Project Name: Micro Age-2

Customer: UK Space Agency - under contract to the University of Liverpool

Objective: Understanding of the role of mitochondria as key regulators of muscle mass in microgravity and during ageing.

Description: 

Loss of skeletal muscle and the ensuing weakness is a major cause of frailty. The loss occurs over decades in older people on earth and occurs very rapidly in astronauts exposed to microgravity in space. There is evidence that the process underlying muscle loss in space may represent an accelerated form of what happens with ageing. Small structures within skeletal muscle cells, called mitochondria generate the energy that muscles need to contract, provide the signals for muscles to adapt and they ensure cell survival. Several studies suggest that degenerative changes in mitochondria are key mediators of the muscle loss during ageing on earth and also potentially in the rapid muscle loss in microgravity. The Micro Age-2 experiment has been conceived to study the molecular mechanisms of muscle loss with exposure to microgravity by using the International Space Station, that is the unique laboratory offering prolonged weightlessness conditions. Kayser Space is the industrial partner of the programme, in charge of the design, manufacture and qualification of the bioreactor where the muscle cells will be cultured, stretched, electrically stimulated and the resulting contraction monitored. The hardware comprises a culture chamber and reservoirs with pumps providing multiple culture chamber refreshes of different media. The muscle cells will be installed in scaffolds within the culture chamber attached to electrodes for electrical stimulation. Stepper motors will deliver the required stretching of the muscle fibres. The experiment hardware will be integrated in the KIC Magnum, a 1 unit Kayser-designed standard ISS experiment containers and installed in the ESA KUBIK incubator in the Columbus module of the ISS. Thanks to the novel design of an autonomous power supply, Micro Age-2 will be the first KUBIK payload able to deliver refresh nutrients to the biological samples in the launch vehicle during their journey to the ISS.