TangoBox

TangoBox facilities reimagine a terrestrial laboratory’s sterile hood environment as an automated, modular platform for research, development, and manufacturing in space, paving a pathway to pilot-scale and commercial manufacturing. Its modular design internally supports subsystem capabilities including spectroscopy, centrifuges, incubators, microplate readers, and DNA analyzers, and supports single-cell genetic sequencers; units can be attached together with integrated robotics for sample handoffs and exchange of materials and equipment. TangoBox uses state-of-the-art Good Manufacturing Practices, intended to open a path to FDA approval for commercial patient therapeutics manufactured in space, and supports cell culture, tissue culture, chemistry, fiber optics, and other materials research and manufacturing. Automation features a six-axis robotic arm plus traditional automation for thermal control, fluid dynamics, and observation.