Page 84 - International Space Station Benefits for Humanity, 3rd edition.

a woman- and minority-owned small business said Murphy. “I think the space station is a great
responsible for developing the Materials International platform to start commercialization, but I anticipate
Space Station Experiment Flight Facility (MISSE-FF). that it will continue to lunar orbit and beyond and
MISSE-FF, a permanent platform affixed to the exterior support NASA missions, but also run in parallel, a
of the space station, offers private researchers and unique commercial industry and economy all its own.”
scientists the ability to tests materials, conduct MISSE-FF was launched aboard the SpaceX-14
technology demonstrations, and test items such Commercial Resupply and began service in 2018.
as circuitry, cameras and computer boards against It is sponsored by the ISS National Laboratory.
the harshest of environments: space.
“You no longer have to be a NASA scientist to European Space Agency ICE Cubes
get your experiment on the space station,” said
Stephanie Murphy, founder and chairman of Europe’s new commercial research facility on the
Alpha Space. “You can be a private entity, an ISS, called ICE Cubes or International Commercial
entrepreneur, a researcher, someone in Academia, Experiment Cubes service, offers plug-and-play
and your research can fly and it can fly quickly.” installation for cube-sized experiments in microgravity.
For the first time, ICE Cubes users are able to interact
MISSE began in the early 2000s with one-time use, with their experiments directly from the ground and
suitcase-style platforms that would open up and
expose materials to the space environment.
MISSE-FF is robotically serviceable and commanded
from the operations center at Alpha Space.
This feature gives the platform the serviceability
and changeability to allow for continuous science For the first time, ICE Cubes
to occur for the next 10 years. users are able to interact with
Alpha Space represents only one of the commercial their experiments directly
pathways to the space station, with NanoRacks,
Space Tango, Made In Space, Techshot, and more from the ground and receive
also making their way through LEO. experiment data.
“Every day new commercial companies are coming
into the fold of this new economy that’s developing,”

View of the MISSE-FF taken by the External The ICE Cubes Facility located in the Columbus
High Definition Camera on April, 19 2018. European Physiology Module rack is a capable
The MISSE-FF platform provides the ability experiment platform that offers flexibility to host
to test materials, coatings, and components many different experiments in the CubeLab form
or other larger experiments in the harsh factor. Pictured is the first experiment module
environment of space. hosted in the facility (taken June 5, 2018).
Image credit: NASA Image credit: NASA

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