The Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) is a

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an-built experiment storage

freezer A refrigerator, commonly shortened to fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external enviro ...

for the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

. It comprises four independent

dewars Dewar's () is a brand of blended Scotch whisky manufactured by John Dewar & Sons, Ltd., a unit of Bacardi Ltd. History The Dewar's whisky brand was created by John Dewar, Sr. in 1846. Under the control of his two sons, John A. Dewar Jr. and ...

, which can be set to operate at different temperatures. Currently temperatures of −80 °C, −26 °C, and +4 °C are used during on-orbit ISS operations. Both

reagent In chemistry, a reagent ( ) or analytical reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or test if one occurs. The terms ''reactant'' and ''reagent'' are often used interchangeably, but reactant specifies a ...

s and samples are stored in the freezer. As well as storage, the freezer is designed to transport samples to and from the ISS in a temperature-controlled environment. The total capacity of the unit is 300 litres.

History

The first MELFI unit, FU-1, was flown to the station in 2006 on

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

mission

STS-121 STS-121 was a 2006 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by on its 32nd flight. The main purposes of the mission were to test new safety and repair techniques introduced following the Space Shuttle Columbia disas ...

, installed in the

Destiny Laboratory Module The ''Destiny'' module, also known as the U.S. Lab, is the primary operating facility for U.S. research payloads aboard the International Space Station (ISS). It was berthed to the forward port of the '' Unity'' module and activated over a peri ...

, and commissioned by

Thomas Reiter Thomas Arthur Reiter (born 23 May 1958 in Frankfurt, West Germany) is a retired European astronaut and is a Brigadier General in the German Air Force currently working as ESA Interagency Coordinator and Advisor to the Director General at the E ...

. The MELFI flight units were originally designed to be flown fully powered in the

Multi-Purpose Logistics Module A Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) is a large pressurized container that was used on Space Shuttle missions to transfer cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS). Two MPLMs made a dozen trips in the Shuttle cargo bay and initi ...

, permitting pre-made experiments to be flown to the station without contaminating or destroying any samples. The plan was to cycle the three MELFI units between orbit and Earth. The final MELFI unit was flown to the ISS on board

Space Shuttle Discovery Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' (Orbiter Vehicle Designation: OV-103) is a retired American Space Shuttle orbiter. The spaceplane was one of the Space Shuttle orbiter, orbiters from NASA's Space Shuttle program and the third of five fully opera ...

during the

STS-131 STS-131 ( ISS assembly flight 19A) was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS). launched on April 5, 2010, at 6:21 am from LC-39A, and landed at 9:08 am on April 20, 2010, on runway 33 at the Kennedy Sp ...

mission in 2010.

MELFI description

Dewars are cylindrical, 75-liter vacuum-insulated containers that may hold samples of various sizes and forms. A number of extra dewars were also delivered with the unit at first. MELFI was developed by the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

. Two units have been supplied to NASA and one to the

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency The is the Japanese national Aeronautics, air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satell ...

(JAXA). In addition ground units for training, experiment preparation, and use in control experiments have been built."STS-121 Nasa Press Kit"
NASA Press Kit - STS-121, May 2006. *Weight: 730 kg (1609 pounds) *Design lifetime: 10 years.

Additional cold storage

Additional cold storage and transportation options available are listed below: *

MERLIN (Microgravity Experiment Research Locker/ Incubator) Microgravity Experiment Research Locker/Incubator (MERLIN) was designed by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Center for Biophysical Sciences and Engineering (CBSE) to operate as a hardmounted, single middeck locker equivalent within the ISS ...

** +48 °C to -20 °C *

GLACIER (General Laboratory Active Cryogenic ISS Experiment Refrigerator) GLACIER (General Laboratory Active Cryogenic ISS Experiment Refrigerator) was designed and developed by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Center for Biophysical Sciences and Engineering (CBSE) for NASA Cold Stowage. Glacier was originally de ...

** +4 °C to –160 °C *

Polar (Research Refrigerator for ISS) Polar is a research refrigerator designed and developed by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Center for Biophysical Sciences and Engineering (CBSE) for NASA Cold Stowage. Polar was designed as a single mid-deck locker equivalent payload to ...

**(+4 °C to -95 °C)

Gallery

File:183465main_MELFI4.jpg, NASA Image: ISS013E64641- Astronaut Jeff Williams, Expedition 13 ISS Science Officer, places a POEMS sample into the MELFI freezer (Minus Eighty Laboratory Freezer for ISS). File:183467main_MELFI5.jpg, NASA Images: ISS014E13005 - Expedition 14 Commander, Astronaut Michael E. Lopez-Alegria, inserts ISS Cold Enclosure PCM Augmenting Capsules (ICEPACs) into the MELFI in the Destiny laboratory module. File:183463main_MELFI3.jpg, NASA Image: ISS013E64639 - Image on the right shows NASA ISS Science Officer, Jeff Williams inserting one of the POEMS samples into the MELFI freezer. Image on the left shows ground control and a flight sample of bacteria cultures growing through the solid media agar, and scientists can sample the genetic changes across multiple generations by sampling different places in the growth medium. File:183469main_MELFI6.jpg, NASA Image ISS015E10573 View of Expedition 15 astronaut and Flight Engineer (FE-2), Sunita Williams, inserting blood samples into the MELFI for the Nutritional Status Assessment (Nutrition) experiment to help understand human physiologic changes during long-duration space flight. Photo was taken in the U.S. Laboratory/Destiny. File:313646main_MELFI7.jpg, NASA Image: S126E008593 - Mission Specialist Greg Chamitoff and Expedition 18 Flight Engineer Sandra Magnus conduct a sample transfer from the General Laboratory Active Cryogenic ISS Experiment Refrigerator (GLACIER) to Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer For ISS (MELFI). Image was taken in the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM), Kibo during joint operations between Expedition 18 and STS-126/ULF2. File:313648main_MELFI8.jpg, NASA Image: ISS017E017539 - NASA astronaut Greg Chamitoff, Expedition 17 flight engineer, works with the Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) as part of the Nutritional Status Assessment (Nutrition) experiment in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station. File:338220main_MELFI11.jpg, NASA Image: ISS019E005715 (11 April 2009) Astronaut Michael Barratt, Expedition 19/20 flight engineer, performs an insertion of urine samples into the Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) as part of the Nutritional Status Assessment (NUTRITION) study in the Japanese Kibo laboratory of the International Space Station. File:382009main_MELFI12.jpg, NASA Image: S116E07446: European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Thomas Reiter, STS-116 mission specialist, works with the Passive Observatories for Experimental Microbial Systems in Micro-G (POEMS) payload in the Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) in the Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station while Space Shuttle Discovery was docked with the station. File:183458main_MELFI1.jpg, NASA Image: ISS013E51695 - MELFI after installation on the International Space Station during Expedition 13. File:183461main_MELFI2.jpg, A one-fourth size standard box module for MELFI, full of standard vial cards with frozen samples. File:316481main_MELFI9.jpg, NASA Image: JSC2003e00730 - Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) before launch to ISS. File:316482main_MELFI10.jpg, NASA Image: JSC2008e157029 - Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) before launch to ISS.

References

External links

Minus Eighty-Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI) - NASA

The Minus Eightys Degree Celsius Laboratory Freezer for the International Space Station (MELFI) - JAXA

The ESA Laboratory Support Equipment for the ISS - ESA
{{Use British English, date=January 2014 Science facilities on the International Space Station Destiny (ISS module) Kibo (ISS module)