Thailand Sends First NASA-Bound Experiment to ISS with Liquid Crystal Research
Kasetsart University project on liquid crystals in microgravity marks Thailand’s debut in NASA space missions
Thailand has, for the first time, launched a home-grown scientific experiment aboard a NASA mission.
Early on the morning of September 15, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the Cygnus NG-23 resupply spacecraft bound for the International Space Station.
Among its payload was the Thailand Liquid Crystals in Space (TLC) project, developed by Kasetsart University.
The TLC experiment, which studies the behaviour of liquid crystals under microgravity, will run for three months aboard the ISS.
It involves 144 hours of experimental time carried out under instruction from the Thai research team, which will operate from two ground control centres in Houston, Texas, and Boulder, Colorado.
The payload consists of two modules: a Control Module weighing 15.7 kilograms that supplies electricity, water, and air, and an Image Module of 4 kilograms, which creates liquid crystal films on custom experimental plates so that changes in the crystal structures can be observed in microgravity.
The modules integrate with the ISS’s existing KERMIT microscope.
Representatives from the Thai side at the launch included the acting president of Kasetsart University, Damrong Sripraram, officials from Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI), the Program Management Unit for Human Resources & Institutional Development, Research and Innovation (PMU-B), and the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA).
On the NASA side, Robyn Gatens, Director of the ISS, and Robert Hampton, Director of Payload Operations at the U.S. ISS National Laboratory, congratulated the Thai research team.
Natthaphon Chattham, head of the TLC project and researcher at Kasetsart University’s Physics Department, said that more than six years of work had led Thai science to this moment of international recognition.
The experiment marks the first time Thai scientific research has been formally flown aboard a NASA mission.
All data and video produced during the experiment will be stored on a six-terabyte solid-state drive onboard.
The payload and collected data are expected to return to Earth aboard the SpaceX-33 mission in January 2026, after which the materials will be transported to Thailand for detailed analysis.
Early on the morning of September 15, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the Cygnus NG-23 resupply spacecraft bound for the International Space Station.
Among its payload was the Thailand Liquid Crystals in Space (TLC) project, developed by Kasetsart University.
The TLC experiment, which studies the behaviour of liquid crystals under microgravity, will run for three months aboard the ISS.
It involves 144 hours of experimental time carried out under instruction from the Thai research team, which will operate from two ground control centres in Houston, Texas, and Boulder, Colorado.
The payload consists of two modules: a Control Module weighing 15.7 kilograms that supplies electricity, water, and air, and an Image Module of 4 kilograms, which creates liquid crystal films on custom experimental plates so that changes in the crystal structures can be observed in microgravity.
The modules integrate with the ISS’s existing KERMIT microscope.
Representatives from the Thai side at the launch included the acting president of Kasetsart University, Damrong Sripraram, officials from Thailand Science Research and Innovation (TSRI), the Program Management Unit for Human Resources & Institutional Development, Research and Innovation (PMU-B), and the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA).
On the NASA side, Robyn Gatens, Director of the ISS, and Robert Hampton, Director of Payload Operations at the U.S. ISS National Laboratory, congratulated the Thai research team.
Natthaphon Chattham, head of the TLC project and researcher at Kasetsart University’s Physics Department, said that more than six years of work had led Thai science to this moment of international recognition.
The experiment marks the first time Thai scientific research has been formally flown aboard a NASA mission.
All data and video produced during the experiment will be stored on a six-terabyte solid-state drive onboard.
The payload and collected data are expected to return to Earth aboard the SpaceX-33 mission in January 2026, after which the materials will be transported to Thailand for detailed analysis.
