Who helps us do experiments in space? Decoding the scientific glove box

The successful launch of the Wentian experimental module and its successful docking with the Tianhe core module have brought many scientific experimental cabinets to the Tiangong space station to carry out space experiments and solve the problems of large-scale, long-term manned space applications. Among these experimental cabinets, there is a visible, measurable, controllable, high-precision, and replaceable scientific glove box.

Schematic diagram of scientific glove box

What is this glove box used for? How does it help space science research? Let the experts of the mission team explain it to you.

Not all gloves are qualified to fly

The name of the glove box sounds a bit strange at first. A wardrobe is used to store clothes, but a glove box is used to store gloves. What do astronauts do with so many gloves in the space station?

In each experimental cabinet of the Wentian Experimental Cabin, there are various experimental modules that have been carefully designed and manufactured. If you touch them directly with your hands during the experiment, it may not only contaminate the experimental instruments, but also cause changes in the experimental parameters, destroying the scientific nature of the experiment.

Therefore, the experimental module must be isolated from the air in the space station. The device used to isolate the experimental module is what we call a glove box. There are four special gloves on the glove box for astronauts to operate in the glove box. The visual window and detection equipment on the box allow astronauts to see the state changes in the box and provide data support for the experiment.

It is true that there are gloves in the glove box, but they are not the ordinary gloves we usually come into contact with. What is so special about these gloves in heaven?

First of all , all materials in aerospace have high requirements for flame retardancy, so the materials used to make gloves must also be very non-flammable. The gloves we see in daily life, whether cotton, linen or chemical fiber, are very easy to burn, and this one "selects" most of the candidate gloves. In addition , in the case of conventional default scientific experiments, astronauts cannot operate directly with their hands, which requires a high sense of touch of the gloves, and the flexibility of operation is also a factor to be considered, so non-flammable metal materials are basically out of the question. Finally , both metal and non-metallic materials must have a strong ability to inhibit mold growth, otherwise it will contaminate the glove box and cause the experiment to fail. Therefore, it takes a lot of effort and time to develop a glove material that fully meets the above three conditions.

Schematic diagram of scientific glove box

In addition, the glove box is designed with a special quick-change glove function, which allows astronauts to maintain isolation between the inside and outside of the glove box while changing gloves, thereby preventing two-way contamination.

The robotic arm in the glove box: Good news for people with trembling hands

The glove box is also equipped with a dexterous robotic arm that can perform high-precision scientific operations on orbit. It is a space-crossing scientific experimental platform for our space biology, life sciences, and aerospace medicine, and can provide a closed and clean operating space for scientific experiments. This robotic arm can achieve an operating accuracy of 0.5 mm , which is really good news for people with trembling hands! With such a robotic arm, astronauts can complete experimental operations more accurately.

Schematic diagram of the robotic arm in the glove box

The picture above is not the complete version of the robot arm. The glove box is also equipped with a micromanipulation system that can perform very delicate operations such as extraction and injection of cell nuclei. The system can achieve an operating accuracy of 5 microns, which is one tenth the diameter of a hair.

The robotic arm is an extension of the astronaut's arm . It replaces the astronaut's hands to perform experimental operations, while ensuring that the astronaut does not touch the experimental equipment. It can carry out batch handling in the box, such as taking and placing culture dishes; conduct on-orbit cell-related research, such as microinjection; and emit ultraviolet rays to sterilize the glove box for thorough and fully automatic cleaning.

"Hands" can reach the sky, and "eyes" must also reach the sky

There are also a large number of sensors on the glove box, which record in real time the voltage signals, current signals, as well as temperature, humidity, light, wind speed and other information in various parts of the glove box, reflecting the working status of the glove box or experimental device.

Sensor Schematic

Interpreting this information may be beyond the astronauts' expertise and will take up their working time. Therefore, all sensor information on the glove box can be transmitted to the ground laboratory in real time, and ground scientists are responsible for interpreting and adjusting it, and can issue instructions from the ground to directly control the parameters of the glove box.

In other words, in addition to astronauts, scientists on the ground can also "see" the glove box in real time and understand its working status through various sensor signals, so that they can conduct scientific experiments in the space station without leaving their homes. The various adjustment functions on the glove box can also fully meet the different parameters required by scientific experiments. The temperature, humidity, light, etc. can be finely adjusted, making the glove box a truly open and free scientific experiment platform.

Thank you for your hard work!

The scientific glove box is the "hands" and "eyes" of astronauts and scientists, helping them complete scientific experiments, maintaining experimental modules from contamination, and being able to perform very precise and delicate operations. In order to complete the design and production of the glove box, the responsible team of the Shenyang Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences began a long and arduous research and development process in 2015. Overtime work during holidays has become the norm for the team, and the longest time has been working continuously for more than 50 hours. However, no one backed down because of the difficulties, because everyone thought in their hearts: "So many people have paid so much hardship for this, and we can't let it go wrong and fail in our hands!"

Pictures of aerospace researchers at work

Perhaps this is the most simple epitome of the aerospace spirit! At the end of this series, while we admire the rapid development of science and technology in China, we also pay the highest tribute to the scientific workers who are silently fighting on the front line of aerospace.

This article was written by Mou Fupeng based on an interview with Professor Liu Xiaoyuan from the Shenyang Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences

The article was first published in Science Academy