Astronauts have begun liquid crystal research for Thailand’s TLC project aboard the International Space Station.

12/19/20253 min read

On December 18, 2025, PRKU – Corporate Communications, Kasetsart University posted an update stating that the long-awaited moment had arrived: Thailand’s “TLC” payload (Thailand Liquid Crystals in Space)—developed by Thai researchers for liquid crystal experiments in space—has been installed for experimentation by NASA astronaut Mike Fincke on the International Space Station (ISS).

According to the post, Fincke installed the TLC payload into the KERMIT microscope (KEyence Research Microscope Testbed) aboard the ISS and replaced the microscope filter with the TLC project filter that was delivered with the payload. The installation took place on December 1, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. (Texas local time).

120 Hours of Microgravity Experiments (Dec 1–22, 2025)

The mission is being conducted in collaboration with the TLC research team, led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nattaporn Chattam (Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Kasetsart University). The project studies thin liquid-crystal films under microgravity for a total of 120 hours, carried out from December 1 to December 22, 2025.

Each morning, astronauts must install the payload and initiate the experiments for the research team. Operations are coordinated across three main groups:

On the ISS: Astronauts rotate daily to install the payload and change the KERMIT microscope filters to match each experiment design.
Thai research team: Controls payload operations from Voyager Technologies’ payload control room in Houston, Texas.
Microscope control team: Operates the KERMIT microscope from BioServe Space Technologies in Boulder, Colorado.

Astronaut Team Supporting TLC (5 People)

The astronauts supporting TLC operations are:

Commander Mike Fincke (NASA)
Zena Cardman (NASA)
Kimiya Yui (JAXA)
Chris Williams (NASA)
Jonny Kim (NASA)

Research Goal: Studying “Defects” in Thin Liquid-Crystal Films

The TLC project aims to study defects in thin liquid-crystal films through three sub-experiments:

Thin liquid-crystal films under environments with vapor pressure differences
Thin liquid-crystal films under air shear
Thin liquid-crystal films under environments with temperature differences

Thai Research Team

The experiment team includes:

Principal Investigator: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nattaporn Chattam
Deputy Principal Investigator: Asst. Prof. Dr. Apichat Phatthanaphokhrattana
Wutthiphon Sathianphaisan (software engineer and master’s student)
Chaturong Chanria (electrical engineer)
Theerathat Chomchok (PhD student; oversees Experiment 1)
Jutharat Kaewthong (researcher; oversees Experiment 2)
Noppadon Saniwong na Ayutthaya (master’s student; oversees Experiment 3)

Development, NASA Safety Reviews, and Launch to the ISS

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nattaporn Chattam stated that the TLC payload took about two years to develop. The implementation partner was Voyager Technologies, and the Mission Manager was Mr. Marcello Corporicci, supported by Voyager engineers to ensure the payload met NASA standards. The payload also had to pass four phases of NASA safety reviews before being certified for delivery to the ISS.

The post also noted that on September 16, 2025, the TLC payload launched smoothly from Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, at 05:11 a.m. (Thailand time). The mission was part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program. TLC flew inside Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft (flight NG-23) and was launched to the ISS on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Funding and Expected Impact

The project received research funding for payload construction and testing from PMU-B under TSRI. Funding for launch and on-orbit operations—valued at more than 500 million baht—was supported by the U.S. ISS National Laboratory and NASA.

The goal of liquid-crystal experiments in microgravity is to advance next-generation LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) technology beyond current capabilities. By removing Earth’s gravity effects, microgravity experiments can significantly reduce defects in liquid crystals, potentially allowing them to respond more effectively to electric fields than on Earth.

“Having the payload in space and being able to conduct different experiments makes us extremely proud that it is operating exactly as designed. We’re glad it survived the intense vibrations of launch and is still functioning as planned. This shows that Thai researchers’ work meets international space standards… With full effort and determination, we can reach our goals—we can definitely reach space,” said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nattaporn Chattam.