Offworld Life Science: Making Medical Grade Saline In Space

Editor’s note: in addition to biomedical uses for crew health, having the ability to produce sterile solutions – in space – can have additional uses for non-human biological experimentation including culturing, genomics assays, histology, and closed ecological life support systems. Upmass of materials from Earth will always be an issue. As such, recycling allows materials to be reused over and over again. This research is a logical extension wherein materials can also be recycled for purposes other than just life support.

A preflight image of the miniaturized sterilization system as part of IVGEN mini. This investigation aims to verify operations to make medical-grade saline solution using potable water aboard the International Space Station.

On future exploration missions, this system could give crew members the ability to generate intravenous fluids on demand.

Astrobiology, Space biology, space biomedicine, life support,