Microgravity Experiment Research Locker/Incubator (MERLIN) was designed by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Center for Biophysical Sciences and Engineering (CBSE) to operate as a hardmounted, single middeck locker equivalent within the ISS EXPRESS rack, the Space Shuttle, SpaceX Dragon, and Cygnus (spacecraft) . It is used to provide a temperature controlled environment for scientific experiments between -20 °C and 48.5 °C. MERLIN is also used to Support Crew Galley Operations.[1]
Description edit
- MERLIN is cooled using Thermoelectric elements, and can be cooled to -20 °C while using ISS water supply or -10 °C while only being air cooled. Resistive heating elements are used to provide an incubation capacity up to 48.5 °C.
- MERLIN contains temperature sensor connections inside the payload volume, for monitoring sample temperature, for up to 12 sensors.
- The internal sample volume is ~0.65 cubic feet (0.018 m3).
Additional Cold Stowage edit
MERLIN is one of multiple units available for storage on the ISS and/or transportation to and from the ISS.
- Minus Eighty Degree Laboratory Freezer for ISS (MELFI)
- +4 °C to -80 °C
- GLACIER (General Laboratory Active Cryogenic ISS Experiment Refrigerator)
- +4 °C to –160 °C
- Polar (Research Refrigerator for ISS)
- +4 °C to -95 °C
See also edit
References edit
- ^ "Fact Sheet (Microgravity Experiment Research Locker Incubator (MERLIN))". NASA. Archived from the original on 25 November 2010. Retrieved 14 January 2015.