The Island Country Of Malta Launches Its First-Ever Mission To Space Aboard SpaceX Dragon

The European island country of Malta launched its first-ever mission to space aboard SpaceX’s Dragon 23rd NASA Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-23) mission to the International Space Station (ISS). On Sunday, August 29, a previously-flown Falcon 9 rocket launched the spacecraft to orbit at 3:14 a.m. EDT. from Launch Pad-39A at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. Dragon arrived to the Space Station on Monday, August 30, delivering over 4,800 pounds of cargo.

Among the cargo is Malta’s first ISS science research called Project Maleth SpaceOMIX, led by Professor Joseph Borg who works with a team of researchers at the University of Malta. In an interview with TESMANIAN, Professor Borg shared he is proud of launching the country’s first mission to space aboard a SpaceX rocket. “I have been watching SpaceX launching rockets like it seems forever, even though it’s just been 10 years. Seeing how successful they have become and being granted the opportunity to fly our experiment on the CRS-23, it felt surreal, exciting…an out of world experience,” he said.

Project Maleth sent a ‘biocube’ containing human skin samples from diabetic patients to the orbiting laboratory (pictured below). The samples will be monitored for approximately two months in microgravity environment before returning to Earth aboard Dragon. “The biocube is based on the ICECubes platform by Space Applications Services, Belgium. It contains a biomedical science payload looking at human skin samples and bacteria (collectively known as microbiome) taken from diabetic foot ulcers,” Professor Borg explained, “These bacteria are known to be very hardy and resistant to treatment - and so the questions goes - Can they also survive spaceflight? Can they adapt? What is the interaction between skin cells and bacteria in space? - Using advanced genomics before and after spaceflight we will be able to identify key target genes that may respond better to treatment and ultimately lead to a better quality of life here on Earth,” he shared with Tesmanian.com. 

Professor Borg said that Project Maleth’s “[…] scope is to understand the interactions between human skin and bacteria which in turn may lead to better treatments for people inflicted with type 2 diabetes and foot ulcers,” he stated. “Moreover, this 1st SpaceOMIX mission under the Maleth Program will also shed more light on the effects of space and microgravity on human skin cells and its microbiome and what key genes may be targeted in the future to extend the human presence in space, mitigate the harmful effects, and be able to devise molecular therapies aimed at keeping complications and ailments at bay,” Borg said.

Thank you for the soft landing 😌 - you just helped propel this cube into space #space pic.twitter.com/XsrgGdyjha

— Joseph Borg (@joseph_borg_) September 1, 2021

The biocube was installed at the Space Station laboratory today by Expedition 65 European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet, so Professor Borg can already initiate the experiment and receive data. “In Malta we now also have a mission control center that is monitoring the biocube remotely, and [are] able to access video camera feed from the samples” and “stream 1,000s of school children messages, artwork, and video that are present, and keep constant watch for correct operation,” he shared. “The mission control is managed by Arkafort, and our science is powered by Evolve Ltd. Both private companies facilitated by the Research, Innovation, Development Trust (RIDT) of the University of Malta. Project Maleth was conceived by the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs in Malta, and in collaboration with Malta Council for Science and Technology, Esplora Malta, and Zaar crowdfunding.”

“My dream is to continue pushing the molecular and life sciences in space by extending this research to the moon, to Mars, and beyond,” he added. Borg hopes to “be able to analyze and study genes on site as opposed to having ferry humans or samples back to earth each time - and produce on demand services based on the results observed and obtained," he said, "Fine and precision medicine including gene editing require very precise and accurate genetic data on which cells can be manipulated, genes to be corrected and proteins to be correctly expressed. The least we want in our human space programs - is to have some weird or silent gene here on Earth becoming over-expressed when in space and vice versa,” he explains. “If this first Maltese mission to the ISS was a first step also in that direction – I’m only too happy I have worked with great colleagues - Afshin Beheshti (NASA Ames Research Center) Chris Mason (Weill Cornell) Anjali Gupta (Axiom Space) and Hilde Stenuit (Space applications services) using SpaceX for our very first mission,” Professor Borg told Tesmanian.com. You can follow Professor Joseph Borg via Twitter @joseph_borg_ and learn more about Malta’s first-ever mission to space in the video below.

VIDEO: Learn About Malta’s First Mission To Space - Project Maleth 

Thanks Evelyn 😊 - I am very pleased to let twitterverse know - the @SpaceOMIX mission for #projectmaleth is now LIVE on board the @Space_Station - installation has been successfully carried out by @Thom_astro and more details will be forthcoming by us and @esa @ICECubesService

— Joseph Borg (@joseph_borg_) September 2, 2021

Featured Images Source: SpaceX & NASA

Author’s Note: Thanks for supporting Tesmanian.com! Find me on Twitter: Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo @JaneidyEve