Table 1.
List of biological satellites using the cubeSat standard.
| Mission name | Satellite size (payload) | Aim of the experiment | Detection system | Year | Institution | Time of experiment | Integration time | Microfluidic platform/ lab-chip material | Satellite photo |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeneSat-1 | 3U (2U) | Cultivation of E. coli bacteria with simultaneous characterization of their growth and metabolism | fluorescence | 2006 | NASA | ~ 100 h | 5 weeks |
Acrylic lab-chip card |
 |
| 10 | |||||||||
| PharmaSat | 3U (2U) | the influence of microgravity on the growth and metabolism of yeast (S. cerevisiae) with simultaneous testing of the effectiveness of antifungal agents | Optical density changes and colorimetry | 2009 | NASA | 96 h | 6 weeks |
poly(methylmethacrylate) fluidic card11 |
 |
| 11 | |||||||||
| O/OREOS | 3U (2 × 1U) | Assessment of the stability of organic compounds | Spectroscopy | 2010 | NASA | 6 months | – |  |
 |
|
SEVO stainless steel spacer ring with sapphire and MgF2 glass windows13 |
12 | ||||||||
| Characterization of the growth and metabolism of B. subtilis and H. chaoviatoris bacteria |  |
||||||||
|
SESLO | |||||||||
| SporeSat | 3U (2U) | Investigate the effect of gravity on the reproductive spores of the fern, Ceratopteris richardii | Measurement of calcium ion concentration with ion-selective electrodes | 2014 | NASA | 4 days | – |
Fused silica disc14 |
|
| EcAMSat | 6U (3U) | Characterization of the growth and metabolism of E. coli bacteria and the effectiveness of antibiotics | Optical density changes and colorimetry | 2017 | NASA | 156,5 h | 8 weeks |
Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) fluidic card16 |
 |
| 17 | |||||||||
| DIDO-2/3 | 3U (2U) | Study the effect of microgravity and low fluid shear with four different experiments on biological material | DIDO-3 – Spectrophotometry |
2017 (DIDO-2) 2020 (DIDO-3) |
SpacePharma | DIDO-3 – 40 days | – |
Fluidic card – no information18 |
 |
| 19 | |||||||||
| Biosentinel | 6U (4U) | Research of DNA damage in the yeast S. cerevisiae | colorimetry, measurement of optical density, measurement of energy and radiation dose with a LET spectrometer | 2022 | NASA | 6–12 months | – |
fused polycarbonate (PC) fluidic card20 |
 |
| 21 | |||||||||
| PlantSat | 3U (1U) | Research of extremophiles and plants (Tillandsia) | – | 2022 | University of Chile | – | – | – |  |
| 22 | |||||||||
| GreenCube | 3U (2U) | Cultivating micro greens (Lepidium sativum) | Optical detection (micro-camera) | 2022 | Sapienza University of Rome | 20 days | – |  |
 |
| 24 | 23 | ||||||||
| AstroBio | 3U (1,5U) | Immunoassay tests | Chemiluminescence detection | 2022 | Sapienza University of Rome | 6 experiments in 10 min each | – |
Origami microfluidic – chromatographic paper26 |
 |
| 25 |
