SERA: SERA democratises space research, Indian citizen among six crew members to conduct experiments

An Indian citizen-astronaut will now aid in conducting biomedical experiments to study the effects of microgravity on human physiology, cell biology, and fluid dynamics in space and help discover crucial information for future space missions. The US-based Space Exploration & Research Agency (SERA) on Friday announced that it has partnered with Weill Cornell Medicine and the University of Austin (UATX)– institutions that predominantly work in space research– for the upcoming Blue Origin mission, founded by Jeff Bezos.

New Shepard – a reusable suborbital rocket – has plans to fly six astronauts on an 11-minute journey past the Kármán line (100 km), the internationally recognised boundary of space. The dates of the mission are yet to be made public.

Earlier in July, the agency partnered with Blue Origin to secure six seats on the New Shepard rocket–of which India is a partner nation. Five seats are reserved for nations with few or no astronauts, while the sixth is open to anyone from a partner nation. Anyone can apply and will be based on public voting.

“Each of the six seats will be allocated a series of both autonomous and astronaut-tended experiments. These experiments will focus on the effects of microgravity on human physiology, cell biology and fluid dynamics, to better understand the human experience in space,’ SERA said in a statement.

Cofounder of SERA, Sam Hutchison added that expanding the horizons of space discovery must go beyond the astronauts themselves. “Building an inclusive space ecosystem also means pushing research forward and investigating topics that have been previously overlooked by national and corporate space interests – and bringing our entire community along for the ride.”

To democratise the research topics, individuals can use the mission platform to submit their proposals for experiments. “Select experimental parameters will be predetermined to ensure scientifically meaningful insights. An AI assistant on the platform, trained on relevant academic papers, will help those without formal space science experience to research and organise their submissions, ” the agency said, adding that proposals will then be evaluated by the partners to curate finalists for each seat, which will be voted on by the public.

“Scientific discovery is not restricted to the ivory tower. To become a multi-planetary species, all explorers will need to bring their sense of curiosity and an appetite for discovery,” expressed professor of bioastronautics at UATX, Dr Eliah Overbey.