OREANDA-NEWS For the first time in the world, scientists from Samara Korolev University have manufactured and tested a complex of scientific equipment Sigma-2, which allows in-flight to create a comfortable temperature regime for biological objects in the Bion-M orbital laboratory No. 2, the press service of the university told reporters.

"Sigma-2 scientific equipment is designed to conduct a complex of biomedical experiments with cell cultures in vitro, as well as for microbiological studies and studying the influence of space flight factors on seeds and plant cell tissue. There are no analogues of this equipment in Russia and abroad," said Lyubov Kurganskaya, a leading researcher at the Research Institute of Modeling and Control Problems at Samara University.

The flight sample of scientific equipment has already passed acceptance tests and was sent to the Progress Rocket and Space Center for complex tests as part of the Bion-M spacecraft No. 2, Kurganskaya added. During the flight of the orbital laboratory, the temperature will be regulated in separate blocks of Sigma-2 equipment in biocontainers, thus the required conditions for cell cultures, microorganisms and plant seeds will be created.

The necessary conditions for bioorganisms in the Sigma-2 scientific equipment are created by special heaters of a special shape with electric spirals developed at the Samara university. 15 sensors will monitor the temperature inside the blocks, and the task of scientific equipment is to regulate not only temperatures, but also the composition of the nutrient medium for cell cultures before flight, during orbit and after landing on Earth.