NASA Is Sending Organ Chips to Space

Study in a Sentence: NASA’s A Virtual Astronaut Tissue Analog Response (AVATAR) program is sending human organ chips to space to investigate the effects of space radiation and microgravity on human health.

Healthy for Humans: Bone marrow is a key organ in the immune system, but its function is particularly impacted by the radiation and microgravity in space. Studying these effects is difficult, though, due to the limited number of people exposed to those conditions and the small area to conduct research aboard spacecraft.

Redefining Research: Artemis II will embark on a ten-day trip around the moon with bone marrow organ chips containing astronauts’ cells, flying side-by-side with the crew in a small, battery-powered, automated payload. By creating personalized organ chips for each astronaut, the individual impacts of space can be examined and provide crucial insights into how to best treat astronauts’ unique needs on longer expeditions—potentially also informing health care here on Earth, such as radiation therapy used to treat cancer.