In the upcoming decades, ESA has declared their goal of furthering our understanding of the moons of the giant planets. Building upon work done by Cassini and other probes, the icy moons Europa, Ganymede, Enceladus and Titan are in the spotlight. To date, mission have been planned to all but one of these moons: Enceladus. Enceladus is an extremely interesting moon when it comes to its interior and surface behavior. Plumes of icy grains emitting from what is expected to be a sub surface ocean provided for interesting samples by Cassini.

In pursuit of providing a much needed improvement to the decade old Cassini data, the Life marker chip LMcool is currently in development. It aims to provided highly confident identification of bio-signatures in icy grains such as those around and on Enceladus. In order to analyze samples they must be in liquid form, and in the vacuum and chill of space this provides a challenge. This project focuses on solving some of the design challenges associated with melting icy grains in a vacuum environment.

A reliable method of creating ice grains in the laboratory that resemble the size of those found on Enceladus is devised, tested, and used. These grains where spherical and ranging in diameter from 100 μm to 250 μm consistently created and used for the remainder of the work. The MEMS device used is a micro-thruster powered by a molybdenum heating element. A custom manufactured assembly is made for securing the MEMS device and inserting ice grains. LN2 is used for creation of the grains, cooling of the assembly and insertions of the grains. The use of LN2 created a challenging environment leading to unique solutions for inserting the ice grains and imaging them. Grain insertion was facilitated through the use of a negative pressure gradient created by the drawing of a syringe.

Successful insertion was achieved in three of the five full assembly tests conducted, with two tests showing several clusters of grains in the interior of the MEMS device. These successful tests prove the insertion concept viable while the two failed tests indicate a need for further refinement on the assembly design and method. ... Read more

The search for extraterrestrial life relies fundamentally on the identification of robust biosignatures, a pursuit facilitated by studying the metabolic emissions of terrestrial organisms under extreme environmental conditions. To this end, this study evaluates the empirical detection limits of primary metabolic gases (such as CO2 and H2O alongside trace biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released by microorganisms subjected to severe environmental stresses, specifically a nitrogen-rich atmosphere and an oxidative environment. Using a gas-phase modular, closed-system Fourier-transform infra-red (FT-IR) spectroscopy system, discrete VOCs are monitored to observe the metabolic shifts of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (commonly known as Brewer's yeast) and Cylindrotheca fusiformis (a marine diatom). Prioritization was given to well-resolved spectral features, with distinct fluctuations in CO2 and water vapour H2O serving as real-time indicators of cellular degradation. Yeast cells exhibited stress responses in both environments, whereas C. fusiformis appeared unaffected by the nitrogen-rich atmosphere but was severely degraded by oxidative stress. Although visual morphological changes were present, this paper primarily focuses on the systemic vulnerabilities of discrete sampling frameworks when mapping transient gas-generation bursts. By serving as a controlled terrestrial analogue, these experiments provide critical data to understand how biological trace gases might behave and degrade in extreme extraterrestrial environments. This study discusses these observational limitations within the broader framework of remote planetary sensing. Ultimately, characterizing dynamic gas fluctuations serves a dual purpose: refining theoretical models of exoplanetary atmospheres and aiding the search for preserved, relic biogenic signals within the solar system. ... Read more

A 10-week student investigation into the feasibility of in-situ biomining on a near-earth Asteroid. ... Read more

This thesis addresses a recurring challenge in life science conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS): despite decades of successful biological research in orbit, many mission teams still encounter and are limited by the same issues and bottlenecks. This is due to the practical knowledge being scattered across publications and inaccessible internal mission documentation, as well as because scientists and engineers often work from different assumptions about constraints and requirements. This thesis therefore aims to bridge this gap by distilling actionable insights and practical recommendations from past ISS experiments, specifically those executed in ESA’s KUBIK and Biolab, and by showing how these insights can directly support the design of a new experiment. The first part of the thesis defines the context ‘around' life science experiments by outlying the space environment relevant to biological payloads. These environmental factors include microgravity and its variability, altered fluid and gas behaviour, ionising radiation sources and shielding effects, and launch/re-entry loads. Next to this, the typical ESA experiment life-cycle, from ‘Announcement of Opportunity' to post-flight reporting, is explained.


To highlight the scientific diversity and the variety of technical challenges, this thesis reviews previously conducted life science experiments in space. The considered experiments are grouped into broad categories: mammalian cells, microorganisms, microscopic animals, and plants. The review performed shows that different biological systems come with distinct technical and scientific requirements, such as growth conditions, handling sensitivities, and analysis needs. Yet, across categories, similar constraints/limitations are found to cause inherent difficulties of conducting life science experiments beyond Earth. In general, limited crew time and availability in orbit pushes experiments towards automation, while limited onboard analytical capability means that detailed analyses are often performed post-flight. Moreover, limited flight opportunities and the added complexity of accounting for space-specific environmental factors contribute to longer preparation timelines. Next to this, it is shown that the space environment can influence the flown biological samples directly and/or indirectly via factors such as: changes in surrounding fluid and gas transport, temperature differences throughout the mission, and pre-flight stresses.

The life science experiments discussed in this thesis are not performed on astronauts themselves, but are instead carried out on biological samples that are packaged into dedicated experiment units/cartridges and operated inside specialised ISS research facilities. These specialised ISS facilities are able to provide controlled conditions and data/power interfaces. Within the scope of this work, several ISS biology-relevant facilities are introduced. These include two of the platforms that ESA has conducted most of their life science research on: KUBIK and Biolab.


Building on this foundation, the second part of the thesis focuses on identifying and presenting factors ‘within' the mission that most strongly shape the success of the experiment. Through both literature research and direct discussions with scientists and engineers at ESA, as well as outside of ESA, fifteen key experiment ‘Design Drivers' are identified. These design drivers are important factors that influence the development and implementation of life science experiments in space, and in a way drive the design of both the mission and the experiment as a whole. Together, these drivers are meant to inform payload design across the full mission flow: from the moment the samples and hardware are brought to the launch site, all the way to when the samples are returned to the science team for analysis. The defined design drivers not only cover parameters that can be chosen by the science team to meet their research objectives, but also include factors that are constrained by mission architecture, safety standards, and operational limitations.

The design drivers introduced within this thesis are the following:
- Sample under Study
- Cleaning and Sterilisation
- Upload Conditions
- Time
- Temperature
- Number of Samples
- Sensors
- Reagents and Fixatives
- Gas Requirements
- Fluid Handling
- Toxicity Constraints
- Biocompatibility
- Mechanisms
- Data Requirements
- Sample Return


For each design driver, the thesis provides a general overview of what role the topic plays in the design and execution of a life science mission. Next to this, actionable insights and practical recommendations are given based on the internal and public documentation of past KUBIK or Biolab experiments. The insights presented highlight the diverse set of problems that teams in the past have dealt with, and emphasises key recurring lessons such as: testing biological and hardware limits under representative (including off-nominal) scenarios, explicitly defining tolerances for time/temperature constraints, designing for microgravity-specific fluid/gas behaviour, and aligning interpretations of requirements across teams to prevent avoidable late-stage changes.



Finally, this thesis demonstrates how the created design-driver-based guidelines can be applied directly to a future mission by considering a relevant case study: the University of Twente Organ-on-a-Chip (OoC) experiment proposal planned to be flown to the ISS. The experiment plans to study the effects of chronic space radiation on human tissue constructs. OoC technology is introduced as a miniaturised microfluidic approach to grow human cells in a controlled environment. This way, the technology is being used for drug research and studying effects on three-dimensional tissues. Through outlining how the University of Twente currently performs these experiments in the lab, and how similar approaches are envisioned for space, insights are given into how the Twente team is designing the space experiment.

By mapping the general design drivers to the proposal of the University of Twente, this thesis highlights where the experiment proposal already anticipates known constraints, and where lessons form past experiments could positively inform the design of the upcoming mission. Emphasising, for example, the need to explicitly test sample robustness under anticipated upload conditions (such as limited power, uncertain stowage, and potential launch delays), to ensure sterilisation and material compatibility across teams working on the mission, to consider different sampling strategies, and to define telemetry and data needs early if real-time monitoring or parallel ground references are envisioned. In this way, the University of Twente mission is used as a practical demonstration that the general recommendations defined in this thesis can inform design choices and planning decisions early on to meaningfully influence mission development.

Overall, the thesis demonstrates how using ESA’s accumulated mission experience can help reduce repeated mistakes, improve communication and shared understanding between scientists and engineers, and support more realistic experiment proposals and implementations. This ultimately strengthens how missions are designed, executed and interpreted, increasing the likelihood of successful future life science experiments in space. ... Read more

This work presents a kinetic Monte Carlo model to simulate noble gas retention in amorphous solid H2₂O–CO2₂ ice mixtures under varying thermal conditions. Calibrated with experimental temperature-programmed desorption data and temperature–density relations, the model enables long-term simulations in small (~150 nm) ice grains. It shows efficient noble gas retention at ≤30 K, with significant loss near 40 K. Krypton fractionation occurs mainly in ices formed at these warmer temperatures. Using protosolar gas abundances, the model reproduces the noble gas composition measured in comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Results suggest the comet’s bulk formed near 40 K, while its icy grains may trace back to colder (~10 K) presolar reservoirs, preserving signatures of both local and interstellar environments. ... Read more

Many interplanetary missions with the goal of finding extraterrestrial life have been conducted in the past and more are planned for the future. However, a key gap remains: no long-duration mission has yet explored the clouds of Venus, despite this environment being a promising location to search for signs of life. ... Read more