Settore: Life Sciences

Numero di satelliti: 1

Fattore di forma: 6U

BOREALIS is a CubeSat scientific mission aimed at evaluating the effects of microgravity and ionizing radiation on microbial biofilms; testing the combined effectiveness of radiation protection systems based on physical shielding and drug treatment; and clarifying the mechanism of generation of secondary particles with a high dose factor generated by the interaction between satellite materials and high-energy cosmic radiation. The mission envisages a nanosatellite platform equipped with cells of genetically modified microorganisms, grown in sessile conditions, which will be studied through a multidisciplinary approach. BOREALIS will include a scientific payload for biological experiments on cultures of living cells exposed to the space environment and their real-time observation under an epifluorescence microscope, and a system for dosimetry and spectrometric analysis of the radiation to which the cells are exposed, to evaluate the efficiency of shielding and pharmacological protection. The mission will include a phase in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at 700 km to highlight the effects of microgravity and a second phase at 1100-1600 km to study the effects of the radiative environment of a higher orbit. BOREALIS therefore aims to provide crucial information for the preparation of future human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Development team: CIRI Aerospace – Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna; Scuola di Ingegneria Aerospaziale – Sapienza Università di Roma; Kayser Italia S.r.l.

Development status: Phase B (preliminary design) closed.