Utilisation of the European Retrieval Carrier Eureca for life science research.

Eureca, the European Retrieval Carrier, is a reusable free-flying platform, which will be launched to 500 km altitude and retrieved by the Shuttle. up to 6 months later at 300 km. The first mission of Eureca is dedicated to research in the fields of life sciences and material sciences. The experimental hardware of the first mission will consist of a variety of processing chambers for crystal growth and equipment for biological investigations viz plant growth and protein crystallization, and there is the possibility to perform experiments in the field of exobiology. The Eureca mission offers the opportunity for long time exposure of material and of terrestrial origin to the unique environment of space or to selected factors of it, such as the radiation environment, the space vacuum, extreme temperatures and microgravity conditions.