by the European Space Agency allowed us to arrive at a design concept for such a platform.<br/>Possible applications range from drug development and drug delivery, personalized medicine, tissue chips, other biomaterials & disposable implants, but also polymers, colloids & emulsions and water/fluid management systems. Markets sectors of relevance include health care or pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, consumer products, cosmetics and others.<br/>With the ICE Cubes service, we offer access to ISS for both US, European and in general global users and would be interested in the potential setup and co-utilization of such a space chemistry platform.

Collaboration on a multi-user chemistry platform in space - contribution by ice cubes: international commercial experiment cubes

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.