The importance of space exploration is increasing, and more and more astronauts are cavorting in space. But what effects does weightlessness have on the ageing of the human body? How do certain cells develop under milligravity and microgravity conditions, such as those found on small moons and asteroids? The Swiss Artificial Gravity Experiment (SAGE) is dedicated to this research task. A team of students from various Swiss universities (Academic Space Initiative Switzerland ARIS) wants to investigate how the ageing process in humans changes in space and how cellular senescence influences the development of ageing and age-related disorders. The young researchers are currently designing the construction of a satellite platform for a corresponding biological experiment, which must meet extreme requirements. The fully automated system will serve as a long-lasting test field under the required space conditions and act as a centrifuge for the human cell lines to be studied. At the heart of this CubeSat solution is a fluorescence microscope equipped with a microfluidic chip and a high-resolution USB3 camera from the uEye XLE family.
