Quick Summary
• Connecticut-based biotech LambdaVision has spent nearly a decade turning the International Space Station (ISS) into its primary manufacturing floor. The company has developed an artificial retina, which is assembled from hundreds of alternating layers of bacteriorhodopsin, a light-sensitive protein. On Earth, gravity creates sedimentation and buoyancy effects that disrupt layer uniformity, driving up material waste…
Additional Context
Connecticut-based biotech LambdaVision has spent nearly a decade turning the International Space Station (ISS) into its primary manufacturing floor. The company has developed an artificial retina, which is assembled from hundreds of alternating layers of bacteriorhodopsin, a light-sensitive protein.
On Earth, gravity creates sedimentation and buoyancy effects that disrupt layer uniformity, driving up material waste and capping how many viable implants can be produced. In orbit, those forces disappear, and the results are measurably different.
Over nine investigations conducted in partnership with commercial provider Space Tango, the team built and refined a compact, automated system housed inside CubeLab hardware. Each mission allowed engineers to stress-test fault detection, tighten pro