Flown centrifuge and partial-g experiments

Summary of what the thread established

  • Small centrifuges have flown on Spacelab, Spacehab and the ISS with living organisms hop, 2015-02-18; Jim, 2015-02-20. ISS biology-lab and fruit-fly-lab centrifuges RonM, 2015-02-28.
  • JAXA MHU/MARS (Mouse Habitat Unit): 6 rotating + 6 static mice at high rpm; ~1-month runs per year; it can't test equipment or large animals; mice climb, so g varies Paul451, 2023-01-02; Twark_Main, 2023-01-01.
  • A 1 g run at 77 rpm against ~47 for Mars g; g varies ~0.5 g over the cage height Paul451, 2018-07-17.
  • Shiba et al. 2017 Sci Rep LMT, 2024-02-09.
  • Hayashi et al. 2023 Commun Biol: "Lunar gravity prevents skeletal muscle atrophy but not myofiber type shift in mice". Wadhwa et al. 2023 poster: encouraging Mars-g results LMT, 2024-02-09.
  • Mars g preserved health at 15 cm radius; lunar g helpful but insufficient (poster only, small samples) Greg Hullender, 2024-03-22.
  • The 2026 JAXA study: the threshold lies between 1/3 and 2/3 g Paul451, 2026-03-14.
  • Rat macrophages on an ISS centrifuge in 0.1 g steps were sensitive to the transition at 0.3–0.5 g mikelepage, 2019-03-28.
  • Fruit flies (2022, Cell Reports): an ISS 1 g centrifuge gave partial protection from neurological deficits Coastal Ron, 2022-09-07.
  • DLR Eu:CROPIS (2018): 6 months at lunar g, then 6 months at Mars g, with tomatoes + Euglena mikelepage, 2019-01-08.
  • ASU AOSAT-1: an asteroid-regolith CubeSat centrifuge laboratory savuporo, 2015-09-30.
  • Mars Gravity Biosatellite: cancelled (15 weeks at 0.38 g, 32 rpm) kdhilliard, 2015-02-24.
  • Skylab: Pete Conrad running around the wall at ~8 rpm (~0.2 g at the feet) was apparently fine Paul451, 2015-02-14.
  • The largest existing spin-g animal facility is 0.015 m³ at 0.15 m radius Paul451, 2019-04-16. There had been no centrifuge animal experiment in space in 50 years (as of 2015) Paul451, 2015-02-13.

Open questions

  • Where does the partial-g health threshold lie between 1/3 and 2/3 g, and does degradation at 1/3 g plateau?

Sources

Forum posts

  • Paul451, 2015-02-13 (reply #272): No animal centrifuge (key). Post.
  • Paul451, 2015-02-14 (reply #276): Skylab running. Post.
  • hop, 2015-02-18 (reply #291): ISS centrifuges. Post.
  • Jim, 2015-02-20 (reply #313, 1 like): Spacelab/Spacehab. Post.
  • kdhilliard, 2015-02-24 (reply #395, 1 like): Mars Gravity Biosatellite. Post.
  • RonM, 2015-02-28 (reply #452): ISS centrifuges. Post.
  • savuporo, 2015-09-30 (reply #657): AOSAT-1. Post.
  • Paul451, 2018-07-17 (reply #968): MHU rpm. Post.
  • mikelepage, 2019-01-08 (reply #1275, 1 like): Eu:CROPIS. Post.
  • mikelepage, 2019-03-28 (reply #1415, 2 likes): Macrophage study. Post.
  • Paul451, 2019-04-16 (reply #1556): Largest facility. Post.
  • Coastal Ron, 2022-09-07 (reply #1764): Drosophila study. Post.
  • Twark_Main, 2023-01-01 (reply #2748): MHU gestation. Post.
  • Paul451, 2023-01-02 (reply #2749, 1 like): MHU limits (1 like). Post. Attachments: MHU MARS.PNG.
  • LMT, 2024-02-09 (reply #4463, 1 like): Shiba 2017; Hayashi 2023 (1 like). Post. Attachments: Shiba et al. 2017 Fig1.png, Wadhwa et al. 2023 poster session detail.png.
  • Greg Hullender, 2024-03-22 (reply #4604): Mars g preserved health (1 like). Post.
  • Paul451, 2026-03-14 (reply #5045, 6 likes): 2026 JAXA study (6 likes). Post.