Engineering PapersSearch

Engineering topics

Taylor, G. R.

Publications and source records attributed to Taylor, G. R..

47 records · Page 3

Infectivity and egg production of Nematospiroides dubius as affected by space flight and ultraviolet irradiation

Nematospiroides dubius was tested to determine the infective potential of the third stage larvae and the egg-production and egg-viability rates of the resulting adults after they are exposed to space flight and solar ultraviolet irradiation. The results are indicative that space-flown larvae exposed to solar ultraviolet irradiation were rendered noninfective in C57 mice, whereas flight control larvae that received no solar ultraviolet irradiation matured at the same rate as the ground control larvae. However, depressed egg viability was evident in the flight control larvae.

Long, R. A.

Evaluations of lunar samples for the presence of viable organisms

Samples from the six successful Apollo lunar exploration missions were examined for the presence of biological formed elements and were used to inoculate a variety of culture media designed to promote growth of a broad spectrum of microorganisms. No evidence of viable organisms was obtained from any of these analyses. Following incubation of the lunar material-culture medium complexes, microbial growth dynamics studies were conducted with known test species to evaluate the possible presence of toxic factors. Only extracts of culture media which had been in contact with a mixture of lunar material from both Apollo 11 core tubes proved to be toxic to all species tested. Attempts to reproduce this toxic effect with individual Apollo 11 core samples obtained at other parts of the core and analyzed under somewhat different conditions were unsuccessful. In all, 48 different lunar samples were examined. These samples were collected at the lunar surface, in trenches, and in core samples to a depth of 297 cm.

Taylor, G. R.

Apollo 14 microbial analyses

Extensive microbiological analyses that were performed on the Apollo 14 prime and backup crewmembers and ancillary personnel are discussed. The crewmembers were subjected to four separate and quite different environments during the 137-day monitoring period. The relation between each of these environments and observed changes in the microflora of each astronaut are presented.

Taylor, G. R.

Microbial response to space environment, part B

The performance of the microbial response to space environment experiment is considered excellent by all investigators. For most microbial systems, only preliminary survival data are available at this time. None of the available data indicate space flight-mediated changes in cell viability or recovery. One quite important observation has been made at this early date, however. The eggs produced after mice had been infected with N. dubius larvae demonstrated a significant decrease in hatchability when compared to identical ground controls. Except for the fact that the Apollo 16 flight larvae had been on board the command module, treatment of the flown larvae and ground control larvae was the same; neither had been exposed to UV irradiation. The significance and implications of this finding are currently being studied.

Taylor, G. R.