The LIFT Module: A Modular Fixation Platform for Biological Research on Sounding Rockets

Kurzfassung

Biological experiments under altered gravity conditions as encountered on sounding rockets often require automated in-flight chemical fixation under the challenging environmental and operational constraints, as accompanying any spaceflight mission. Enabling in-flight fixation while maintaining laboratory-equivalent cultivation conditions from ground handling to recovery poses significant challenges for reliability and reproducibility of experiment scenarios. A common flight-qualified architecture can address these constraints by enforcing controlled environmental and operational execution while decoupling sample-dependent fixation configurations through modular payload integration. This work describes a reusable, automated and standardized fixation payload platform designed to host interchangeable, pre-qualified chemical fixation payloads for biological experiments on a variety of platforms to achieve altered gravity. The module provides a standardized mechanical, thermal and electrical architecture for the integration and operation of experiments employing either adherent or suspension-based cells within a single flight-qualified unit, independent of the specific fixation configuration required. Hardware and operational performance were qualified within the German Aerospace Center’s (DLR) Materialphysikalische Experimente unter Schwerelosigkeit (MAPHEUS®) sounding rocket program. Laminar In-flight Fixation Technology (LIFT) was successfully flown across several missions and payload configurations, in-flight data demonstrate reliable execution of fixation procedures, stable thermal regulation, a pressure-stabilized internal environment and automated housekeeping data acquisition. The presented work establishes LIFT as a versatile, spaceflight-proven module to carry out a wide variety of cell culture experiments, allowing customizable in-flight fixation of samples as well as their monitoring within a common architecture.