Suite Ride: Ax-4 with India’s Shukla could pave way for diabetic astronauts

HOUSTON: Among the many science experiments that the four astronauts, including India’s Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla, are preparing to conduct at the International Space Station (ISS) as part of Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) mission later this year is research that can potentially pave the way for people with diabetes to travel to space in the future.
In an exclusive interview to TOI, Byran Mitchell, Ax4 mission manager, shared details on the research project named ‘Suite Ride’ along with more details, including some other experiments the astronauts will be conducting at ISS.
Mitchell spoke during TOI’s visit to Axiom Space headquarters in Houston, Texas, which is among the locations Shukla is training for the mission. While TOI visited the mission control room and even facilities where Axiom is building its own space station, Shukla or Group Captain Prashanth Nair, the second Indian astronaut training with Axiom as Shukla’s backup, could not speak with TOI as there was no clearance from Isro for the same.
Stating that Axiom spends a lot of time doing pre planning mission work to get a really good idea of mission objectives that the crew members are going to execute, Mitchell said, there are some good opportunities to do science as well.

“...Speaking of really great opportunities, one that comes to mind for AX4 is a research partnership between Axiom Space and Burjeel Holdings on an experiment called ‘Suite Ride’. This one’s really fascinating because we’re paving the initial groundwork to enable insulin dependent diabetic individuals to be able to fly in a commercial space environment. And so we’re actually attacking this problem in three different ways,” Mitchell said.
The first is ensuring that they get calibrated blood glucose monitoring data. The second is capturing that calibrated data on orbit from crew members. And then the third is actually bringing that data from on orbit down to the ground to enable medical professionals to be able to assess the data.
“So again, for this experiment on the flight, what we're doing is expanding possibilities and enabling the inclusion of a group of people and population that traditionally has been excluded from the space environment,” he added.


Further, stressing that the diverse and multinational crew will bring unique perspectives on this flight, Mitchell said, Shux (Shukla’s call sign for the mission) has really exciting research where he’s focused on life science.
“...I’ll give you two examples. One is to investigate the effects of microgravity on micrology which is really important as it could have potential future applications on uses like food, fuel and life support systems. The second experiment he’s working to accomplish is to investigate the viability of six different crop seeds for future spaceflight applications.”
The European Space Agency astronaut from Poland, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski and Hungarian astronaut Tibor Kapu too will be performing experiments.
The ESA astronaut will be working on a variety of human research experiments and technology demonstrations. One that’s focused on bone loss of crew members as it enters the microgravity environment for these experiments and also on how it recovers over time. Second, human behavioural and mental health over time. Changes in the behaviour of astronauts over time.
“Finally, Kapu, the mission specialist from Hungary will fly some 3D printed objects to space to assess their performance and characteristics. Second: Ultrasound to characterise the flow of blood through the crew members body. In conclusion, we have really diverse science experiments on this flight,” Mitchell said.