Indian Air Force (IAF) Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will conduct seven experiments in the fields of agriculture, food and human biology, when he travels to the International Space Station (ISS) this year, becoming the first Indian to do so.
Besides, Mr Shukla will also assist with 60 special scientific studies during the Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4), which is jointly being undertaken by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
According to NASA, Mr Shukla will pilot the Axiom Mission 4, a private astronaut mission launching aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft. The American space agency is expected to launch the mission from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, possibly in May. The crew will conduct experiments, outreach programs and commercial activities in microgravity as part of a collaboration between NASA and ISRO.
Group Captain Shukla serves as the astronaut designate and Mission Pilot.
Mr Shukla will do "fantastically as an astronaut to the space station", ISRO Chairman Dr V Narayanan told NDTV. Incidentally, ISRO is using the Ax-4 flight as an opportunity to master human space flight as part of preparations for the Gaganyaan and Bharatiya Antariksha Station missions.
In a statement, Axiom Space Inc said the Ax-4 research will comprise 60 scientific studies and activities from 31 countries, including the US, India, Poland, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Nigeria, the UAE and other nations across Europe. This will be the most research-oriented, science-related activity conducted during an Axiom Space mission aboard the ISS to date, underscoring the mission's global significance and collaborative nature to advance microgravity research in low Earth orbit (LEO), it said.
Earlier, Minister of State (MoS) for Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh said Mr Shukla will focus on "space technology, space bio-manufacturing and bio-astronautics" during the latter's fortnight-long space mission. The IAF officer will grow special micro-organisms in the football-sized space station to look for edible algae; grow special bacteria; and study the effect on muscle cells, and understand why astronauts face muscle loss in space.
India's research will focus on:
- Investigating the physical and cognitive impact of computer screens in microgravity.
- Studying growth, metabolism and genetics of three microalgae strains in microgravity versus on the ground.
- Comparing growth, cellular responses and biochemistry of two cyanobacteria strains in microgravity.
- Identifying pathways of skeletal muscle dysfunction in microgravity and exploring therapies.
- Examining spaceflight impacts on six crop seed varieties.
- Identifying molecular mechanisms of resilience in extreme environments.
- Sprouting salad seeds in space and its relevance to crew nutrition.
Indian institutions from New Delhi, Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram are scheduled to be a part of these studies.
The four astronauts who will be part of the Axiom Mission 4.
Meanwhile, Mr Shukla will not conduct any specific scientific experiment on yoga in space but he told NDTV that he may perform some 'asanas' in the microgravity environment of the space station.
On the other hand, Poland and the European Space Agency (ESA) are together targeting 16 experiments; Hungary seeks to conduct 17.
The science experiments planned by the Europeans seem fairly advanced in comparison to what India is attempting on its second space flight, which comes almost four decades after Astronaut Rakesh Sharma's flight in 1984.
The non-Indian experiments being flown as part of the Ax-4 mission include: assessing an astronaut's 'readiness' using a wearable device, iPhone software, and AWS Snowcone analytics, developing infrastructure for wearable device data processing during the Ax-4 mission, assessing six wearable bio-monitor devices for function and stability in space, and exploring space flight effects on 3D printed materials.
Mr Shukla will be accompanied by Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and mission commander, Slawosz Uznanski-Wisniewski from Poland and Tibor Kapu from Hungary.
Once docked, the astronauts are scheduled to spend up to 14 days aboard the orbiting laboratory, conducting a mission comprising science, outreach and commercial activities. The private mission also carries the first astronauts from Poland and Hungary to the space station.
India has also picked Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair as a designated astronaut, who will become part of Ax-4 should Mr Shukla be unable to fly.
Axiom Space said, "The studies will contribute to the global knowledge base in human research, Earth observation, and life, biological, and material sciences, showcasing the space research capabilities of the crew's home nation".
