Floor space for animals, with water box installed, is approximately 863 cm2. A removable divider plate provides two separate animal holding areas, if required. In orbit the AEM may be removed from the locker and the interior viewed or photographed through the clear Lexan cover on the top of the unit. When outfitted with an Ambient Temperature Recorder, temperatures within the AEM can be recorded automatically. It also provides for changeout of the AEM food bar plates.
All hardware provides for particulate containment during access and transfer operations.
The Aquatic Habitat will accommodate freshwater and marine organisms such as fish, snails, and plants. The Aquatic Habitat will provide several important capabilities not previously available on-orbit. Access to the centrifuge will provide a large diameter centrifuge for 1-g controls, and selectable experimental acceleration forces from 0 to 2 g to identify response threshold levels of gravity for particular cellular and physiological processes. Regulation of oxygen concentration, water pH, and temperature will make it possible to monitor developmental processes under carefully-controlled experimental conditions. Biological species are kept in twelve 75 ml chambers, six at 0g and six at 1g.