Members of atlanTTic participate in the assessment session of the BIXO space mission, promoted by UVigo SpaceLab.

The leaders of BIXO (Bacteriological Intercommunication eXperiment in Orbit), from UVigo Spacelab, presented the progress to date of this atlanTTic project, during an event held at the School of Telecommunication Engineering. Martín Lamas, director of the research centre which is part of the CIGUS Network, together with the Director of the School of Telecommunication Engineering, Rebeca Díaz, and Mónica Valderrama, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Communication and Institutional Relations. All three speakers expressed their pride at this initiative in which places students at the centre of the project and which, a Díaz reminded those present, is the result of a trajectory in the field of aerospace studies that began back in 2007 at the initiative of Professor Fernando Aguado, an atlanTTic researcher involved in monitoring the project of one of those present.

The objective of the event was to ensure that BIXO meets all the requirements applicable to European space projects and thereby can start creating models for testing and ultimate production. Involved in the project’s Preliminary Requirements Review (PRR) were companies from various sectors including three of the firms sponsoring the mission: DHV Technology, UARX Space and the University of Vigo spin-off, Alén Space. Participating on behalf of academic were the heads of various research groups from both atlanTTic and CINBIO, both members of the CIGUS Network, since the BIXO mission has a strong biotechnological focus. Indeed, the main objective is to analyse the real effects of the prolonged exposure of micro-organisms to the environment in space.