Douglas, Isle of Man-based Odyssey Moon Ltd. and Israeli-based NSL Satellites Ltd., in partnership with NanoRacks LLC of the U.S., together will fly a number of educational microgravity experiments to the International Space Station (ISS). The next launch of an experiment is scheduled for October 7th on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral.
Rick Sanford, CEO of Odyssey Moon, said, “We at Odyssey Moon are so excited about this opportunity to give students around the globe access to the NASA U.S national lab. For a start-up space technology company it is very impressive that we have lined up over three successful commercial space missions in a three year period.”
The three different experiments will look at how cancer cells develop in microgravity, another will determine the direction of the sprouts/roots growth of radish seeds under microgravity, and there is an experiment to examine the hardening of an epoxy resin sample to test the characteristics of the mix in microgravity conditions. These experiments are being developed by Israeli students in Misgav Middle School and OR High School.
Odyssey Moon Chairman Ramin Khadem pointed out that, “Besides the technical expertise that NSL brings to commercial space allowing these terrific experiments to take place, it is such a pleasure to collaborate with them and NanoRacks LLC.”
The project is enabled through NanoRacks LLC, which is working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory. Says Managing Director Jeffrey Manber, “NanoRacks is delighted to again be working with the educational community, this time for showing students the potential of using space as a tool for learning.”
About Odyssey Moon
Odyssey Moon Ltd. is developing sustainable commercial systems and services to deliver payloads and instruments to space in support of science, exploration, and commerce.
Odyssey Moon Ltd. plans to meet near-term and long-term global market needs for low cost, reliable and frequent space and lunar access currently unaddressed by large government space programs. By creating alternative commercial delivery systems that provide rapid mission schedules and standardized systems, we provide value-added opportunities for government, academic and commercial customers to conduct space research or technology demonstrations on a simple cost per kilogram basis.
OM Space/Odyssey Moon Ltd. is one of the first commercial deep space enterprises and the very first entrant into the Google Lunar Xprize (GLXP) competition.
About NSL Satellites:
NSL Satellites Ltd. is a space technology and education company. Formed in 2009, NSL is involved in many game-changing technologies for space applications and exploration.
About NanoRacks:
NanoRacks LLC was formed in 2009 to provide quality hardware and services for the U.S. National Laboratory on board the International Space Station.
