Flight hardware and software operations performance review for BAMMsat-on-BEXUS – a BioCubeSat prototype flown on BEXUS30

BAMMsat-on-BEXUS is a student-led project in which a CubeSat-compatible payload was designed, manufactured, and flown on the BEXUS30 stratospheric balloon. The prototype payload – BAMMsat (Biology, Astrobiology, Medicine, and Materials Science on satellite) – is a modular CubeSat-compatible miniaturised laboratory termed a bioCubeSat. The core flight objective was to perform technology demonstration of the bioCubeSat technology, demonstrating capability to perform experiments in space, and to understand system performance and identify future requirements. The mission aimed to validate pre-flight, flight, and post-flight operations, with a focus on biological and autonomous operations and the novel payload hardware. C. elegans samples were flown in the payload. The mission was partially successful, as the BAMMsat systems and autonomous software operated successfully despite challenging conditions and a large volume of payload performance data was collected; however there were issues maintaining the viability of the samples during flight and microfluidic system issues that impeded sample containment and imaging operations. Post-flight analysis has been performed, the root causes of the issues identified, and upgraded novel payload hardware is currently being developed and tested.