Launch a capsule above 100 km altitude into microgravity, carry out scientific experiments and recover the samples intact to Earth using a parachute system that will allow a new model for analyzing the results.
This is what Brazil is testing with the Suborbital Microgravity Platform (PSM-R), a type of space laboratory attached to a rocket. The launch will take place at Barreira do Inferno, in Parnamirim (RN), the oldest aerospace center in South America. The name refers to the reddish cliffs in the region.
The operation, which involves the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), began on August 31st and should be completed on the 19th.
If the test is completed successfully, this will be the first time that research using a Brazilian platform will retrieve items launched for analysis after real flight conditions. The most common form of transmission of Brazilian research today is telemetry (remote data collection).
🌎But what is the reason for carrying out experiments outside the Earth's atmosphere? And what does it mean to recover the experiments without damage❓ Why is this considered important by scientists?🧑🔬
According to the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB), microgravity conditions allow the development of scientific and technological experiments, such as studies of new materials, combustion processes, medicines and space agriculture.
🌌What is microgravity? Microgravity does not represent the total absence of gravity, but rather a condition in which its influence is significantly reduced. In this environment, physical and chemical phenomena occur differently, allowing, for example, a more uniform crystallization of molecules. This behavior is especially relevant for research in the pharmaceutical, food and materials areas.
Former employee of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) and author of the books "Brazilian Space Agency: A Management Diagnosis" and "Brazilian Space: 15 Years of Space and Information", master in Mechatronics Rui Botelho explains that the crystallization of medicines in microgravity, for example, helps to eliminate imperfections in molecular structures generated on the ground.
A recent example of the impact of this discovery was the Varda Space Industries mission, in 2023, which managed to crystallize the drug Ritonavir, used to treat HIV patients, in a space laboratory.
"Certain crystals when they are artificially produced here on Earth are not perfect crystals, due to gravity. Even though there are methods that minimize this, in space, without gravity, these crystals grow much more homogeneous and much more symmetrical", detailed the former AEB employee, to demonstrate the relevance of the operation.
The test carried out in Brazil is carried out with a rocket measuring nine meters in length, the equivalent of a three-story building, which will take off at a point over 100 km in altitude, around 10 times higher than a commercial plane.
The country already uses platforms that function as a space laboratory, but purchased from abroad. If the test is successful, Brazil will be able to guarantee periodic launches with national equipment.
"We will be able to produce our own platform. It is an advance towards our autonomy in suborbital flights", stated the president of AEB, Marco Antonio Chamon.
How rocket and platform work
The Suborbital Microgravity Platform was sent attached to the top of the Brazilian VS-30 V16 rocket.
Developed by the Institute of Aeronautics and Space (IAE), the VS-30 V16 is considered a suborbital rocket, that is, it was not designed to remain in orbit, but to reach altitudes above 100 kilometers.
"This suborbital microgravity platform is used to take experiments above 100 km, which is already considered space, and remain in the microgravity condition in a time of 6 to 8 minutes", explained Luis Cláudio de Oliveira Silva, professor of the Aerospace Engineering course at the Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA).
He explained that, after the flight, the platform returns attached to the parachute so that the onboard experiments can be removed and analyzed.
According to the expert, the rocket ejects the platform, which activates a stabilization system and remains "still". "At this moment the experiments are launched", he highlighted.
Rui Botelho completed by saying that the rocket engine is turned on for about 30 seconds and then travels in a parabola. The platform, at a certain point, detaches from the rocket and continues to reach the highest point on this route.
"It will reach an altitude close to space, something around 100 km, a little more, a little less, it will depend a lot on the profile of the mission. And, when you reach the highest part of this parabola, you will have the sensation of almost a lack of gravity, microgravity. It is at this moment that the experiments are carried out. And they are tested there", he explained.
Platform rescue
After reaching its apogee and carrying out the experiments, the platform falls by gravity returning to Earth. She first continues in free fall, and, after a certain altitude, opens the first parachute.
"It's a guide parachute, which causes the platform to decelerate a certain amount, but all the cables of the main parachute are tensioned, so that the parachute does not tangle [...] At a certain moment, this complete parachute opens, brakes the platform and reduces its falling speed, in order to allow it to be recovered", explained Botelho.
The capsule usually falls into the sea and is rescued by specialized teams. The speculated location of the crash is projected before the flight, but may be influenced by wind and sea currents. In free fall, it would suffer less influence from wind and other elements that can deflect, but it would not return intact.
There is a system in place that allows the location of the equipment. "Inside the platform, there is a GPS. When it falls, the platform sends radio signals that indicate its location, obtained from this GPS. It was developed to float and, therefore, even in the water, it continues to send this radio signal. A FAB helicopter receives the signal and carries out the rescue", explained professor Luís Cláudio, who was part of the team that produced the rescue equipment.
Although the launch rocket is not reusable, the platform can be reused up to four times, reducing the cost and time for new launches, according to AEB.
🚀Launch in 2022
Four years ago, Brazil launched the VSB-30 rocket with the Microgravity Suborbital Platform Qualification Model (MQ-PSM) from the Alcântara base in Maranhão. This operation also tested experiments in microgravity.
📡At the time, the data was confirmed by telemetry, a system that monitors and receives data from rockets and experiments in real time.
The operation in RN focuses on recovering the platform. "The focus of Operation Potiguar 2 is on the behavior of the PSM-R recovery system. The qualification allows us to verify whether the systems responsible for recovery perform the expected functions in real operating conditions", highlighted the FAB in a note.
For Botelho, a specialist in aerospace flights, the platform itself can be considered as a technological test among those sent on this mission, as he is still looking for a first successful operation in recovering the platform.
🌱Space Farming
Space agriculture researcher, university professor Paulo Hercílio Viegas Rodrigues, from the Department of Plant Production at the Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz (Esalq-USP) says that one of the experiments sent consists of a Cubesat 1U - a minisatellite - with freeze-dried microorganisms and radiation biodosimeters.
Freeze-dried microorganisms are fungi or bacteria that have undergone a cold dehydration process to survive the journey without spoiling. Biodosimeters are small sensors that measure the amount of radiation that the experiment received during the flight.
The objective, according to professor Paulo Hercílio, is to understand how these microorganisms resist the extreme conditions of a space mission and whether they manage to maintain viability after the flight.
"Recovering the payload after launch will be fundamental to the success of the mission as a whole. In the agricultural area, we will be able to benefit from experiments related to genetic improvement, inducing mutations in different types of explants and microorganisms, in addition to the development of equipment for growing seedlings in low orbit", he explained.
According to the professor, this experiment will maintain a mini control satellite with the same microorganisms and sensors on Earth. "After the recovery of the Cubesat that will go into space, comparative analyzes will be carried out," he said.
While the experiments are being generated, on Earth the researcher and team will generate microgravity - in a process called clinorotation - in a clinostat at the Plant Microgravity Laboratory at ESALQ-USP.
"In this way, we will be able to compare the effects generated on microorganisms in a real launch and in a microgravity environment generated by clinorotation," he stated.
Currently, space tests of this type are carried out at stations such as the International Space Station or the Chinese Tiangong, with restrictive access and cost, said the professor.
He reinforces that space agriculture is important for Brazil because it drives the development of cutting-edge agricultural technologies, as Brazil contributes to NASA's Artemis Agreements, bringing national excellence in agronomy to support long-term missions on the Moon and Mars.
"This type of study is important because, in the future, microorganisms could be fundamental allies in long-term space missions, contributing, for example, to plant cultivation, nutrient cycling, food production and the development of more sustainable biological systems beyond Earth", defended the professor.
The Esalq laboratory is currently working on developing equipment and accessories designed to study the effect of microgravity, in space, and relative gravity, on Mars and the Moon. "The creation of this equipment will be fundamental for studying the behavior of plants of interest to be cultivated in these environments outside of Earth", he argued.
The scientific and technological experiments to be carried out in suborbital and orbital flights are selected by the AEB Microgravity Program. "The intention is that, once this platform is fully tested and qualified, this type of operation will occur with a certain frequency, taking research and experiments from universities and private companies to the microgravity environment", reinforced professor Luis Cláudio de Oliveira Silva, from UFMA.
🪐💰Aerospace market
The president of the Brazilian Space Agency, Marco Antonio Chamon, assesses that Brazilian launch bases, especially Alcântara, in Maranhão, are among the best positioned in the world, "giving Brazil a strategic advantage in this sector".
Chamon says that there are currently around 18,000 active satellites in orbit and that the estimate is that this number will reach 500,000 by 2040. Therefore, he reinforces the need to keep bases in operation.
"Keeping our bases active and in operation allows us not only to test our own rockets, but also to offer this service commercially to other countries. The Korean company Innospace was the first to use this service commercially and others are in negotiations to also use the Alcântara Launch Center", he said.
The president of the EAB mentions that the development of national technologies for launching, rockets, satellites, ground infrastructure or applications makes Brazil move forward in the search for autonomy and benefits for society.
He cites space applications in the areas of agriculture, biome monitoring, prevention and mitigation of natural disasters, territorial planning and meteorology, for example.
"The development of highly complex technologies, such as space technologies, also generates the creation of new companies, highly skilled jobs and products with high added value, driving the space economy. This economy is currently estimated at US$ 600 billion and should reach, according to a calculation by the World Economic Forum, 1.8 trillion dollars in 2035", he pointed out.
