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Stu Tozer inspecting a backup NEMO unit at BioServe.

Orbiting astronauts have access to a new research tool designed and built in Colorado.

�ֲ���ý researchers have launched a new combination imaging microscope and incubator to the International Space Station (ISS).

Bioscience Research

Astronauts have long used microscopes in orbit, but this new effort is a leap forward in ISS capabilities for imaging over time by joining what are typically two separate tools -- incubators and microscopes. This allows multiple samples to be incubated and imaged with minimal crew intervention.

“We 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. This device allows us to continuously image and incubate multiple samples at the same time,” said Stu Tozer, associate director of��BioServe Space Technologies, a center within the Ann and H.J. Smead Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences.

The device is called NEMO, the Nikon Experimentation Microscope in Orbit. It was designed in partnership with the eponymous camera company and the U.S. national laboratory that oversees American research aboard the ISS.��

As BioServe operates within a university, the project came together through hard work of both the center’s full time staff and student workers like Ben Helfant (AeroEngr’24, MS’26).

“Contributing to flight hardware that is now in orbit is one of the most meaningful experiences I have had as an engineer. Knowing that this work helps enable new research capabilities in microgravity has been an incredibly rewarding experience,” said Helfant, who graduated in May and is now employed at BioServe full time.

Next Generation Tech

BioServe has been designing, building and flying microgravity life science experiments and hardware for nearly 40 years. The new microscope/incubator builds on the center’s��SABL, a solo incubator which has been in use aboard the ISS since 2016. That incubator, in turn, was an enhancement of an even��earlier BioServe design that began service on Space Shuttle flights in the 1990s.

“We learn a lot from each project. SABL has been operating for a decade. Microscopes and related devices have been operating for longer. NEMO will significantly increase the imaging capabilities on the station in both the quantity and quality of images that we collect.,” said Tozer.

NEMO launched in April and is currently awaiting final commissioning aboard the ISS.��

Once complete, there are already experiments scheduled to demonstrate its full capabilities.��

Much of that work will be automated, a central feature of the hardware, allowing astronauts to work on other projects.

“Instead of being controlled by the crew, it’s all controlled from the ground. We remote desktop into NEMO and it’s like we're sitting in front of the microscope ourselves,” Tozer said.

The name NEMO was chosen to reflect this. In Latin, “nemo” means “nobody.”

“It’s an automated microscope, so there’s nobody required to operate it,” Tozer said.

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Backup NEMO unit on a workbench.

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