{"id":796598,"date":"2026-08-01T02:47:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T02:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/796598\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T02:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T02:47:17","slug":"new-cu-boulder-built-device-to-fly-on-the-international-space-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/796598\/","title":{"rendered":"New CU Boulder-built device to fly on the International Space Station"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>University of Colorado Boulder researchers have launched a new device on board the International Space Station that will help astronauts save time while processing cell samples.<\/p>\n<p>The device is called NEMO, or the Nikon Experimentation Microscope in Orbit. It\u2019s one tool that combines incubators and microscopes, allowing multiple samples\u00a0to be incubated and imaged with minimal crew intervention. NEMO allows for <a href=\"https:\/\/spacebiohub.com\/news\/bioserve-and-nikon-launch-nemo-live-cell-imaging-microscope-to-iss-on-ng-24\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">continuous live observation<\/a> of cells in microgravity, supporting research that could lead to breakthroughs in understanding disease mechanisms and therapeutic responses<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have microscopes onboard the ISS, and we have incubators, but the astronauts have to do all the work of switching samples and setting them up for imaging,\u201d Stu Tozer, associate director of CU Boulder\u2019s BioServe Space Technologies research institute, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colorado.edu\/aerospace\/new-cu-boulder-built-hardware-flying-high-aboard-international-space-station\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">said in a release<\/a>. \u201cThis device allows us to continuously image and incubate multiple samples at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Orbiting 250 miles above Earth at 17,500 miles per hour, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/international-space-station\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">International Space Station<\/a> is a large spacecraft and science lab orbiting Earth. It\u2019s run by NASA and other global space agencies, and has hosted nearly 300 astronauts from across the globe. NEMO is a collaboration between CU Boulder\u2019s BioServe Space Technologies research center and the camera company Nikon.<\/p>\n<p>NEMO launched in April and is now waiting for final commissioning aboard the International Space Station. NEMO, which was created by CU Boulder staff and student workers, builds off of CU Boulder\u2019s SABL \u2014 Space Automated Bioproduct Lab\u00a0\u2014 a solo incubator that has been in use on the International Space Station since 2016. That incubator was an enhancement of an even earlier BioServe design that began service on Space Shuttle flights in the 1990s.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cContributing to flight hardware that is now in orbit is one of the most meaningful experiences I have had as an engineer,\u201d said Ben Helfant, a BioServe employee who graduated from CU Boulder in May. \u201cKnowing that this work helps enable new research capabilities in microgravity has been an incredibly rewarding experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.dailycamera.com\/bdc\/preference\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe to our new newsletter to get CU Boulder\u2019s latest news sent straight to your inbox<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"University of Colorado Boulder researchers have launched a new device on board the International Space Station that will&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":796599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[18881,18882,3832,9045,526,4142,2558,983,3,79,193,10982],"class_list":["post-796598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-boulder","tag-boulder-county","tag-colorado","tag-colorado-news","tag-education","tag-front-range","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-science","tag-space","tag-university-of-colorado"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/796599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}