Opportunities for research in space life sciences aboard commercial suborbital flights.
The emergence of commercial suborbital spaceflight offers a wide range of new research and development opportunities for those in the space life sciences. Large numbers of diverse flyers, frequent re-flights, and flexible operations provide a fertile ground for both basic and applied science, as well as technology demonstrations. This commentary explores some of the unique features available to the space life science community and encourages engagement with commercial developers and operators during the design phase to help optimize platform designs and operations for future research.
Wagner
Erika B
EB
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. erika@mit.edu
Charles
John B
JB
Cuttino
Charles Marsh
CM
D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D001359:Aviation; D003132:Commerce; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design; D014893:Weightlessness