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Space Station Science: Biological Research

Each month, we highlight a different research topic on the International Space Station. In August, our focus is biological research. Learning how spaceflight affects living organisms will help us understand potential health risks related to humans on long duration missions, including our journey to Mars.

Cells, microbes, animals and plants are affected by microgravity, and studying the processes involved in adaptation to spaceflight increases our fundamental understanding of biological processes on Earth. Results on Earth from biological research in space include the development of new medications, improved agriculture, advancements in tissue engineering and regeneration, and more. 

Take a look at a few of the biological research experiments performed on space station:

Biomolecule Sequencer

Living organisms contain DNA, and sequencing DNA is a powerful way to understand how they respond to changing environments. The Biomolecule Sequencer experiment hopes to demonstrate (for the first time) that DNA sequencing is feasible in an orbiting spacecraft. Why? A space-based DNA sequencer could identify microbes, diagnose diseases and understand crew member health, and potentially help detect DNA- based life elsewhere in the solar system.

Ant-stronauts

Yes, ant-stronauts…as in ants in space. These types of studies provide insights into how ants answer collective search problems. Watching how the colony adapts as a unit in the quest for resources in extreme environments, like space, provides data that can be used to build algorithms with varied applications. Understanding how ants search in different conditions could have applications for robotics.

TAGES

The TAGES experiment (Transgenic Arabidopsis Gene Expression System) looks to see how microgravity impacts the growth of plant roots. Fluorescent markers placed on the plant’s genes allow scientists to study root development of Arabidopsis (a cress plant) grown on the space station. Evidence shows that directional light in microgravity skews root growth to the right, rather than straight down from the light source. Root growth patters on station mimic that of plants grown at at 45% degree angle on Earth. Space flight appears to slow the rate of the plant’s early growth as well.

Heart Cells

Spaceflight can cause a suite of negative health effects, which become more problematic as crew members stay in orbit for long periods of time. Effects of Microgravity on Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomycytes (Heart Cells) studies the human heart, specifically how heart muscle tissue contracts, grows and changes in microgravity. Understanding how heart muscle cells change in space improves efforts for studying disease, screening drugs and conducting cell replacement therapy for future space missions.

Medaka Fish

Chew on these results…Jaw bones of Japanese Medaka fish in microgravity show decreased mineral density and increased volume of osteoclasts, cells that break down bone tissue. Results from this study improve our understanding of the mechanisms behind bone density and organ tissue changes in space.

These experiments, and many others, emphasize the importance of biological research on the space station. Understanding the potential health effects for crew members in microgravity will help us develop preventatives and countermeasures.

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ABRACADABRA (A Broadband/Resonant Approach to Cosmic Axion Detection with an Amplifying B-field Ring Apparatus), consists of a series of magnetic coils, wound in the shape of a toroid, or donut, which is then encased in a layer of superconducting metal and kept at temperatures just above absolute zero. The scientists plan to use a highly sensitive magnetometer, placed inside the donut hole, to detect any signs of axions’ influence. MIT physicists are proposing a new experiment to detect a dark matter particle called the axion. If successful, the effort could crack one of the most perplexing unsolved mysteries in particle physics, as well as finally yield a glimpse of dark matter. Axions are hypothetical elementary particles that are thought to be among the lightest particles in the universe — about one-quintillionth the size of a proton. These ultralight particles are virtually invisible, yet if they exist, axions and other yet-unobserved particles may make up 80 percent of the material in the universe, in the form of dark matter. In a paper published online in Physical Review Letters, the MIT team proposes an experiment to detect axions by simulating an extreme astrophysical phenomenon known as a magnetar — a type of neutron star that generates an immensely powerful magnetic field. The physicists reasoned that in the presence of an axion such a huge magnetic field should waver ever so slightly, producing a second, vastly smaller magnetic field as a signature of the axion itself. The team consists of MIT associate professor of physics Jesse Thaler, MIT Pappalardo Fellow Benjamin Safdi, and Yonatan Kahn PhD ’15, now a postdoc at Princeton University. Together, they designed an experiment to recreate the physics of a magnetar in a controlled laboratory environment, using technology borrowed from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The core of the experiment, which they’ve named ABRACADABRA (A Broadband/Resonant Approach to Cosmic Axion Detection with an Amplifying B-field Ring Apparatus), consists of a series of magnetic coils, wound in the shape of a toroid, or donut, which is then encased in a layer of superconducting metal and kept in a refrigerator at temperatures just above absolute zero, to minimize external noise. The scientists plan to use a highly sensitive magnetometer, placed inside the donut hole, to detect any signs of axions’ influence. “Axions are very strange, counterintuitive particles,” Thaler says. “They’re extremely light, with feeble interactions, and yet this particle may dominate the matter budget of the universe and be five times more abundant by mass than ordinary matter. So we really had to think hard on whether these particles are in principle detectable using current technology. It’s extremely daunting.” A “tantalizing” particle If they are detected, axions may also explain an outstanding dilemma in particle physics, known as the Strong CP (charge parity) problem: Since the 1970s, scientists have grown increasingly puzzled over what Safdi describes as “the indifference of neutrons to electric fields.” Neutrons are elementary particles that are found in the nucleus of almost every atom in matter, and they do not carry a net charge. “We don’t expect neutrons to accelerate in the presence of an electric field because they don’t carry electric charge, but you might expect them to rotate,” Safdi says. “That’s because we expect them to have an electric dipole moment, where you can think of a neutron having a plus charge on one side and a minus charge on the other. But from our current understanding, this rotation effect does not exist, whereas theory says it should.” Scientists have hypothesized that this bizarre effect may be explained by the axion, which would somehow remove a neutron’s electric dipole moment. If so, the axion would modify electric and magnetic phenomena in a way that could be detectable experimentally. “It’s very tantalizing to say there might be a particle that serves this deep purpose, and even more so if we were to detect the presence of these particles in the form of dark matter,” Thaler says. The hunt is on Currently, Thaler says most axion hunting has been carried out by researchers at the University of Washington who are running the Axion Dark Matter Experiment, or ADMX. The experiment uses a resonant microwave cavity, set within a large superconducting magnet, to detect very weak conversions of axions to microwave photons. The experiment is tuned to look for axions within a specific range of around one quadrillionth the mass of a proton. Thaler and his team realized that they could extend this range, and look for much smaller, lighter particles, on the order of one quintillionth the mass of a proton, by recreating the physics of magnetars, in the lab. “The Strong CP problem is associated with whether a neutron’s spin responds to electric effects, and you can kind of think of a magnetar as one gigantic spin with big magnetic fields,” Thaler explains. “If axions are coming in and changing the properties of nuclear matter to resolve the Strong CP problem, maybe axions can interact with this magnetar and allow you to see it in a new way. So the subtle effects of axions should be amplified.” The team’s prototype design is surprisingly small — “about the palm of your hand,” Safdi says. The researchers, who are theoretical physicists by training, are now working with experimentalists at MIT to build the prototype, which is designed to generate a baseline magnetic field of about 1 tesla, comparable to current MRI machines. If axions are present, that field should waver slightly, producing a very tiny oscillation at a frequency that is directly related to the axion’s mass. Using a high-precision magnetometer, Thaler hopes to pick up that frequency and ultimately use it to identify the axion’s size. “Only recently have there been many good ideas to search for [low-frequency axions],” says Gray Rybka, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Washington and an ADMX researcher, who was not involved in the research. “The experiment proposed here builds on previous ideas and, if the authors are correct, may be the most practical experimental configuration that can explore some of the plausible lower-frequency axion regimes.” “We have an instrument that’s sensitive to many wavelengths, and we can tickle it with an axion of one particular wavelength, and ABRACADABRA will resonate,” Thaler says. “And we will be going into uncharted territory, where we could possibly see dark matter from this prototype. That would be amazing.” This research was supported, in part, by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. 

Explanation: Big, beautiful spiral galaxy NGC 7331 is often touted as an analog to our ownMilky Way. About 50 million light-years distant in the northern constellation Pegasus, NGC 7331 was recognized early on as a spiral nebulaand is actually one of the brighter galaxies notincluded in Charles Messier''s famous 18th century catalog. Since the galaxy''s disk is inclined to our line-of-sight, long telescopic exposures often result in an image that evokes a strong sense of depth. The effect is further enhanced in this sharp image from a small telescope by galaxies that lie beyond the gorgeous island universe. The most prominent background galaxies are about one tenth theapparent size of NGC 7331 and so lie roughly ten times farther away. Their close alignment on the sky with NGC 7331 occurs just by chance. Seen through faint foreground dust clouds lingering above the plane of Milky Way, this visual grouping of galaxies is known as theDeer Lick Group.

RIP

While flying over Boston, Leonard Nimoy’s birthplace, NASA Astronaut Terry Virts pays tribute to the Star Trek star http://nbcnews.to/1AUElvf

NASA tested new “eyes” for its next Mars rover mission on a rocket built by Masten Space Systems in Mojave, California, thanks in part to NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program, or FOP.

The agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, is leading development of the Mars 2020 rover and its Lander Vision System, or LVS. In 2014, the prototype vision system launched 1,066 feet (325 meters) into the air aboard Masten’s rocket-powered “Xombie” test platform and helped guide the rocket to a precise landing at a predesignated target. LVS flew as part of a larger system of experimental landing technologies called the Autonomous Descent and Ascent Powered-flight Testbed, or ADAPT.

LVS, a camera-based navigation system, photographs the terrain beneath a descending spacecraft and matches it with onboard maps allowing the craft to detect its location relative to landing hazards, such as boulders and outcroppings.

The system can then direct the craft toward a safe landing at its primary target site or divert touchdown toward better terrain if there are hazards in the approaching target area. Image matching is aided by an inertial measurement unit that monitors orientation.

The Flight Opportunities Program funded the Masten flight tests under the Space Technology Mission Directorate. The program obtains commercial suborbital space launch services to pursue science, technology and engineering to mature technology relevant to NASA’s pursuit of space exploration. The program nurtures the emerging suborbital space industry and allows NASA to focus on deep space.

Andrew Johnson, principal investigator in development of the Lander Vision System development, said the tests built confidence that the vision system will enable Mars 2020 to land safely.

“By providing funding for flight tests, FOP motivated us to build guidance, navigation and control payloads for testing on Xombie,” Johnson said. “In the end we showed a closed loop pinpoint landing demo that eliminated any technical concerns with flying the Lander Vision System on Mars 2020.”

According to “Lander Vision System for Safe and Precise Entry Descent and Landing,” a 2012 abstract co-authored by Johnson for a Mars exploration workshop, LVS enables a broad range of potential landing sites for Mars missions.

Typically, Mars landers have lacked the ability to analyze and react to hazards, the abstract says. To avoid hazards, mission planners selected wide-open landing sites with mostly flat terrain. As a result, landers and rovers were limited to areas with relatively limited geological features, and were unable to access many sites of high scientific interest with more complex and hazardous surface morphology. LVS will enable safe landing at these scientifically compelling Mars landing sites.

An LVS-equipped mission allows for opportunities to land within more challenging environments and pursue new discoveries about Mars. With LVS baselined for inclusion on Mars 2020, the researchers are now focused on building the flight system ahead of its eventual role on the Red Planet.

To learn more about NASA’s flight opportunities program, visit:

https://flightopportunities.nasa.gov/

To read more about NASA’s Mars 2020 rover, visit:

http://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

Life on Mars

Vote for Space at SXSW 2017

We need your help! There are a number of exciting space-related panels proposed for next year’s South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas. SXSW is a community-driven event and voting accounts for 30% of the decision-making process for any given programming slot. The selection process is extremely competitive and the more votes we submit for the space panels, the more likely a panel related to space exploration will be included in the final SXSW program. 

To help you out as you consider what to vote for, we’ve put together a list of all the NASA-related panel proposals. 

These proposals look at ways we explore the solar system and beyond:

New Eyes on our Home System: NASA’s Next Telescope

Dark Energy and Exoplanets: NASA’s WFIRST Mission

Capturing NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope

Lessons from the Fringes of the Solar System

Into the Unknown: The People Behind Webb Telescope

These proposals looks at how we’re using out-of-this-world tech and data to create incredible experiences here on Earth and helping solve challenges through your participation:

Space 360: Experience NASA Missions in VR/AR/video

The Power of Many: Wisdom from the Crowd 

It’s Time to Ask More of Open Data

A little closer to home, this proposal explores our work to study and observe our dynamic home world, Earth:

NASA - Doing Work to Keep it Cool 

We want to send humans on a journey to Mars. How? These proposals would dive into this question and more: 

So you want to go to Mars?

Humans, Robots + Microbes: The Challenge of Mars

“Because They Are Hard”: NASA & Mars

Lastly, we’re proposing a meetup for NASA and the entire space community at SXSW 2017:

Space Meetup

Community voting and commenting for SXSW 2017 is open through September 2, 2016.

We look forward to seeing you in Austin in March at the SXSW Interactive Festival. Thanks!

Full video: Stephen Colbert Helps President Obama Polish Up His Résumé

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2973592/Tearful-William-Shatner-pictured-hours-death-brother-Leonard-Nimoy-echoes-Spock-actor-s-final-tweet-telling-fans-Live-Long-Prosper.html

William Shatner pictured hours after the death of Leonard Nimoy @MailOnline

We have been expecting you Mr Handle......