Mar 7, 2011 15:44 GMT  ·  By

The crew of Expedition 26 aboard the International Space Station (ISS) began to use a new microscope this week. The instrument was designed to enable studies on the effects that microgravity has on the physics and biology of various samples.

Making the tool operational enables the astronauts to conduct research aboard the orbital facility, and not have to send all samples back to Earth for analysis. The team could therefore make great progress.

The Light Microscopy Module (LMM) has been in orbit for some time, but the six crew members had no samples to investigate. The latter were brought to orbit aboard the space shuttle Discovery, as part of the STS-133 mission, and the orbiter's last ever.

In order to operate the microscope at full potential, its operators had to isolate it from whatever vibrations the ISS produced or was subjected to, SpaceRef reports.

The multi-capability LMM can now obtain clear, high-resolution images of microorganisms and individual cells of plants and animals. Human cells can also be studied at great magnification levels.

“We really need to maximize life science investigations conducted on the International Space Station,” explains the principal investigator of the LMM, Jacob Cohen. The expert is also a researcher at the Moffett Field, California-based NASA Ames Research Center (ARC).

“It's really amazing to be able to remotely manage, optimize and troubleshoot experiments observed with a microscope in space without the need to return the samples back to Earth,” he adds.

“This microscope is helping fulfill the vision of a true laboratory in space,” the expert goes on to say.

At this point, astronauts have access to about 8 fixed slides containing various samples, 6 containers of C. elegans worms – a common animal model used in research – as well as human blood. The microscope can be made to observe them remotely.

It is controlled by experts at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, says project manager Ron Sicker, also from the GRC.

“Scientists and engineers at Glenn modified the commercial microscope in the LMM with 23 micro motors and cameras to allow remote control operations,” he explains.

The main positive aspect of having the LMM operational is that experts can now start conducting more types of research than previously possible. Operating the instrument remotely reduces waiting time between getting access to samples that were exposed to microgravity.