Abstract

Flow Chemistry Applications in Microgravity: Innovative Approaches to Chemical Synthesis and Bioreactor Systems

Jana Stoudemire, Director, In-Space Manufacturing, Axiom Space

Flow chemistry has many important and useful applications both on Earth and in Space. Using available resources to support life on-orbit or off-planet will be critical to population sustainability. Access to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) provides opportunities to explore the development of flow chemistry for both terrestrial benefit and support of future on orbit and off-planet applications. Small sample volumes with short residence times in microreactor flow chemistry facilitate further study of reaction kinetics and microfluidics in LEO onboard the International Space Station (ISS). This research can provide new insights that further expand flow chemistry applications for terrestrial benefit, as well as inform approaches for flow chemistry processes on other planets, such as Mars. Additionally, the engineering involved in creating automated systems to support flow chemistry on orbit or off-planet, will provide advances to current terrestrial systems and technologies. Based on successful liquid-liquid extraction using surface tension in microgravity, Space Tango is continuing to develop systems for other critical steps involved in chemical synthesis on orbit including thermal, photoreactive, and peptide-coupling reactions. These applications stand to provide both new systems for producing potentially novel methods and molecules for Earth as well as foundational information for flow chemistry beyond LEO.