There is no doubt NASA is a pro at hurtling stuff, like people, through space. Among it’s latest items to reach weightlessness, a bunch of bacteria.

On Saturday the U.S. agency sent up a 10-pound satellite, code name GeneSat-1. On board was a miniature laboratory geared to study the microscopic organisms.

The point: To see how bacteria are affected by space. Beyond the obvious, NASA hopes GeneSat will be the first of many satellites to help researchers investigate such biological quandaries as the weakening of immune systems and the effects of drug therapies during spaceflight.

Who knows, maybe NASA will find a new indication for a drug once weightlessness is applied (Bloggers, any thoughts on how big pharma could use such knowledge?). 

Scientists working with the agency are also hoping the mission will shed light on how spaceflight affects the human body. More specifically, the intestinal bacteria that help earthlings digest food.

To get the answers to such questions as drug effects in space, the onboard micro-laboratory will use technology like sensors and optical systems to detect proteins that are the products of specific genetic activity. Ground control will receive data radioed from the micro-laboratory after tests have been completed. 

So far, it appears things are on course. “All the subsystems appear to be performing flawlessly,” said GeneSat’s Chief Technologist Tony Ricco in a mission status report published Thursday. “Optics are making stable measurements, fluidics have fed the E. coli, the bugs are growing well and GLOWING.”