International Commercial Experiment Cubes

Facility Description

The ICF can accommodate payloads inside and outside. From plug-and-play commercial-off-the-shelf Experiment Cubes to various form factors or large customizable inserts, ICE Cubes provides the functional interfaces to the ISSInternational Space Station infrastructure for powering and controlling the payloads in real-time. During flight, users have the option of real-time telemetry and interaction capabilities with their experiment (through hardware and software security protocols) from any location with an Internet connection.

Why choose ICE Cubes as your Implementation Partner(Abbreviation: IP) Commercial companies that work with the ISS National Lab to provide services related to payload development, including the translation of ground-based science to a space-based platform.?

• ICE Cubes service customers are provided with an out-of-the-box software suite, which allows for real-time interaction capability at any time (24/7), and from any place with an Internet connection, via standard Internet protocols.
• The ICE Cubes service is a platform-independent space-access provider for research, technology, and education.
• ICE Cubes allows for accommodating and controlling payloads free floating in the Columbus module with wireless connection to the ICE Cubes Facility, allowing to test technologies for guidance & navigation algorithms, collision avoidance, formation flying, docking & berthing mechanisms, capturing of non-cooperative bodies, sloshing, etc.
  High data rate (4 Mbps downlink, 0.5 Mbps uplink), high data storage capability and high power capability.
• Establishment of specific diagnostic capabilities for focus R&D areas such as in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, food, cosmetics, soft matter & coating fields, among others.
  The Experiment Cubes are easy to install and remove, come in different shapes and sizes, and can be built using commercial off-the-shelf components.
• The Service can accommodate experiments under recurring setups, in reusable payloads, like the ScienceCube (i.e., a multi-use cube for plant, microbiology, fluid physics research and more) or the Kirara incubator (for protein and macromolecule crystallization).
• The Service can also provide access to in-house developed assets hosted on the ISS, such as the AI-Box (for in-situ data processing and analysis, running neural networks, AI/ML applications using environmental data, or processing of data generated by other payloads) or the Media Set (for interaction with ISS crew, public events, media interviews, educational sessions, etc.).