BioSensor Users' Guide

The BioSensor is a fully autonomous 3-color LED-based spectrophotometer
paired with a fluidics system that supports microbes
in liquid culture. Originally developed for the BioSentinel CubeSat
mission to study the response of a wild type and mutant strain of
yeast to the deep space environment, the BioSensor consists of a
series of 16-well, independently plumbed fluidics cards. The cards
utilize filters to allow the fluidic system to administer reagents while
constraining the microbes in their wells. Heaters on each card incubate
to the appropriate growth temperature once the experiment begins.
During the active experiment, the LED/detector system measures the
transmission of light through each well at three specific wavelengths,
similar to a standard benchtop spectrophotometer. The transmission/
absorbance kinetics curves for each well are telemetered back to
Earth, along with temperature data, for analysis on the ground. The
BioSensor is being upgraded from its original CubeSat free-flyer
interface to be a secondary payload on lunar landers, Gateway, and
other BLEO applications, while maintaining the same functionality and
science utility for future experiments.