Life Support and Physical Sciences Instrumentation Laboratory
Supports work on life and physical sciences instrumentation and experiments for microgravity research, life support and environmental control and other exploration related activities
+Laboratory Instrumentation
+Large Diameter Centrifuge at full speed
+Sciences Life Support Laboratory clean room
Laboratory Overview
The Life Support & Physical Sciences Instrumentation Laboratory supports work on life and physical sciences instrumentation and experiments for microgravity research, life support and environmental control and other exploration related activities, including experimental testing or rehearsing space mission payloads, life support system development or activities for planetary exploration. The Lab can investigate and test a wide variety of factors, including prolonged effects of low- or hyper-gravities. Its facilities also support flight projects, such as ATV disinfection and microbiological control campaigns, planetary protection-related activities for ExoMars, lunar lander payloads and technology development activities.
General support activities
Laminar flow benches (class 2), CO2 incubators, refrigerators, freezers (from -20 to -170 °C), lab. Centrifuges (18000 g, refrigerated)
Analytical capabilities including fluorescence microscopes (up to x 100), wide-screen imaging, and data/image processing systems
HPLC-MS system for chemical analysis
High vacuum pump, Vacuum ovens, furnace
Laboratory tools, like Eppendorf™ , automatic pipetting systems
Hardware generic support and verification equipment and tools (oscilloscopes, meters, power supplies…)
SERVICES
This laboratory offers services like
Testing
- Performance evaluation
- Qualification & validation
- Test beds development
- Test methods development
- Life testing
- Environmental testing
- Hypergravity, microgravity simulation, sterilisation/cleanliness
Measurements
- Bio contamination, residual chemical compounds, confirmatory identification of small organic molecules fluorescence Microscopy, 3D light sheet microscopy
Simulation
- Virtual Simulation
- Hyper/microgravity, static g load launch profiles
Analysis
- Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry, mass spectrometry
Technical expertise
- Consultancy
- Training
Simplified access to the laboratories
- Equipment accessible
The Lab’s first large-scale use came in 2007, with more than 80 scientists and technicians preparing and testing 35 life and physical science experiments for flight on ESA’s Foton-M3 mission.
The Lab has also contributed to other flight projects, such as developing and validating disinfection procedures for ATV. The Lab supports MELiSSA (Micro-Ecological Life Support System Alternative) activities, developing regenerative life support technologies.
Customers from industry and international instrument teams use the cleanroom facility to do cleaning and sterilisation process qualification and validation for qualification models and flight hardware for the ExoMars 2016 and 2022 missions.
Its Gravity Simulation Lab is used by scientists from all over Europe interested to explore the effect of gravity onto their systems also technology tests and industrial customers that wish to have their set-up exposed to static gravity accelerations with the centrifuge– regularly accessible to student teams through the ESA Education Office’s ‘Spin Your Thesis’ campaigns.
List of facilities, instruments & Specification
ESA's Life Support & Physical Sciences Instrumentation Laboratory (LIS) is a 720 m² facility, it has 5 main laboratories with state-of-the-art equipment including high-performance analytical instrumentation for chemistry and microbiology, also for cleaning, sterilisation and instruments for gravity related research.
Lab 1
Life Science microbiology lab (100 m²)
Instruments & technical parameters
Large working areas (set up for at least 3 teams) and fully equipped with three ISO5 class 2, laminar flow benches (2 person), CO2/ O2 incubators, gas supply, fluorescent, inverted and non-inverted microscopes, micro balances, centrifuges and support equipment etc.
Lab 2
Analytical lab
Instruments & technical parameters
For performing microbiological and chemical analysis, including a HPLC-MS system (Agilent ion trap MS 500 coupled to an Infinity 1260 HPLC system) for analysis of organics and an Element Analyser (Elementar, for C, N, O, P). The Lab also has vacuum ovens, freeze dryer, furnaces, spectrophotometers, fume ventilation hood and one ISO5 class 2 chemical/laminar flow bench.
+SELECTED AIRBORNE PARTICULATE CLEANLINESS CLASSES FOR CLEANROOMS AND CLEAN ZONES
Lab 5
The preparation room
In support of the labs, the facility also includes a Preparation room with a fume hood and balances for chemical preparation, water system (demineralised and ultrapure class 1), autoclaves, -18 and -80 freezers and various areas for chemical storage and glassware.
