Cell Separation Centrifuge for Nutrient Production for Crewed Missions

Active TRL 3 (started at 3, targeting 5)

Description

Ambrosia Space is building scalable in-space biomanufacturing systems for large-scale protein and nutrient manufacturing. The Cell-Sep Technology is able to process large volumes of liquid-based cell culture efficiently in reduced and microgravity environments. This will enable Ambrosia Space to further process and utilize the products made through its biomanufacturing systems to enable nutrient production for astronauts on long duration crewed missions.

Problem Statement
The Cell-Sep Technology solves the problem of how to turn bioreactor output into usable final products. There is no flight-proven system to perform cell separation out of a bioreactor, and the centrifugation capabilities on space are designed for small samples (<50ml) and require additional crew time. This technology will be integrated with the bioreactor system to lower crew time, and is designed to separate >2L of broth from the bioreactor. This system is better than existing Earth systems because it is designed for low power and continuous operations – none of the terrestrial systems are designed for the low flow rate, low power, and continuous operations.

Technology Maturation
Flight Opportunities’ flight tests enable testing of this technology in the microgravity environment. This should improve understanding of the product’s functionality, its useful life, and practice operations for how it would operate on real missions. The lessons learned from the flight, are expected to improve the system design and support flight operations for the first payload to the International Space Station.

Benefits

This cell centrifuge is a critical component for a production-class biomanufacturing system. The primary benefit of this biomanufacturing system is the crew-scale production of critical nutrients for sustained crew spaceflight. This will help NASA meet astronauts’ dietary needs by efficiently growing large volumes of host organisms, capable of producing a wide array of essential nutrients without place demands on mission resources or crew time compared to traditional food production methods.

Details

Technology area	Human Health, Life Support, and Habitation Systems > Human Health and Performance > Medical Diagnosis and Prognosis
Program	Flight Opportunities (FO)
Lead organization	Ambrosia Space Manufacturing Corporation, Houston, TX
Start date	2025-06-01
End date	2027-06-30

Project contacts

Listed on TechPort itself — the most direct way to ask about this specific project.

Mario M Maggio
Zara Nemati

How to get involved

This is early/mid-stage (TRL 3) — the most realistic path in is NASA SBIR/STTR, which funds small businesses and research institutions to develop technology aligned with NASA's needs (equity-free, phased funding). Check whether a current SBIR/STTR solicitation topic overlaps with this project's technology area, or contact the project directly (above) to ask.

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