MicACTin experiment

MicACTin is a stem cell experiment that investigates how the immune system is affected by microgravity.

The experiment took a ride on the SubOrbital Express-4 sounding rocket that launched from the Esrange Space Center outside Kiruna, in the north of Sweden, at 06:00 CET on 26 November 2024. The rocket reached an altitude of 256 km before falling back to Earth and providing approximately six minutes of microgravity to the scientific experiments onboard.

The experiment exposed to microgravity 32 containers filled with T cells – the body’s microscopic soldiers that fight infections – while a centrifuge maintained another set of 16 containers under normal gravitational conditions on Earth.