Growing Crystals in Space

Crew member Thomas Pesquet removing the Protein Crystallization Facility hardware from the incubator on the ISS for a crystallization investigation by Merck & Co.

Crew member Thomas Pesquet removing the Protein Crystallization Facility hardware from the incubator on the ISS for a crystallization investigation by Merck & Co.

Media Credit: NASA

This week, crew member Ricky Arnold processed samples for a student crystal growth experiment that was launched to the International Space Station on SpaceX CRS-14. The winning students from the 2017 Wisconsin Crystal Growing Competition are growing crystals onboard the ISS National Lab to test their optimized conditions for Earth-based crystallization against microgravity-based crystallization. The students adapted their Earth-based crystallization methods to prepare a flight project and will compare the crystals grown in microgravity with crystals grown on the ground.

Crystals grown in microgravity are often larger and more well-ordered than Earth-grown crystals. Check out some of the ways investigators are using the unique microgravity environment of the ISS National Lab to advance their crystallization research and development: