CAN-RGX

In 2021, uORocketry partnered with McMaster University’s Brown Lab to compete in the Canadian Reduced Gravity Experiment Design Challenge (CAN-RGX), hosted by SEDS Canada.

The team flew a microgravity science payload on the National Research Council of Canada’s Falcon 20 aircraft. Parabolic flights created short periods of near-weightlessness for the experiment.

The payload studied how E. coli responded to gentamicin, a commonly used antibiotic, during microgravity. The team wanted to learn whether this important antibiotic would remain effective beyond Earth and whether the environment could reveal new antibiotic-resistance pathways.

The results matter for future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars, where crews will need reliable medical countermeasures far from resupply.

uORocketry received the Overall Excellence Award at CAN-RGX.