The UK Space Agency and Cambridge-based firm LinkGevity are working with Lithuania-based Delta Biosciences to see how medicines react to being taken into space
A trail-blazing scientific mission to the International Space Station is to test drugs and medicines so they can be used by astronauts on future trips to Mars. Britain is teaming up with a Lithuania-based space health company for the unique new experiments. Selected medicines are being sent into space to see how they react to prolonged exposure to cosmic radiation. If successful, the medicines will be used by astronauts on trips to Mars. Scientist Dominykas Milašius said: “Mankind has always thought about the next frontier. Mars is that next one. We are trying to make sure that we can use near space as an exploration environment and potentially protect astronauts and the crew for longer periods of time as well.
READ MORE: NASA’s menu for Artemis 2 astronauts on first manned moon mission in 54 yearsREAD MORE: China’s mysterious ‘Divine Dragon’ space plane launches for fourth secretive mission
“The UK’s historic focus on life sciences and new space is a good context in which a company like ours can contribute some of the knowledge and build missions together.”
On a Mars mission which will last around three years there will be no resupply and no backup pharmacy. Every tablet and drug must survive the journey.
The UK Space Agency and Cambridge firm LinkGevity are working with Delta Biosciences, a Lithuania-based space health company. Milašius is the co-founder of Delta Biosciences and said medicines are developed and stored on Earth under the protection of the planet’s atmosphere and magnetic field.
But in deep space, astronauts are exposed to galactic cosmic rays and solar particle events that can damage cells and alter molecular structures. Yet radiation does not just affect people. It can change the drugs designed to keep them alive.
He said: “Right now, if you talk about basic medicine such as adrenaline, in contact with space radiation the shelf life shortens massively. It becomes unusable in orbit rapidly. So we need to look for solutions.”
Research has shown that radiation can significantly reduce the shelf life of certain medicines. And on a Mars mission, where there is no resupply and no evacuation, the situation can become catastrophic.
“Three years would be the parameters for a potential mission to Mars,” Milašius said. “We are building towards the goal of building a medical kit for astronauts for Mars that would make sure the medicines work for that entire period.”
Space medicine faces a brutal reality: in deep space, drugs can weaken, fail — or chemically change. Away from Earth’s protective atmosphere, astronauts are exposed to constant and deadly cosmic radiation.
That radiation does not just damage human cells. It can hit the molecular structure of medicines themselves. Liquid emergency drugs such as adrenaline are particularly vulnerable. Under radiation, their shelf life can shrink dramatically.
Other medicines can slowly break down, losing potency over time. Some compounds may form new chemical byproducts as they degrade — substances that were never seen during normal Earth testing.
And antbiotics can become unstable, raising serious concerns about whether they would still fight infection properly after years in orbit. On a Mars mission lasting around three years, there is no resupply and no backup pharmacy. Every tablet and vial must survive the journey.
The experts are now stress-testing medicines in space and redesigning them with radiation-resistant formulations. This is all to ensure astronauts are not carrying a medical kit that quietly stops working millions of miles from home.
