Space Operations

Arcata Space Operations Support

Arcata personnel strive to further scientific knowledge and support human expansion across the solar system. For over 40 years, we’ve worked with NASA in support of its mission to “support the growth of the nation’s economy in space and aeronautics, increase understanding of the universe and our place in it, improve America’s aerospace technologies, and advance American leadership.”

We work with NASA to build instruments to peer into deep space, study the challenges of traveling and living on a distant planet, investigate and analyze the impact of climate change, and identify the technologies that will shape the future of space travel.

Arcata Space Projects

Uniform Protein Crystal Growth

For the Uniform Protein Crystal Growth payload, we not only supported initial integration but ongoing operations.  UPCG focuses on leveraging the microgravity environment to grow “perfect” protein crystals, which play a large role in turning genes on and off...

ISS Food Physiology

We are supporting a food physiology experiment on the ISS to understand the impact that spaceflight has on human physiology, especially on the immune system. The study will compare the current diet with a new enhanced diet that accounts for spaceflight’s effect on...