A small satellite the size of a bread loaf could help
scientists figure out how drugs work in space.
The nanosatellite, called PharmaSat, weighs 10 pounds
and is designed to study how yeast responds to antifungal drugs while circling
the Earth at 17,000 mph.
"PharmaSat is an important experiment that will
yield new information about the susceptibility of microbes to antibiotics in
the space environment," said David Niesel, PharmaSat's co-investigator at
the University of Texas in Galveston.
PharmaSat is slated
for launch aboard a U.S. Air Force Minotaur
1 rocket on the evening of May 5, as a secondary payload. The rocket
carries a TacSat 3 satellite as its primary payload.
Weather permitting, the launch might offer a remarkable
sight to many residents along the East Coast.
The satellite holds a micro-laboratory packed with
sensors that can detect the growth, density and health of yeast cells.
Scientists plan to use three different doses of the antifungal treatment and
see how the yeast responds over the course of 96 hours.
NASA spaceflight engineers could contact the satellite as
soon as one hour after launch and send a command to start the yeast experiment.
The satellite would then send data back to Earth in near real-time for as long
as six months, if all goes well.
"Secondary payload nanosatellites expand the number
of opportunities available to conduct research in microgravity by providing an
alternative to the International Space Station or space shuttle conducted
investigations," said Elwood Agasid, PharmaSat project manager at NASA's
Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.
Previous nanosatellite missions include GeneSat-1, a shoebox-sized
satellite that launched in December 2006 and tested how well E. coli
bacteria thrived in space.
PharmaSat would start transmitting radio signals to NASA
Ames and a secondary radio station at Santa Clara University, once it
successfully enters low Earth orbit at 285 miles above Earth.
Santa Clara University has extended an invitation to ham
radio operators around the world to tune in and hear the satellite's broadcast.
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