An experiment developed by three Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College students is part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program’s Mission 21 payload, carried on SpaceX’s CRS-35 mission, which lifted off from Cape Canaveral on October 13, 2026. The project will compare lubricating oil kept in microgravity with an Earth-based sample. The launch is confirmed; the sources available do not yet confirm the experiment’s arrival at the International Space Station or report any findings.
What the students’ experiment is testing
The team is investigating how lubricating oil responds to gravity—or, more precisely, to the microgravity environment of the International Space Station. Its central comparison is between an in-flight sample and a ground sample maintained by A-B Tech chemistry instructor Evan Lunt. As Lunt put it, “This is so we can compare how it reacts on Earth versus in zero gravity.”
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The college has not identified the oil formulation or published a detailed experimental protocol. That means it is not yet possible to say which properties the students are measuring or how the samples will be evaluated.
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Three A-B Tech physics students developed the experiment. Diesel and Heavy Equipment Technology student Curtis Epley led the team, and physics instructor Shannon Bonomi initiated the project. Bonomi described the work as a way for Epley to apply automotive knowledge to space: “Curtis is applying his (automotive) knowledge to building in space.”
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A-B Tech’s February account said the project was selected in December 2025 and was still being developed at that time. Bonomi also said, “This experiment has never been done before (by SSEP).” That statement is specifically about the program’s history, not a claim that no one has ever studied lubrication in microgravity.
Why oil behavior matters in space
Lubricants help reduce friction and wear in moving mechanisms. A-B Tech has pointed to spacecraft components such as engines, pipes and other moving parts as possible areas where a better understanding of oil behavior could matter. The project’s hoped-for benefit is to give astronauts more options for lubricating spacecraft mechanisms.
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That is a potential application, not a demonstrated engineering result. No findings or performance figures have been published, so the experiment cannot yet establish that a particular oil works better in space or that spacecraft designs will change because of it.
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SpaceX CRS-35 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:33 a.m. EDT (10:33 UTC) on October 13, 2026, according to Spaceflight Now. A-B Tech had reported the same approximate launch time the day before. This confirms that the carrier mission launched, but it does not by itself confirm that the A-B Tech experiment was transferred to the station or that it began operating.
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NASA’s CRS-35 mission page displayed “Future Mission” when reviewed, despite the launch report. That page status is not evidence that the launch did not occur, nor does it establish the payload’s delivery status. The college’s October 12 report said the SSEP payload included projects from 21 colleges.
Mission schedule and remaining uncertainty
A-B Tech’s two reports give different estimates for how long the experiment was expected to remain aboard the station. The February 4 report projected four to six weeks, followed by return and analysis. The October 12 report instead described a one-to-two-week stay. These are conflicting plans, not confirmed mission durations; no current update in the available sources resolves the discrepancy.
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- Experiment arrival: Not confirmed in the available updates.
- On-orbit start and duration: Not established; the college’s two expected-duration estimates differ.
- Results: No observations or comparison findings have been published in the available reports.
- Oil and procedure: The formulation and detailed protocol have not been disclosed.
How the project fits into SSEP
A-B Tech identifies the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) as a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education in the United States and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally, enabled through collaboration with Rhodium Scientific. The college says the research received support from the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space and NASA under agreement 80JSC018M0005, and from Rhodium Scientific under agreement UA-2021-8282. These details describe the project’s program and support context; they do not provide experimental results.
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What to watch for next
The next meaningful update would establish whether the sample reached the ISS and when the experiment began. A later A-B Tech report could also clarify the station duration, identify what was measured, and explain when the Earth-based and flight samples will be compared. Until those details are published, the confirmed milestone is the CRS-35 launch—not a completed experiment or a proven improvement to spacecraft lubrication.
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