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Science

Promising Canadian space science experiments return to Earth

On September 26, 2007, the Russian Foton M3 capsule, with 43 experiments and 18 payloads onboard, made it back to Earth safely after 12 days in orbit. It landed within the target zone in an uninhabited area 150 km south of the town of Kustanay in Kazakhstan, close to the Russian border.

European and Canadian personnel pose beside the Kiruna Foton Payload Operations Center. This antenna was used throughout the mission to receive and send data from the payloads aboard the Foton M3.

The capsule carried two Canadian space science experiments, eOSTEO and SCCO. Twice a day during the flight, Canadian satellite ground stations downloaded Foton M3 payload data to support the Kiruna ground station. With this contribution, all of the international teams could better monitor their experiments.

At the landing site, the eOSTEO incubators containing bone cells and the SCCO oil samples were extracted from the capsule and started their journey back to ESTEC (the European Space Agency's technical center in The Netherlands) via Russian helicopters and charter jets. The excitement was palpable when the samples arrived early on September 28. Scientists from McGill University, the Jewish General Hospital, the University of Toronto, Toronto General Hospital, Systems Technologies, Orion Canada, and the Canadian Space Agency were on site.

They were waiting to open up the incubators and recover the bone cells. By mid-afternoon, it was clear that the cells had flourished. They were then carefully prepared for their trip back to Canada. Once the cells arrive, they will undergo specialized testing and analysis for up to a year. This will bring scientists closer to understanding the bone loss that astronauts experience in space, as well as bone disorders such as osteoporosis here on Earth.

The SCCO oil samples arrived at ESTEC on October 1, 2007. Scientists were thrilled to discover that the samples were in great shape. The samples have now been sent for detailed analysis in the Total laboratories in France and the MRC laboratories in Belgium. The SCCO experiment will help scientists gain a better understanding of the thermodiffusion phenomena (also known as the Soret effect) for more efficient prospecting and drilling of underground oil reservoirs.

Typical ground tracks of the Foton M3 Satellite, above Canada (Saskatoon and St-Hubert) on the left, and within the range (red circle) of the Kiruna antenna in Sweden (yellow dot, top center) in the polar circle. This image shows the Foton M3 (grey and orange object at center of blue circle) just south of Kiruna.

Steve Goddard and Steve Birnie-Wortley of Systems Technologies disassemble the eOSTEO payload to access the bone cells that have just returned from space.

Joe Fitzgibbon from Orion Canada and Steve Birnie-Wortley from Systems Technologies complete the inspection of an eOSTEO tray before turning it over to the scientists for their recovery of the cells (which are in the transparent cylinders at the bottom right of the blue tray).

Olha Kos from the Toronto General Hospital opens up an eOSTEO bioreactor in which cells have grown in space for 12 days.

University of Toronto eOSTEO scientists Arian Khandani and Rene Harrison are all smiles: the bone cells (which are under the microscope and can be seen on the screen) grew steadily while in space and hold great promise for their research.

A technician from the European contractor Verhaert Aerospace prepares to open up the three SCCO boxes after their return to Earth. The first box (top) contains the oil samples of Canadian scientist Dr. Ziad Saghir from Ryerson University.

The six Canadian oil samples are in perfect shape after orbiting the Earth 200 times. Once analyzed, these SCCO samples will allow more efficient prospecting and drilling of oil reservoirs.