Miles Jamison
Noblis has launched two pioneering research projects to the International Space Station.
The Reston, Virginia-based company said Monday the Helix Horizons Astral DNA Storage Endeavor and the Synthetic consortia Integrated Production System, or ScIPS, arrived at the ISS onboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft. The mission, supported by the ISS National Laboratory and Voyager Technologies, which provided the experimental payloads, is part of ongoing research to transform data storage and sustainable nutrition for space missions.
Helix Horizons & ScIPS Projects
Helix Horizons is a DNA-based data encoding and storage system designed to tackle challenges in storing data in space, including low power, radiation, limited mass and secure data retention. Its four payloads, which contain DNA-coded messages and microbial cultures, will be analyzed by ISS astronauts using a genomic sequencer.
ScIPS, a space-based biomanufacturing and autonomous life-support system, is intended to sustain nutrition in remote or hostile environments. It is engineered to create synthetic communities of Generally Recognized as Safe, or GRAS, microorganisms that produce various nutrients, which paves the way for establishing life-support in space.
Remarks From Noblis CEO Mile Corrigan
“By launching experiments in molecular DNA data storage and synthetic biology platforms in space, we are not only testing system performance in extreme environments, we’re validating architectures that could one day enable massive scalability with ultra-stable data archives and adaptive biomanufacturing for deep space missions,” said Mile Corrigan, president and CEO of Noblis and three-time Wash100 Award winner.
