Spaceflight Hardware for High-Fidelity Science on Orbit
Rhodium builds and operates space-certified, modular research hardware enabling reproducible biology, chemistry, and advanced materials research aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Our systems are plug-and-play, highly configurable, and designed to support high sample numbers, replication, and rapid mission execution.
Built for
- Biomanufacturing & synthetic biology
- Biomedical & pharmaceutical
- Cell culture (stem, human, mammalian)
- Microbiology (bacteria, fungi, microeukaryotes), virology
- Protein & chemical crystallization
- Polymer chemistry & chemical mixtures
- Plant & photosynthetic growth systems
- Regolith and In-situ resource utilization studies
- Advanced materials investigations
- Filtration, fluids, and mixing investigations
Rhodium Science Chamber Facility™
The Rhodium Science Chamber Facility™ is a modular, flight-proven research architecture composed of interchangeable sample chambers and carriers. Configurations can be flown independently or combined within a single mission to tailor sample formats, volumes, and experimental layouts. Rhodium Science Chambers can be configured to fly 500+ samples in a single mission.
All Rhodium Science Chambers are compatible with −95 °C to +50 °C workflows (mission-dependent).
Rhodium Cryotube™
A foundational Science Chamber configuration supporting 0.2-10.0 mL of fluid volume for liquid culture, preservation, and sampling for post-flight analysis.
Use cases: microbial culture, biomanufacturing intermediates, chemical samples, multi-timepoint preservation.
Figure 1: Astronaut Kate Rubins pictured aboard the International Space Station with transport configured Rhodium Cryotubes (Photo: NASA, Rhodium Scientific)
Rhodium BioCuvette™
A self-contained 5 mL Science Chamber optimized for live growth, optical monitoring, and timepoint exchange.
Use cases: plant and algal growth, photosynthetic biology, microbial dynamics, synthetic biology, optical assays.
Figure 2: Rhodium Biocuvettes being used aboard the ISS to study the growth of space-adapted tomato seeds (Photo: NASA, Rhodium Scientific)
Rhodium Fluid & Culture Bags™
These Science Chambers support soft-container liquid culture, storage, processing, and subsampling. Fluid and Culture Bags support ~5–500 mL of liquid for biological culturing or chemical stowage.
Use cases: liquid cell culture, biomedical, microbial and algal growth, chemical mixtures, media optimization, filtration studies, fluid dynamics research.
Rhodium Petri Dish
A Science Chamber configuration supporting 2” Petri dishes for solid-media and surface-growth experiments.
Use cases: microbial growth, fungal growth, biofilms, colony morphology, material–biology interactions, pharmacology.
Rhodium Well Plate
A Science Chamber configuration supporting 6 to 96-well plates with gas-permeable options for high-throughput screening.
Use cases: screening assays, synthetic biology libraries, small-volume chemistry, optimization studies, organoid growth, drug-interaction studies, PCR-workflows.
1-Liter Incubation Vessel Configuration (1-LIV)
Compatible with Rhodium Centrifuge for fractional-gravity studies (Lunar and Martian), while supporting incubation (22 °C, 37 °C) and preservation (4 °C, −20 °C, −95 °C) workflows.
A sealed, large-volume Science Chamber enabling bulk culture, larger plant growth, incubation, preservation, and variable-gravity experimentation within a single controlled vessel.
Use cases: gravity-response biology, larger plant growth studies, biomanufacturing and fermentation, scale-up and media optimization, bulk liquid culture, chemical reactions, and long-duration incubation experiments.
Figure 3: Rhodium 1L Incubation Vessel (Photo: Rhodium Scientific)
Figure 4: Astronaut Sunita Williams pictured with the Rhodium 1-Liter Incubation Vessel (right) and the Rhodium Multi-layer Containment sleeve (left) (Photo: NASA, Rhodium Scientific)
Rhodium Variable Gravity Centrifuge Facility™
Supports replicated culturing across multiple gravities: microgravity, Lunar, Martian, and Earth. The Rhodium Centrifuge is compatible with the Rhodium 1-liter incubation vessel, Cryotubes™, Biocuvettes™, Well-plates, and Fluid & Culture Bags™.
Use case: biomanufacturing, biological variable gravity studies, plant growth, microbial culturing, comparative Space-Earth controls
Figure 4: The Rhodium Variable Gravity Centrifuge is compatible with various Science Chambers. The 1-Liter Incubation Vessel (left) provides extra containment allow for BSL-2 experimentation. The variable gravity centrifuge (right) exposes samples to simulated gravitational forces (continuous range from 0-1g). (Photo: Rhodium Scientific)
Rhodium Chem-Bio Process Facility™
A powered fluid handling system operating Rhodium Fluid Transfer Cassettes for dynamic liquid workflows. The Fluid Transfer Facility supports up to 3 Fluid transfer cassettes per run. Each Cassette has 400mL fluid capacity (1.2L total per run).
Compatible with Rhodium Fluid & Culture Bags™
Use cases: media exchange, chemical reactions, microbial and cell culture processing, filtration, fluid dynamics.
Figure 5: The Rhodium Fluid Transfer Facility is compatible with Cell Culture and Fluid Bags, Well-plates, Cryotubes, and Biocuvettes. The base Science Chambers are configured in Fluid Transfer Cassettes (left) for constant fluid flow, cell culture mixing, media feeding, sub-sampling, multi-generational growth experiments. The configured Cassettes are placed into the Fluid Transfer Facility (right). (Photo: Rhodium Scientific)
Figure 6: Rhodium Biocuvette Growth Facility in the Multi-Layer Containment Sleeve (Photo: Rhodium Scientific)
Rhodium Plant Growth Facility™
The Plant Growth Facility supports up to 24 Biocuvettes per run. Each facility features programmable light exposure control and optimized imaging access for direct sample comparison. Designed for efficient sample removal and replacement workflows.
Use cases: seed germination studies, early growth analysis, phenotyping, comparative plant research, light response experiments, algal growth studies, multi-time point sampling.
Figure 7: Rhodium Flight Experiment Tube pictured with the Mutli-layer Containment Sleeve (Photo: Rhodium Scientific)
Flight Experiment Tube
A sealed, modular Science Chamber enabling controlled isolation and timed mixing of fluids or small solids in microgravity. The Experiment Tube uses independently actuated valves to keep samples separated until intentional in-orbit activation, supporting precise reaction initiation and mixing workflows.
Use cases: biological and growth studies, controlled mixing experiments, chemical reactions, materials synthesis, reaction kinetics, and time-controlled biological, chemical, and materials experimentation.
Figure 8: Rhodium Science TempLog co-located with RhSC-05CT aboard the ISS. (photo credit: NASA, Rhodium Scientific)
Rhodium Science Dosimeter™ (RhST-4RAD) — Temperature and Radiation Logging
A passive temperature and radiation logger designed to operate co-located with samples, providing continuous thermal and radiation exposure history throughout the mission.
Use cases: thermal exposure tracking, incubation verification, preservation validation, and experiment correlation, radiation impact studies, biological response correlation, materials testing, and mission environmental characterization
FAQ
Contact
To discuss fit, sample formats, timelines, and mission integration:
LEO.Life@RhodiumScientific.com