May 6, 2021

Forty-four experiments conceived by Israeli scientists, entrepreneurs and students will be conducted in outer space by Eytan Stibbe, who is set to become the second Israeli to leave Earth’s orbit.

A former Israeli Air Force fighter pilot, Stibbe is scheduled to travel to the International Space Station as part of Axiom Space’s AX1 mission in 2022. It will be the first space mission to the ISS that will be manned entirely by private astronauts, and Stibbe is donating the $50 million cost of his trip and of the experiments that will be conducted.

Many of the 44 experiments will not be space related, but rather use the unique conditions found in space to test ideas and technologies from a variety of fields such as optics, agriculture and neurology.

They were announced on Wednesday at a conference held by the Israel Space Agency and the Ramon Foundation, which is named after Israel’s first astronaut Ilan Ramon and his family.

“Research in space is meant to break the boundaries of human knowledge, the attempts to resolve the unsolvable and decipher the unknown,” Stibbe said at the conference.

“What started out as a dream is taking shape before our eyes. The depths of a whole and fascinating world opened up before me, and every day I’m learning something new – thanks to you,” he told the crowd, which was made up of the entrepreneurs whose experiments he will be conducting.

From optics to hummus

According to the Ramon Foundation, the selected experiments will come from the fields of optics (1), engineering (1), energy (3), agriculture (3), medicine-neurology (3), communications (3), astrophysics (5), medicine-ophthalmology (7), medicine-medical devices (7) and medicine-biology (11). They come from a variety of sources, such as universities, startups, hospitals and schoolchildren.

The Sheba Medical Center, for example, will be sending multiple experiments into space. One of them will examine the effects of space conditions on the virulence of Salmonella enterica bacteria that causes foodborne disease, and specifically the impact of microgravity conditions on their growth.

Another is set to investigate anti-viral T cell activation and the production of a T-cell bio-bank for astronauts traveling to space, while a third will study the effects of microgravity on Alzheimer’s disease.

Eytan Stibbe is the second Israeli astronaut to launch into space. Seen here at a press conference in Tel Aviv on May 5, 2021. (Flash90)

In the field of energy, meanwhile, Israeli company StoreDot partnered with the Israel Electric Corporation to test fast charging technology for advanced ion-lithium batteries that could be utilized in electric vehicles. The zero-gravity conditions in space, the company says, will enable it to identify irregularities in the surface of the batteries’ anodes.

Hummus, too, is going to be represented in the mission, with SpaceIL co-founder and Standford PhD candidate Yonatan Winetraub sending off an experiment called “Space Hummus.”

Winetraub is collaborating with other scientists and teen students from southern Israel to grow chickpeas at the International Space Station using optogenetics, a genetic tool that controls plant growth. The point, they say, is that hummus is an easy-to-grow superfood, making it a strong candidate for outer-space agricultural efforts.

Other exciting experiments include one from the Oncology Department and Schneider’s Children Medical Center. Researchers there want to examine the influence of sub-gravity on malignant cells with or without chemotherapy.

The study will analyze the changes in gene expression and in the proliferation of malignant cells in instances of T-ALL leukemia in sub-gravity conditions to explore innovative ways to treat the cancer, which is very common in children, in a less toxic and more effective way.

Monitoring brain wellness

Also, EEG-Sense aims to monitor Eytan Stibbe’s brain activity for 10 minutes twice a day while he is on his mission using a multi-sensor headset that incorporates AI algorithms.

Data gathered from Stibbe could then be used to facilitate assessment of future astronauts’ cognitive wellness aboard their missions.

A joint Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and NASA experiment based on the physics of fluids under microgravity is also going to try show that liquids in space can successfully be shaped into optical elements of high quality.

If this works, it could enable the in-space manufacturing of optical elements such as space telescopes that will be able to capture direct imaging of extrasolar planets.

The experiments will take off with Stibbe to the ISS subject to approval by NASA and Axiom Space, the Israel Space Agency noted.

These are the 44 selected experiments:

Agriculture

Astrophysics

Communication

Energy

Engineering