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At least 487 records · Page 27

Lunar Water Resource Demonstration (LWRD) Test Results

NASA has undertaken the In-Situ Resource Utilization (lSRU) project called RESOLVE (Regolith and Environment Science & Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction). This project is an Earth-based lunar precursor demonstration of a system that could be sent to explore permanently shadowed polar lunar craters, where it would drill into regolith, quantify the volatiles that are present, and extract oxygen by hydrogen reduction of iron oxides. The RESOLVE chemical processing system was mounted within the CMU rover "Scarab" and successfully demonstrated on Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano in November 2008. This technology could be used on Mars as well. As described at the 2008 Mars Society Convention, the Lunar Water Resource Demonstration (LWRD) supports the objectives of the RESOLVE project by capturing and quantifying water and hydrogen released by regolith upon heating. Field test results for the quantification of water using LWRD showed that the volcanic ash (tephra) samples contained 0.15-0.41% water, in agreement with GC water measurements. Reduction of the RH in the surge tank to near zero during recirculation show that the water is captured by the water beds as desired. The water can be recovered by heating the Water Beds to 230 C or higher. Test results for the capture and quantification of pure hydrogen have shown that over 90% of the hydrogen can be captured and 98% of the absorbed hydrogen can be recovered upon heating the hydride to 400 C and desorbing the hydrogen several times into the evacuated surge tank. Thus, the essential requirement of capturing hydrogen and recovering it has been demonstrated. ,

Muscatello, Anthony C.↗

NDE and SHM Simulation for CFRP Composites

Ultrasound-based nondestructive evaluation (NDE) is a common technique for damage detection in composite materials. There is a need for advanced NDE that goes beyond damage detection to damage quantification and characterization in order to enable data driven prognostics. The damage types that exist in carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites include microcracking and delaminations, and can be initiated and grown via impact forces (due to ground vehicles, tool drops, bird strikes, etc), fatigue, and extreme environmental changes. X-ray microfocus computed tomography data, among other methods, have shown that these damage types often result in voids/discontinuities of a complex volumetric shape. The specific damage geometry and location within ply layers affect damage growth. Realistic threedimensional NDE and structural health monitoring (SHM) simulations can aid in the development and optimization of damage quantification and characterization techniques. This paper is an overview of ongoing work towards realistic NDE and SHM simulation tools for composites, and also discusses NASA's need for such simulation tools in aeronautics and spaceflight. The paper describes the development and implementation of a custom ultrasound simulation tool that is used to model ultrasonic wave interaction with realistic 3-dimensional damage in CFRP composites. The custom code uses elastodynamic finite integration technique and is parallelized to run efficiently on computing cluster or multicore machines.

Leckey, Cara A. C.↗

The Combustion Experiment on the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite on the Curiosity Rover

The combustion experiment on the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) suite on Curiosity will heat a sample of Mars regolith in the presence of oxygen and measure composition of the evolved gases using quadrupole mass spectrometry (QMS) and tunable laser spectrometry (TLS). QMS will enable detection of combustion products such as CO, CO2, NO, and other oxidized species, while TLS will enable precise measurements of the abundance and carbon isotopic composition (delta(sup 13)C) of the evolved CO2 and hydrogen isotopic composition (deltaD) of H2O. SAM will perform a two-step combustion to isolate combustible materials below approx.550 C and above approx.550 C. The combustion experiment on SAM, if properly designed and executed, has the potential to answer multiple questions regarding the origins of volatiles seen thus far in SAM evolved gas analysis (EGA) on Mars. Constraints imposed by SAM and MSL time and power resources, as well as SAM consumables (oxygen gas), will limit the number of SAM combustion experiments, so it is imperative to design an experiment targeting the most pressing science questions. Low temperature combustion experiments will primarily target the quantification of carbon (and nitrogen) contributed by SAM wet chemistry reagants MTBSTFA (N-Methyl-N-tert-butyldimethylsilyltrifluoroacetamide) and DMF (Dimethylformamide), which have been identified in the background of blank and sample runs and may adsorb to the sample while the cup is in the Sample Manipulation System (SMS). In addition, differences between the sample and "blank" may yield information regarding abundance and delta(sup 13)C of bulk (both organic and inorganic) martian carbon. High temperature combustion experiments primarily aim to detect refractory organic matter, if present in Cumberland fines, as well as address the question of quantification and deltaD value of water evolution associated with hydroxyl hydrogen in clay minerals.

Mars↗

Martian Superoxide and Peroxide O2 Release (OR) Assay: A New Technology for Terrestrial and Planetary Applications

This study presents an assay for the detection and quantification of soil metal superoxides and peroxides in regolith and soil. The O2 release (OR) assay is based on the enzymatic conversion of the hydrolysis products of metal oxides to O2, and their quantification by an O2 electrode based on the stoichiometry of the involved reactions: The intermediate product O2 from the hydrolysis of metal superoxides is converted by cytochrome c to O2, and also by superoxide dismutase (SOD) to 1/2 mol O2 and 1/2 mol H2O2, which is then converted by catalase (CAT) to 1/2 mol O2. The product H2O2 from the hydrolysis of metal peroxides and hydroperoxides is converted to 1/2 mol O2 by CAT. The assay-method was validated in a sealed sample chamber using a liquid-phase Clark-type O2 electrode with known concentrations of O2 and H2O2, and with commercial metal superoxide and peroxide mixed with Mars analogue Mojave and Atacama Desert soils. Carbonates and perchlorates, both present on Mars, do not interfere with the assay. The assay lower limit of detection, using luminescence quenching/optical sensing O2-electrodes, is 1 nmol O2 cm(exp. -3) or better. The activity of the assay enzymes SOD and cytochrome c was unaffected up to 6 Gy exposure by gamma-radiation, while CAT retained 100% and 40% of its activity at 3 and 6 Gy, respectively, demonstrating the suitability of these enzymes for planetary missions, e.g., in Mars or Europa.

soil metal superoxides and peroxides↗

Comparison of gamma-gamma Phase Coarsening Responses of Three Powder Metal Disk Superalloys

The phase microstructures of several powder metal (PM) disk superalloys were quantitatively evaluated. Contents, chemistries, and lattice parameters of gamma and gamma strengthening phase were determined for conventionally heat treated Alloy 10, LSHR, and ME3 superalloys, after electrolytic phase extractions. Several of long term heat treatments were then performed, to allow quantification of the precipitation, content, and size distribution of gamma at a long time interval to approximate equilibrium conditions. Additional coarsening heat treatments were performed at multiple temperatures and shorter time intervals, to allow quantification of the precipitation, contents and size distributions of gamma at conditions diverging from equilibrium. Modest differences in gamma and gamma lattice parameters and their mismatch were observed among the alloys, which varied with heat treatment. Yet, gamma coarsening rates were very similar for all three alloys in the heat treatment conditions examined. Alloy 10 had higher gamma dissolution and formation temperatures than LSHR and ME3, but a lower lattice mismatch, which was slightly positive for all three alloys at room temperature. The gamma precipitates of Alloy 10 appeared to remain coherent at higher temperatures than for LSHR and ME3. Higher coarsening rates were observed for gamma precipitates residing along grain boundaries than for those within grains in all three alloys, during slow-moderate quenching from supersolvus solution heat treatments, and during aging at temperatures of 843 C and higher.

Superalloys↗

Thioaptamer Diagnostic System (TDS)

AM Biotechnologies, LLC, in partnership with Sandia National Laboratories, has developed a diagnostic device that quickly detects sampled biomarkers. The TDS quickly quantifies clinically relevant biomarkers using only microliters of a single sample. The system combines ambient-stable, long shelf-life affinity assays with handheld, microfluidic gel electrophoresis affinity assay quantification technology. The TDS is easy to use, operates in microgravity, and permits simultaneous quantification of 32 biomarkers. In Phase I of the project, the partners demonstrated that a thioaptamer assay used in the microfluidic instrument could quantify a specific biomarker in serum in the low nanomolar range. The team also identified novel affinity agents to bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP) and demonstrated their ability to detect BAP with the microfluidic instrument. In Phase II, AM Biotech expanded the number of ambient affinity agents and demonstrated a TDS prototype. In the long term, the clinical version of the TDS will provide a robust, flight-tested diagnostic capability for space exploration missions.

Yang, Xianbin↗

Uncertainty and Sensitivity Analysis of Afterbody Radiative Heating Predictions for Earth Entry

The objective of this work was to perform sensitivity analysis and uncertainty quantification for afterbody radiative heating predictions of Stardust capsule during Earth entry at peak afterbody radiation conditions. The radiation environment in the afterbody region poses significant challenges for accurate uncertainty quantification and sensitivity analysis due to the complexity of the flow physics, computational cost, and large number of un-certain variables. In this study, first a sparse collocation non-intrusive polynomial chaos approach along with global non-linear sensitivity analysis was used to identify the most significant uncertain variables and reduce the dimensions of the stochastic problem. Then, a total order stochastic expansion was constructed over only the important parameters for an efficient and accurate estimate of the uncertainty in radiation. Based on previous work, 388 uncertain parameters were considered in the radiation model, which came from the thermodynamics, flow field chemistry, and radiation modeling. The sensitivity analysis showed that only four of these variables contributed significantly to afterbody radiation uncertainty, accounting for almost 95% of the uncertainty. These included the electronic- impact excitation rate for N between level 2 and level 5 and rates of three chemical reactions in uencing N, N(+), O, and O(+) number densities in the flow field.

West, Thomas K., IV↗

Crosscutting Airborne Remote Sensing Technologies for Oil and Gas and Earth Science Applications

Airborne imaging spectroscopy has evolved dramatically since the 1980s as a robust remote sensing technique used to generate 2-dimensional maps of surface properties over large spatial areas. Traditional applications for passive airborne imaging spectroscopy include interrogation of surface composition, such as mapping of vegetation diversity and surface geological composition. Two recent applications are particularly relevant to the needs of both the oil and gas as well as government sectors: quantification of surficial hydrocarbon thickness in aquatic environments and mapping atmospheric greenhouse gas components. These techniques provide valuable capabilities for petroleum seepage in addition to detection and quantification of fugitive emissions. New empirical data that provides insight into the source strength of anthropogenic methane will be reviewed, with particular emphasis on the evolving constraints enabled by new methane remote sensing techniques. Contemporary studies attribute high-strength point sources as significantly contributing to the national methane inventory and underscore the need for high performance remote sensing technologies that provide quantitative leak detection. Imaging sensors that map spatial distributions of methane anomalies provide effective techniques to detect, localize, and quantify fugitive leaks. Airborne remote sensing instruments provide the unique combination of high spatial resolution (<1 m) and large coverage required to directly attribute methane emissions to individual emission sources. This capability cannot currently be achieved using spaceborne sensors. In this study, results from recent NASA remote sensing field experiments focused on point-source leak detection, will be highlighted. This includes existing quantitative capabilities for oil and methane using state-of-the-art airborne remote sensing instruments. While these capabilities are of interest to NASA for assessment of environmental impact and global climate change, industry similarly seeks to detect and localize leaks of both oil and methane across operating fields. In some cases, higher sensitivities desired for upstream and downstream applications can only be provided by new airborne remote sensing instruments tailored specifically for a given application. There exists a unique opportunity for alignment of efforts between commercial and government sectors to advance the next generation of instruments to provide more sensitive leak detection capabilities, including those for quantitative source strength determination.

hyperspectral↗

Stochastic Reduced Order Models with Python (SROMPy)

Stochastic Reduced Order Models with Python (SROMPy) is a software package developed to enable user-friendly utilization of the stochastic reduced order model (SROM) approach for uncertainty quantification. A SROM is a low dimensional, discrete approximation to a random quantity that enables efficient and non-intrusive stochastic computations. With SROMPy, a user can easily generate a SROM to approximate a random variable or vector described by several different types of probability distributions using the Python programming language. Once a SROM is constructed, the software can be used to propagate uncertainty through a user-defined computational model to estimate statistics of a given quantity of interest. This report is meant to introduce the SROMPy module and brie y demonstrate its capabilities. A simple example of a spring-mass system with a random input is included to illustrate the practicality of the SROM approach to uncertainty quantification and relative ease of applying it with SROMPy. The example includes a comparison with a solution obtained using classical Monte Carlo simulation, demonstrating the similarities and advantages of using the SROM approach.

Warner, James E.↗

Consequences of Prenatal Stress on Appetite Control and the Energy Expenditure Pathway

Established research has illustrated that moderate exposure to stress in the womb influences both adult phonotype and genotype for several physiological pathways, especially in males. Proposed explanations include adaptions made by the fetus resulting from a limited supply of nutrients, referred to as the thrifty phenotype. In this study, we examine this fetal programming effect on the appetite control and energy expenditure pathways in prenatally stressed adult male offspring. Subjects were male rats born from time-mated female rats exposed to unpredictable, variable prenatal stress (UVPS) throughout gestation. An analysis of the adult male rat offspring genetic expression of epididymal fat pads and the plasma concentrations of hormones involved in appetite control and energy expenditure pathways showed a significantly diminished expression of leptin and adiponectin compared to unstressed controls. Leptin and adiponectin are both major hormones involved in the appetite control and energy expenditure pathways, with leptin regulating energy balance due to its function as an inhibitor of hunger, and adiponectin modulating glucose levels and fatty acid breakdown. We observed higher leptin concentrations within the prenatally stressed male plasma, and lower expression of leptin (OB) and adiponectin (ADIPOQ) genes from the epididymal fat pads. We suggest that elevated leptin in the plasma elicited a negative feedback effect on OB expression levels, decreasing their quantification compared to control animals. Further analysis will include plasma quantification of insulin and glucose, as well as expression of ghrelin, a peptide which acts on the central nervous system and the bodys perception of hunger.

appetite control↗

Predicting Cancer Risk from Ionizing Radiation

The ability to predict cancer risk associated with exposure to low doses of high-LET ionizing radiation (IR) remains a challenge. Epidemiological methods lack the sensitivity and power to provide detailed risk estimates for cancer and ignore individual variance in IR sensitivity. We have hypothesized that DNA repair capacity can be used as a marker to evaluate and differentiate individual radiation sensitivity. More specifically, this work is based on the concept that the combined time-dose dependence of radiation-induced foci (RIF) of p53-binding protein 1 (53BP1) following low-LET exposure contains sufficient information to infer sensitivity to any other LET. Our hypothesis was tested in 15 different mouse strains as well as in primary human immune cells. We first approached individual ionizing radiation sensitivity in a mouse model by culturing primary skin fibroblasts extracted from 76 mice of 15 different genetic backgrounds and exposing them to HZE particles and X-rays. This work is one of the most extensive studies on the kinetics and possible genetic underpinnings of radiation-induced DNA damage and repair. Our results is in agreement with a DNA repair model we previously postulated, where nearby DNA double strand breaks (DSB) in the nucleus are brought together for more efficient repair, leading to RIF clustering. Such mechanism was evidenced by a specific dose and LET dependence of RIF numbers. Briefly, RIF quantification after low-LET X-ray exposure showed an asymptotic saturation for doses between 1 Gy and 4 Gy 4 hours post-irradiation across all 15 strains. The clustering of DSB across all strains also led to more RIF/Gy for lower LET (X-ray and 350 MeV/n Ar) than for higher LET (600 MeV/n Fe) 4 hours post-exposure. Considering the fact that the number of DSB/Gy should be independent of LET, our data suggest there are more DSB in individual RIF as the LET increases. RIF numbers for 24 and 48 hours post-exposure led to the inverse trend, with more remaining RIF/Gy for higher LET (by 600 MeV/n Fe). This result suggests cells have more difficulty resolving RIF from higher LET as they the number DSB/RIF increases. Note that for most conditions, the variance of RIF/Gy was small within individual animals of the same strain and large between strains, suggesting a strong genetics component. Furthermore, we present our preliminary data from an ongoing study on human genetic associations with IR sensitivity. To address the human variability in responses to HZE particle irradiation in a maximally comprehensive manner, we are in the process of collecting and isolating primary blood mononuclear cells from 768 healthy subjects of European descent, 18-75 years of age, 50/50 male/female distribution. We have analyzed 53BP1+ RIF formation as well as oxidative stress and cell death in primary cells from 192 subjects in response to the same HZE particles as used in mice: 600 MeV/n Fe, 350 MeV/n Ar and 350 MeV/n Si, 1.1 and 3 particles/100m2, 4 and 24 hours after irradiation. We will next complete the quantification of HZE particle-induced DNA and cellular damage in the remaining subjects and compare it to their responses to low-LET irradiation. Finally, we will perform GWAS analysis to identify human genomic associations with IR sensitivity and potential targets for biomarker development.

High-LET radiation↗

Demisability of GFRP and CFRP Components of Reentering Orbital Debris: Phase I Test Results

Observations of surviving reentry debris on the ground and research performed by Hyperschall Technologie Göttingen (HTG) [1] indicated that significantly more glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP) and carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) components survive reentry than current models predict. NASA’s Orbital Debris Program Office conducted a series of tests to evaluate the accuracy of material demise models for reentering orbital debris used in NASA’s Object Reentry Survival Analysis Tool (ORSAT) and Debris Assessment Software (DAS). Testing is planned in a multi-phase series to allow for quick quantification of results as well as refinement of methods resulting from lessons learned during early phases. The Phase 1 tests discussed here validated ORSAT models for homogeneous metals, provided an efficient quantification of composite material demisability properties like mass loss rate and overall time to demise, and identified potential failure modes, which are currently not well understood. Phase 2 tests will be used to further understand mass loss rates and modes of both thermal and mechanical failure in composite materials. The authors exposed 95 samples of aluminum, CFRP, Kevlar fiber-reinforced polymer, GFRP, and sheets of G10 fiberglass to conditions approximating the reentry environment using an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) torch facility. The cylindrical CFRP samples were exposed to the atmospheric pressure plasma, at both the end and the midpoint, to investigate the difference in demisability between parts with exposed edges, like panels, and parts with no edges, such as carbonoverwrapped pressure vessels (COPVs). In a non-oxidative environment, no composite materials demised within the 5-minute test time. In the oxidative, elevated heat flux environment, CFRP samples demised between 210 s and 270 s. For the first 100 s of insertion time, most of the mass loss was due to pyrolysis of resin, creating an approximately bi-linear mass-loss rate curve with time. In a non-oxidative environment, carbon filaments were observed to unravel from some of the CFRP end-burned samples; however, this effect did not seem to affect the overall time to demise for the samples significantly. These results indicate that both GFRP and CFRP components survive reentry with significantly more remaining mass than current models predict.

Greene, Benton R.↗

On the Calculation of Exact Cumulative Distribution Statistics for Burgers Equation

A mathematical procedure is presented for the calculation of exact cumulative distribution statistics for a viscosity-free variant of Burgers nonlinear partial differential equation (PDE) in one space dimension and time subject to sinusoidal initial data with uncertain (random variable) amplitude or phase shift. Analytical solutions of nonlinear PDEs with uncertain initial and/or boundary data are invaluable benchmarks in assessing approximate uncertainty quantification techniques. The Burgers equation solution with uncertain initial data results in nonsmooth solution behavior in both physical and random variable dimensions which provides a severe test for approximate uncertainty quantification techniques. Mathematical proofs are provided to verify that exact cumulative distribution statistics can be systematically and robustly obtained for all forward time.

Burgers↗

Characteristics of Total Column CO2 Retrievals from the OCO Missions: Biases, Information Content and Implications for Flux Inversions

The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 and Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3, launched in 2015 and 2019, respectively, are intended to collect and deliver high-resolution observations of CO2 with unprecedented space and time coverage. Observations of CO2 from these remote-sensing missions (also known as XCO2, or column-based average, dry air mole fraction of CO2) are then used by the global carbon cycle community to answer a wide range of science questions, from the distribution and quantification of global and regional CO2 source-sink patterns to quantification of anthropogenic sources at urban scales. Even though we have had the OCO-2 mission flying for a few years now, the retrieval algorithms are continuously evolving and improving to deliver XCO2 retrievals with very high precision and high accuracy (or low biases). In this presentation, we will discuss a simple yet effective quantitative framework that has been developed by the OCO-2 flux team to evaluate the information content of these XCO2 retrievals as soon as they are released, i.e., with lower latency than full-scale flux inversions. This framework serves as a precursor to advanced inverse modeling frameworks and is intended to provide an early but accurate assessment of the signal present in the satellite retrievals, the robustness of that signal, and the ability of these retrievals to resolve patterns in CO2 surface fluxes that cannot be resolved by our current network of surface sites. Specific results will tackle a tiered set of questions that are being addressed using this framework: (a) what are the distribution of retrievals in the different modes of operation and how do they vary in space and time? (b) what is the information that is being given to the inverse modeling frameworks from the space-based data, information above and beyond what is provided by the in-situ data? and (c) how do these factors influence our choices for doing flux inversions with the satellite retrievals? While the primary focus of the results will be on application of this technique to mature OCO-2 retrievals, we will show early results for a couple of months of OCO-3 retrievals. For the time-period that the retrievals from the two missions overlap, we will highlight how this framework allows us to effortlessly put the information from OCO-3 and OCO-2 on an equal footing, thus enabling easy comparison between the two pioneering missions.

Chatterjee, Abhishek↗

Trim Flight Conditions for a Low-Boom Aircraft Design Under Uncertainty

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the noise generation of a low-boom aircraft design in flight trim conditions under uncertainty. The deflection of control surfaces to maintain a trimmed flight state has the potential to change the perceived loudness at the ground. Furthermore, the uncertainties associated with the control surface deflections can complicate the overall uncertainty quantification. Incorporation of the uncertainties in the prediction of perceived sound levels during the design phase can lead to improved robustness. In this paper, a brief review of low-boom flight trim research is presented. Realistic flight trim conditions requiring control surface deflection are integrated into the current research efforts for uncertainty quantification and vehicle design. In addition, a generalized set of procedures for the characterization of uncertainties in flight trim conditions are introduced. In a case study of the application of these procedures, a 5 decibel average difference in the perceived level of loudness was found between clean (no deflections) and trimmed configurations. Also, uncertainties attributable to control surface deflection were found to account for, on average, over 50% of the total near field uncertainty. Uncertainty discretization methods implemented were able to give more insight into the overall global variances.

Phillips, Ben D↗

Constraining the Twomey effect from satellite observations: Issues and perspectives

The Twomey effect describes the radiative forcing associated with a change in cloud albedo due to an increase in anthropogenic aerosol emissions. It is driven by the perturbation in cloud droplet number concentration (ΔNd,ant) in liquid-water clouds and is currently understood to exert a cooling effect on climate. The Twomey effect is the key driver in the effective radiative forcing due to aerosol–cloud interactions which also comprises rapid adjustments. These adjustments are essentially the responses of cloud fraction and liquid water path to ΔNd,ant and thus scale approximately with it. While the fundamental physics of the influence of added aerosol particles on the droplet concentration (Nd) is well described by established theory at the particle scale (micrometres), how this relationship is expressed at the large scale (hundreds of kilometres) ΔNd,ant remains uncertain. The discrepancy between process understanding at particle scale and insufficient quantification at the climate-relevant large scale is caused by co-variability of aerosol particles and vertical wind and by droplet sink processes. These operate at scales on the order of 10s of metres at which only localized observations are available and at which no approach exists yet to quantify the anthropogenic perturbation. Different atmospheric models suggest diverse magnitudes of the Twomey effect even when applying the same anthropogenic aerosol emission perturbation. Thus, observational data are needed to quantify and constrain the Twomey effect. At the global scale, this means satellite data. There are three key uncertainties in determining ΔNd,ant, namely the quantification (i) of the cloud-active aerosol – the cloud condensation nuclei concentrations (CCN) at or above cloud base –, (ii) of Nd, as well as (iii) the statistical approach for inferring the sensitivity of Nd to aerosol particles from the satellite data. A fourth uncertainty, the anthropogenic perturbation to CCN concentrations, is also not easily accessible from observational data. This review discusses deficiencies of current approaches for the different aspects of the problem and proposes several ways forward: In terms of CCN, retrievals of optical quantities such as aerosol optical depth suffer from a lack of vertical resolution, size and hygroscopicity information, the non-direct relation to the concentration of aerosols, the impossibility to quantify it within or below clouds, and the problem of insufficient sensitivity at low concentrations, in addition to retrieval errors. A future path forward can include utilizing colocated polarimeter and lidar instruments, ideally including high spectral resolution lidar capability at two wavelengths to maximize vertically resolved size distribution information content. In terms of Nd, a key problem is the lack of operational retrievals of this quantity, and the inaccuracy of the retrieval especially in broken-cloud regimes. As for the Nd – to – CCN sensitivity, key issues are the updraught distributions and the role of Nd sink processes, for which empirical assessments for specific cloud regimes are currently the best solutions. These considerations point to the conclusion that past studies using existing approaches have likely underestimated the true sensitivity and, thus, the radiative forcing due to the Twomey effect.

Twomey effect↗

Considering Cell Proliferation to Optimize Detection of Radiation-induced 53BP1+ Foci in 15 Mouse Strains ex vivo

Due to high metabolic activity, proliferating cells continuously generate free radicals, which induce DNA double strand breaks (DSB). Fluorescently tagged nuclear foci of DNA repair protein 53 binding protein-1(53BP1) are used as a standard metric for measuring DSB formation at baseline and in response to environmental insults such as radiation. Here we demonstrate that the background level of spontaneous 53BP1+ foci formation can be modeled mathematically as a function of cell confluence, which is a metric of proliferation rate. This model was validated using spontaneous 53BP1+ foci data from 68 cultures of primary skin fibroblasts derived from 15 different strains of mice, showing a ~10 fold decrease from low to full confluence that is independent of mouse strain. We developed an online open access tool to correct for the impact of cell confluence on the detection of radiation-induced 53BP1+ foci (RIF). This tool provides guidelines for the number of cells required to reach statistical significance for the detection of excess foci induced by low doses of ionizing radiation as a function of confluence and time post-irradiation. We hope that this quantification tool will help the radiation biology community in the design of future experiments that utilize 53BP1+ foci-based quantification of radiation responses in vitro. Our “tool for enhanced results of RIF in cells” (terRIFic) can be found at: https://radbiolab.shinyapps.io/terrific/

Radiation, DNA damage, confluence↗

In-Situ Reaction Monitoring for Lunar Applications Utilizing a Single Quadrupole Residual Gas Analyzer

With a revived focus to create a permeant presence on the moon and in preparation for future Mars exploration, it is imperative that all re-sources are utilized to their fullest potential. In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) will be critical for future mission success as it would enable independent operation of missions while minimally relying on the complex supply chain created between the Earth, moon and Mars. One of the most critical resources that have been identified for ISRU is the creation of liquid oxygen (O2) for not only breathable air, but also for rocket fuel. On the moon and potentially Mars, one of the most O2 rich resources is in the presence of regolith. Although there are numerous minerals within regolith and various processes to extract O2, this is not the scope of this paper. Since the O2 extraction method can vary, a critical standardized analytical method is needed to verify O2 (or oxygenated precursor compounds) for extraction efficiency and purity. Our group utilizes a modified consumer off-the-shelf (COTS), Residual Gas Analyzer (RGA) Single Quadrupole Mass Spectrometer (QMS). Due to the current field mission requirements, the gas analysis module will need to rely only on mass-to-charge ratios (m/z) and peak intensities to differentiate and quantitate targeted gas-phase reactants or products, i.e. carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and hydrogen (H2). However, due to solar wind implanted volatiles and various other compounds present in lunar regolith, such as nitrogen (N2), helium (He), and deuterium (D2), deconvolution and quantification of isobaric compounds becomes quite difficult. Specifically, the presence of N2 makes quantification of CO, an oxygenated precursor, difficult due to both compounds having a peak at m/z 28. Approaches to differentiate isobaric components: Initially, the solution to overcome isobaric overlap was to use isotopic ratios, particularly be-tween carbon-13 and nitrogen-15. Although limited literature discuss isotopic composition and attempt to quantify the ratios, variation is particularly high and limited to a few lunar regolith samples. The following were identified as potential approaches to quantify isobaric species, N2 and CO, using our RGA. Threshold Ionization. CO and N2 both have peaks at m/z 28, but only N2 is capable of producing a peak at m/z 7. While a N2 peak at m/z 7 is generally rare, instrument parameters can be optimized in order to maximize the peak intensity. Typically a standard ionization energy of 70 eV is used to monitor a batch process and would produce reliable results for a majority of the reactants or products that we are interested in quantifying. However, to analyze the rare molecular fragment of N2 (N2+ at m/z 7), a different ionization energy may be beneficial. Threshold Ionization Mass Spectrometry (TIMS) will be explored to optimize the N2+ peak at m/z 7 by varying parameters such as ionization energy and pressure. Therefore, a quantitative value at m/z 7 will be used to determine the product gas concentration of N2, which will be subtracted from the total concentration determined at m/z 28 enabling us to approximate the amount of CO. Secondary Detector (infrared gas detector, IR). Another approach to quantitate and differentiate be-tween isobaric components is to leverage alternative modes of detection. Unlike mass spectrometry, which generally uses a separation step prior to analysis (i.e. gas chromatography), IR produces energy that is specifically absorbed depending on the bond and configuration of the molecule. This technique could be leveraged since it is generally only active on non-symmetric molecules, i.e. CO. Utilizing concentrations of CO determined from another detector could help correct concentrations of CO obtained from the QMS. However, the inclusion of another detector adds additional mission requirements, such as power, software changes and avionics updates that add additional cost and schedule requirements.

mass spectrometry↗