Adnkronos (Adnkronos) – A small aquatic ecosystem with algae, shrimp, and bacteria, housed and isolated in a cube a few centimeters on each side: the Scampi (Saltwater Crustaceans, Algae, and Microbial Population Investigation) experiment has been aboard the International Space Station, orbiting 400 km above Earth, since the morning of October 16th. Launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on October 13th, bound for the ISS – International Space Station, Scampi is studying the effect of microgravity on a closed ecosystem composed of producers, consumers, and decomposers.
The experiment is hosted in the Space Applications Services ICE Cubes Facility aboard the International Space Station's Columbus module and will operate autonomously for 90 days.
An onboard camera will transmit images and videos throughout the mission. The ecosystem will then be returned to Earth for genetic and microbial analyses, the results of which are expected in 2027. Gabriele Rigano, a national doctoral student in Space Science and Technology, is participating in the project, supported by the ESA Academy Experiments programme, which aims to provide university students with real-world experience in space science. He is affiliated with the Astrobiology and Molecular Biology of Cyanobacteria Laboratory led by Daniela Billi, professor of Environmental Microbiology in the Department of Biology at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.
“My role in the Scampi project,” explains Gabriele Rigano, “was to contribute to planning the analyses to be conducted on the ecosystem when it is brought back to Earth. In particular, I will be working on genomic DNA sequencing data to reconstruct the dynamics of the microbial and algal populations.
The information we will obtain will be groundbreaking because this is the first space biology experiment conducted not on isolated organisms, but on a self-sustaining ecosystem, thus deepening our knowledge of bio-regenerative systems, of great interest for making future long-duration human missions more sustainable and autonomous."
After years of intense engineering work and deep learning as part of the ESA Academy Experiments Programme, the Scampi experiment launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard the SpaceX CRS-35 mission marks a milestone for the 51 university students who conceived, designed, built and tested the Scampi experiment payload.
The project brought together students from institutions across Europe and the United States to investigate how a closed aquatic ecosystem behaves in the unique environment of microgravity.
The mission represents the culmination of a challenging student-led development journey, which evolved from an innovative proposal to a flight-ready experiment. With the support of ESA Academy and its partners, the team completed the necessary reviews, tests, and qualification activities for launch, while also gaining hands-on experience with a real space project. Scampi is a so-called "late-load payload" that carries living organisms. To preserve the health of the biological ecosystem, final refurbishment and preparation activities were carried out at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the days leading up to launch.
Under the supervision of the ESA Payload Integration Manager, the student team renovated the sealed aquatic ecosystem, performed final inspections of the aquariums, verified the health of the biological components, and confirmed that the payload was in its nominal flight configuration. Once these activities were completed, the payload was handed over to NASA for integration onto the launcher and transportation to the ISS. Upon arrival at the ISS, an astronaut will install the payload in the ICE Cubes Facility, a commercial service from Space Application Services that provides access to the International Space Station and is located inside the European Columbus module.
The experimental ecosystem contains shrimp, algae, and microbial populations, housed in a closed habitat specifically designed to study how ecological systems function when removed from Earth's gravity. Aboard the International Space Station, a team of young researchers and students will monitor the ecosystem's evolution and collect scientific data on how microgravity influences the interactions between its living and non-living components.
The experiment aims to improve our understanding of closed ecological systems, which could one day play a key role in supporting astronauts on long-duration missions beyond low Earth orbit. The data collected will contribute to research on future life support systems capable of sustaining human exploration of the Moon, Mars, and beyond. However, the mission does not end with the conclusion of operations aboard the ISS. At the end of the scientific campaign, the payload will return to Earth, where the ecosystem components will undergo in-depth laboratory analysis.
The students will conduct genetic and biological investigations on the returned samples to determine how prolonged exposure to microgravity has affected populations of shrimp, algae, and microorganisms. By comparing the flight samples with their ground-based counterparts, the team hopes to gain new insights into how living ecosystems adapt to the space environment.
Scampi, according to a statement, "demonstrates what students can accomplish when given the opportunity to develop and fly a real scientific experiment. The program brought together multidisciplinary expertise, including biology, ecology, and engineering, offering students firsthand experience of the technical, operational, and programmatic challenges of human spaceflight." Italy participated, in addition to Rome Tor Vergata, the universities of Trento, Turin, and Pavia, with the Polytechnic University of Turin coordinating the project with the École Polytechnique.
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