The MicroAge2 team, including HLS researchers Professor Malcolm Jackson, Professor Anne McArdle, Dr Elizabeth Sutton, Dr David Turner, Dr Samantha Jones, and Faculty of Science and Engineering’s Dr Kai Hoettges and Dr Michael Muller, reached a significant milestone recently as they welcomed representatives from the UK Space Agency to review the status of the space bound project.
On Thursday 1st February the UK Space Agency Critical Design Review Team were provided with a full tour of the William Henry Duncan Building Labs to see each of the key aspects of the study including the final design of the flight hardware that will hopefully travel to the International Space Station, as well as the most recent data, schematics, and test results. As part of the lab tour, Dr Elizabeth Sutton offered the team the opportunity to get hands on with the muscle constructs that allow the analysis of tissue changes while in low gravity, after which they were introduced to the latest mock-ups in the flight hardware by Dr Michael Muller, and Dr Kai Hoettges, showing how necessary fluids will be delivered to the constructs during the experiment.
Dr Samantha Jones, said of the visit “It has been fantastic to have the opportunity to host representatives from the UK Space Agency for the MicroAge II Critical Design Review (CDR). This represents a significant milestone for the project, allowing us to progress onto manufacturing of the flight hardware for the mission. The success of the review is testimony to the continued collaboration between the Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences, Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics and of course our industrial partners, Kayser Space Ltd.”
The lab tour was followed by a meeting in which all the team, including UKSA and Kayser met to discuss this crucial stage of the study, to outline the review, and recommended steps to ensure the project can proceed. Thankfully, only some minor adjustments were recommended by the review panel, meaning that MicroAge2 can continue their path to space.