Kayser Italia hardware for radiation and microgravity experiments in space

Since the beginning of the space era the idea of investigating biological phenomena in microgravity has triggered the interest of scientists and the scientific community. To date a noteworthy number of experiments were performed taking advantage of the existing facilities onboard the International Space Station, satellites, and rockets. In the struggle of adaptation within an artificial space environment (i.e. The International Space Station), biological systems have to cope with two main factors acting simultaneously: weightlessness and radiation environment. Introducing the SIMBOX and DAMA missions carried out in 2011, a comprehensive view on the hardware developed by Kayser Italia for Space Life Sciences is presented. © Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei 2013.