Sartorius air sampler goes into space

Published: 14-Nov-2006


NASA, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, is using equipment from German technology group Sartorius in its current space mission on board the ISS international space station.

Sartorius' AirPort MD8 is being used for microbiological tests on board the station.

The air sampler is being used to gain important information for protection of the ISS crew - a SWAB test program will collect and analyse microbes and allergens with which the space station crew might come in contact. To determine the base contamination and to evaluate new sources of contamination, preflight, in-flight and post-flight samples are taken. Crew members who remain for a relatively long time in the international space station are also collecting data.

The AirPort MD8 is also being used to help prepare molecular primers, or nucleotide sequences, to further develop general microbial methods of detection at NASA and other laboratories.

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