The non-public space travel company Orbital ATK is targeting St Joseph for its seventh payload flight, dubbed OA-7, to the International space laboratory.
Packed with provides and science gear, the Cygnus payload craft is scheduled to detonate atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from foreland Air Force Station in Florida throughout a 30-minute launch window starting at 10:56 p.m. EDT (0256 UT1 on March 20).
Along with over seven,500 lbs. (3,400 kilograms) of payload and provides for the astronauts aboard the space laboratory, Cygnus can carry many science experiments, as well as dozens of cubesats, a brand new home ground for growing plants and targeted cancer therapies.
During a prelaunch conference Mon (March 6), Henry Martin, small-satellites mission organiser for NanoRacks in Houston, noted that thirty eight cubesats, or microsatellites, can hitch a ride to house on the Cygnus payload craft. Four of the thirty eight satellites can deploy directly from the Cygnus craft throughout the flight, and therefore the rest are going to be deployed from the space laboratory. a bunch of twenty eight cubesats from round the world can fly OA-7 before being deployed from the space laboratory for the QB50 mission, that seeks to research Earth's lower layer, the a part of the atmosphere that starts at concerning fifty miles (80 kilometers) on top of the planet's surface and extends into location.
A new plant-growing home ground will fly to the space laboratory with OA-7. The Advanced Plant home ground are going to be the most important plant-growth system ever launched to the orbiting laboratory and can enable astronauts to grow larger crops than they may antecedently, Howard Levine, project person at NASA's Kennedy house Center in Florida, same throughout the conference
One of the experiments flying to the space laboratory on OA-7 can take a look at however new cancer-fighting medication add microgravity. By causing this experiment to house, researchers will see however the antineoplastic works in 3D as opposition 2nd tests done on a Petri dish in a very laboratory on Earth, principal project investigator Sourav Sinha — chief executive officer of Oncolinx LLC, that develops antibody-drug conjugates — same throughout the conference. The project, titled "Efficacy and Metabolism of Azonafide Antibody-Drug Conjugates in Microgravity," seeks to extend the effectiveness of therapy medication whereas reducing aspect effects.
Another biology experiment can use magnets to check cell cultures as they grow into 3D shapes in microgravity. throughout the conference, Glauco Souza, man of science of the biotechnology startup Nano3D Biosciences in Houston, mentioned however magnetic cells and tools can create it easier to check and handle cell cultures in house and create experiments with cell cultures easier to breed. this may be the primary time that magnets square measure used for biological studies in house, Souza said. the primary cells that astronauts aboard the space laboratory can study mistreatment this experiment square measure carcinoma cells. [How space laboratory school helps the Fight Against Cancer]
Another experiment, referred to as Red-Data two, from velocity region in Atlanta, can send on a brand new kind of data-recording device which will ride within the Cygnus payload craft because it re-enters Earth's atmosphere whereas full of nonrecyclable waste from the space laboratory. each Cygnus and therefore the experiment can use up upon re-entry, however Red-Data two can offer information concerning the conditions the space vehicle encounters on the manner. This experiment might are available in handy for testing new heat shields for independent agency, John Dec, associate engineer at velocity region and man of science for the project, same throughout the conference.
