Scientists to create life-saving drugs in SPACE: Experiments aboard the ISS will use its micro-gravity conditions to invent new metals and medicines

The experiment will be carried out on the International Space Station in 2021
It has received £1.3 million ($1.6 million) in funding from the UK Space Agency
It will take advantage of the station's micro-gravity environment to create alloys or medicines

Published: 05:02 EST, 19 November 2018 | Updated: 11:50 EST, 19 November 2018

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Scientists are to start a project which could see new materials created in space with properties which are impossible to develop on Earth.

The experiment will be carried out on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2021, after receiving £1.3 million ($1.6 million) in funding from the UK Space Agency.

It will take advantage of the micro-gravity environment to create alloys or medicines with properties that cannot be made on Earth.

Scientists are to start a project which could see new materials created in space with properties which are impossible to develop on Earth (stock image)

Marcello Lappa, who is leading the University of Strathclyde project, said: 'With these experiments we aim to investigate how, by shaking a complex fluid in microgravity conditions, we can create materials with structures that we cannot make on Earth.

'These experiments will lead to advanced contactless manipulation strategies for the assembly of new materials and alloys.

'They may even shed some new light on the mechanisms supporting the formation of asteroids and planets.'

The team will investigate complex fluids, which can be formed by adding fine particles to a liquid.

These mixtures can show peculiar properties – for instance, yoghurt appears as a solid but behaves as a liquid once pressure is applied.

When on Earth, gravity causes the dispersed particles to separate according to their weight – with heavy particles sinking to create sediment and lighter particles floating to the top.

WHAT IS THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION?

The International Space Station (ISS) is a $100 billion (£80 billion) science and engineering laboratory that orbits 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

It has been permanently staffed by rotating crews of astronauts and cosmonauts since November 2000.

Research conducted aboard the ISS often requires one or more of the unusual conditions present in low Earth orbit, such as low-gravity or oxygen.

The International Space Station (file photo) is a $100 billion (£80 billion) science and engineering laboratory that orbits 250 miles (400 km) above Earth

ISS studies have investigated human research, space medicine, life sciences, physical sciences, astronomy and meteorology.

The US space agency, Nasa, spends about $3 billion (£2.4 billion) a year on the space station program, a level of funding that is endorsed by the Trump administration and Congress.

A U.S. House of Representatives committee that oversees Nasa has begun looking at whether to extend the program beyond 2024.

Alternatively the money could be used to speed up planned human space initiatives to the moon and Mars.

This can make the production of materials with specific structures and properties difficult to achieve.

The researchers will study how the dispersed particles form highly-ordered structures which can be used to make new materials when in space.

They will do this by vibrating and heating complex fluids, largely free from the influence of gravity.

Engineers believe it could be a big step forward in the production of so-called unobtanium – a notion of a material with amazing properties which does not exist on Earth.

The experiment will involve using existing equipment on the ISS, with additional hardware built in the UK being launched into space in 2021.