NASA's first Sample Cartridge Assembly (SCA) project designed and validated a payload containing a materials research sample in a sealed environment. The SCA was heated in the European Space Agency's (ESA) Low Gradient Furnace (LGF) that is housed inside the Material Science Research Rack (MSRR) located on the International Space Station (ISS). Sintered metals and crystal growth experiments in microgravity are examples of some of the types of materials research that may be performed with a SCA.

Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-50) astronaut Bornie Dunbar wears protective goggles to assemble a zeolite sample cartridge for the Crystal Growth Furnace (CGF) in the United States Microgravity Laboratory-1 (USML-1) science module.

iss061e092274 (12/18/2019) --- A view of the Materials Science Laboratory (MSL) Sample Cartridge Assembly (SCA) in the Destiny module aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The Materials Science Laboratory (MSL) is used for basic materials research in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS). The MSL can accommodate and support diverse Experiment Modules. In this way many material types, such as metals, alloys, polymers, semiconductors, ceramics, crystals, and glasses, can be studied to discover new applications for existing materials and new or improved materials.