November 14, 2022 – Wallops Island, Virginia

The Antioxidant Protection (PROMETEO) experiment has been successfully concluded. After a launch scrub, NG-18 lifted off on Monday 7th Nov at 5:27 EST from the Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) in Virginia. The Kayser Italia (KI) team (Elisa Carrubba, Michele Balsamo, Andrea Tenaglia, Matteo Lampredi) did work in strict collaboration with the science team from Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), coordinated by Prof. Gianni Ciofani, to prepare the 12 Experiment Units (EU) hosting the biological samples.

Once NG-18 reached the ISS, the KI Experiment Containers (containing the EUs) were placed into the Kubik incubator for 4 days and then transferred to the MELFI fridge where they are currently kept at -80°C. The Experiment Containers will be returned to Earth with SpX-26 in early January 2023 and immediately transferred to the IIT’s premises where the KI team will perform the de-integration and the science team the samples processing. Updates will then follow when data will be available!