Engineering topics
Publications and source records attributed to Conley, Catharine A..
Mars exploration motivates the search for extraterrestrial life, the development of space technologies, and the design of human missions and habitations. Here, we seek new insights and pose unresolved questions relating to the natural history of Mars, habitability, robotic and human exploration, planetary protection, and the impacts on human society.
This report on Planetary Protection Knowledge Gaps for Human Extraterrestrial Missions summarizes the presentations, deliberations and findings of a workshop at NASA Ames Research Center, March 24-26, 2015, which was attended by more than 100 participants representing a diverse mix of science, engineering, technology, and policy areas. The main objective of the three-day workshop was to identify specific knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to make incremental progress towards the development of NASA Procedural Requirements (NPRs) for Planetary Protection during human missions to Mars.
Voyager would have produced similar negative results if tested in the Yungay region (Navarro-Gonzales et al, 2003). However, the number of bacteria present per gr'am in the Yungay sands is not well-established, being below the detection limit of culture methods. For the past several years, this group has been analyzing Yungay sands by quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR), both in the lab and in the field, to establish protocols for counting bacteria. We use primers that detect a broad range of bacterial taxa, including both proteobacteria and firmicutes. Optimization of DNA extraction and qPCR analysis is critical for accurate counts. Comparison of qPCR results with PhosphoLipid Fatty Acid (PLFA)-analysis and other counting methods indicates that there are detectable bacteria in sand obtained from the upper few centimeters of the desert surface.
BACKGROUND: C. elegans has been established as a powerful genetic system. Use of a chemically defined medium (C. elegans Maintenance Medium (CeMM)) now allows standardization and systematic manipulation of the nutrients that animals receive. Liquid cultivation allows automated culturing and experimentation and should be of use in large-scale growth and screening of animals. RESULTS: We find that CeMM is versatile and culturing is simple. CeMM can be used in a solid or liquid state, it can be stored unused for at least a year, unattended actively growing cultures may be maintained longer than with standard techniques, and standard C. elegans protocols work well with animals grown in defined medium. We also find that there are caveats to using defined medium. Animals in defined medium grow more slowly than on standard medium, appear to display adaptation to the defined medium, and display altered growth rates as they change the composition of the defined medium. CONCLUSIONS: As was suggested with the introduction of C. elegans as a potential genetic system, use of defined medium with C. elegans should prove a powerful tool.
In essence, to survival a spacecraft breakup an animal must not experience a lethal event. Much as with surviving aircraft breakup, dissipation of lethal forces via breakup of the craft around the organism is likely to greatly increase the odds of survival. As spacecraft can travel higher and faster than aircraft, it is often assumed that spacecraft breakup is not a survivable event. Similarly, the belief that aircraft breakup or crashes are not survivable events is still prevalent in the general population. As those of us involved in search and rescue know, it is possible to survive both aircraft breakup and crashes. Here we make the first report of an animal, C. elegans, surviving atmospheric breakup of the spacecraft supporting it and discuss both the lethal events these animals had to escape and the implications implied for search and rescue following spacecraft breakup.