The Miniature Science Experiment Tray (MSET) was

a compact carrier system designed to fly very small experiments to space on the Space Shuttle. It was tailored to fit onto the Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) (photo bottom left), a framework developed by Spacehab Inc., for flying payloads in the Shuttle's payload bay. The aim of MSET (photo right) was to broaden the experiment market by reducing tray and experiment sizes and masses to bring down flight costs to customers. Slightly larger than a laptop computer, it was machined out of aluminium alloy and fitted precisely onto the ICC structural grid. MSET provided an ideal compact carrier for micro-experiments (about half the size of a portable telephone - images bottom right) in fields such as materials exposure, biological exposure, radiation shielding, and school and college physics. Sixteen micro-experiments could fly on a single tray. MSET could also fly like an open laptop with two trays hinged along one edge and the bottom tray supporting batteries, sensors and data loggers.

The second Space Shuttle disaster in 2003

with the loss of the Orbiter COLUMBIA led

NASA to terminate spaceflight access for

all payloads except priority payloads for

the International Space Station. The MSET

venture was forced to cease development.