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by Yafit Ovadia
December 02, 2021
from
CalcalisTech Website
Through advancing experimentation
in
suborbital conditions,
the
company is laying the groundwork
for future
off-planet production...
One Israeli startup is taking the stuff of science fiction and
turning it into a reality.
SpacePharma has developed a
laboratory which can be utilized to conduct experiments in
microgravity at a fraction of the cost of traditional launchers.
The company, based out of
Herzliya, with offices in
Switzerland, has an expanse of research and development projects it
is currently working on, including,
miniature satellites, equipped with solar
panels, and other hardware which is all developed out of its
blue-and-white offices.
"We're taking concepts that people once
thought was merely science fiction and turning it into
science fact, or reality," Yossi Yamin, co-founder
CEO of SpacePharma told CTech.
SpacePharma co-founder and CEO
Yossi Yamin.
Photo:
SpacePharma
While many traditional space tech startups focus on designing
launching capabilities or constructing spacecraft, SpacePharma
differs in that it creates something wholly unexpected,
miniaturized labs that can conduct
experiments in suborbital conditions or while floating mere
meters above the Earth's atmosphere,
...for research purposes and someday even
pharmaceutical production.
"We can squeeze our labs onto a satellite,
spacecraft, or have it installed on the International Space
Station which is Eytan Stibbe, the second Israeli
astronaut, will be doing to carry out Israeli experiments when
he goes there next year," Yamin said.
The company's products are innovative for a host
of reasons.
"It's difficult to send heavy, large
machinery into space, and it is highly complicated to operate it
there since it requires astronauts or some other form of human
intervention.
We are skipping and bypassing space agencies
regulations - while adhering to space law - by providing
unmanned, miniaturized, effective technology," Yamin said.
Doing so is also very expensive, and cargo is
charged by the kilogram, meaning that a six kilogram cargo could
cost around $30,000 to send into space.
Thirdly, several experiments may be stored on a
single device, encouraging scientists to collaborate and split
launching costs, and are more energy-efficient.
"Our technology can also be controlled
remotely, activated in orbit, retain communication from anywhere
on Earth, all while conducting life-saving research. And this is
the beauty of SpacePharma," he elaborated.
"We're leading a revolution in NewSpace
technology."
The company retains a full end-to-end satellite
service, as well as constructing its own autonomous satellites,
solar panels, telecommunications, liquid systems, pumps, reaction
chambers, sensors, spectrometers:
everything that enables science to be
efficient in orbit, while lowering the cost and encouraging
collaboration among scientists to send multiple experiments on a
single payload.
Second Israeli
astronaut Eytan Stibbe
visited SpacePharma's
facilities earlier this month
to observe some of
the types of experiments
he will be conducting
aboard the ISS using their lab.
Photo: SpacePharma
What is Unique about Conducting
Experiments in Microgravity Environments?
"We have two separate types of technology:
-
organ-on-a-chip, with which we can grow
tissue cultures or liver cells," he added that this is
mainly biology oriented
-
"lab-on-a-chip technology particularly
relates to the chemistry aspect of the flow of liquid and
its chemical structure in space."
In the absence of gravity, molecules do not
remain in phases and appear arranged in a uniform order and can be
studied.
"We're specifically concerned about studying
how reagents (or solutions) can be converted into high-yield
crystals," he said.
That same application can be used for targeting
cancer cells as well, he related.
Since molecules exhibit unique properties in
space, they can be studied individually.
In suborbital conditions, there are no ripples in
water surfaces and droplets can be almost "suspended" or appear
static, allowing for researchers to study the more fine-tuned
aspects of how the body or an organ reacts to a specific treatment
at the molecular level.
What do some of those Experiments
entail?
"We study everything from colloids, enzymatic
reactions, liver cells, fluid physics, stem cells, cancer
biopsies, whose molecules retain their three-dimensional shape."
Research such as this could possibly lead to new
breakthroughs in fields such as life science, foodtech, chemicals,
materials, and more.
"And this is what we are trying to bring to
the world, a floating laboratory that can help the
pharmaceutical market," he said.
SpacePharma's
laboratories
can analyze
components of cancer cells
which retain their
three-dimensional shape in space.
Photo: Shutterstock
Remote Control via an App
The entire operational management can be controlled through the
SpacePharma app, which can be installed on a smartphone and can
create a protocol and manage experiments.
In one experiment, scientists studied the effects of microgravity on
stem cells.
The compounds were then imaged by sensors who
photographed them every few milliseconds, and that data was
immediately relayed via telemetry once the satellite passed above
SpacePharma's Swiss-location.
Moreover, the data is encrypted and protected
from external sources, he noted. Teams in Switzerland later relayed
that information to the Israeli team.
Conducting experiments remotely, even through an app, is no simple
feat.
Often sending experiments to orbit won't
survive post-launch, so SpacePharma has developed an
innovative late-loading method that allows them to survive up to
96 hours after launch by using powder or rehydration techniques,
which can be reactivated in space remotely once in orbit.
SpacePharma also has a Corolab project
designed to help ease strains caused by the Covid-19 'pandemic'.
What does that entail?
"Since scientists could not touch Covid-19
samples for fear of infection, we've designed a device where we
can take those samples and remotely analyze them.
Although it has never been done, we believe
that we can take any experiment to orbit and study its
structure.
We'd like to take
Covid-19 "vaccines"
(which are required to be stored at -77 degrees Celsius) and
store them in space, eliminating the need for high-powered
deep-freeze technology, high costs, and the vaccines' rapid
expiration."
Fusing Pharma and Space
SpacePharma hopes to one day produce such vaccines in space.
Its MoTi satellite will be the first
pharmaceutical production facility in space.
"We'll be able to launch it, and then send it
back to us, having the first ever products 'Made in Space'," he
said.
The satellite's name - contrary to popular
opinion - doesn't derive from the popular Israeli name Moti,
rather from a name of a movie - Charlie Chaplin's 'Modern Times',
since it will be a revolution much like the film was in 1936 for the
entertainment industry.
SpacePharma has also collaborated with the Israel Space
Agency and its Italian counterpart in launching two other
satellites:
the DiDo-2 and DiDo-3.
The former aimed to study effects on enzymes or
proteins in space, and the latter put select Italian and Israeli
technologies into orbit, including the first-ever conducted by an
Israeli hospital in space, the Sheba Medical Center whose Dr.
Ohad Gal-Mor examined methods of how to combat antibiotic
resistance.
SpacePharma's DiDo-3
satellite
was used to conduct
medical research in suborbit.
Photo: SpacePharma
The Financial aspect and Beyond
Currently, SpacePharma has collaborations with,
It is aiming to secure another $20 million in a
series B round, led by a European venture capitalist from the
space sector whose name may not yet be revealed.
"So far, we've invested $20 million in a
series A round, half from equity while another half comes from
grants and sales," and this is a respectable ratio for young
startups, he noted.
"Business in orbit requires a longer time to
mature than software, data, or AI startups do, and can take
between eight and ten years to go public.
It requires a lot of patience and patients,"
he quipped.
In
the pharmaceutical industry,
companies usually start to develop medications once there is a
decent sized population, he explained,
"but we are interested in asking governments
and other companies whether they'd like to send their
experiments to space on our platform, and subsidize them to
lower the price.
The new economy is in orbit."
SpacePharma has been globally recognized
and received many awards. And innovation doesn't just end in
suborbit.
It has potential that is more far-reaching and
extensive than what many can comprehend.
"We could have an entire industrial zone in
space that aims to improve our life here on Earth, and later
enhance our journey to the Moon, to Mars, and to other planetary
destinations."
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