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A survey is presented of the history, goals, objectives, and implementation of the NASA space processing program. Program activities have resulted in the present division of interests into metallurgical processes, electronic materials, biological applications, ceramics and glass, physical properties in fluids, and chemical processes. An outline is given of space shuttle payload development.
The NASA Space Processing Program was initiated to develop uses of space flight that will support research efforts and manufacturing operations on the ground by processing materials in space. It is expected that the unique conditions that are available in space will provide a basis for a wide variety of economically beneficial services to science and industry in fields such as metallurgy, electronic materials, glass technology, fluid physics and chemistry, and in biological material preparation as well. Plans are described for developing payload equipment to implement materials processing experiments on the missions of the space transportation system (STS). This equipment is intended to support a diversified program of NASA-sponsored materials processing experiments by all classes of scientists, as well as pilot activities by non-NASA sponsors.
A conference was held in which minority aerospace scientists and engineers interacted with the minority community, particularly at the junior high, high school, and college levels. There were two presentations in the biological sciences, two in the physical and environmental sciences, seven in engineering and computer sciences, and nine in aerospace science and engineering. Aerospace technology careers and aerospace activities were discussed as to how they are relevant to minorities and women.
The operation of PASCAL, a bibliographic data base covering broad subject areas in science and technology, is discussed. The data base includes information from about 1973 to the present, including topics in engineering, chemistry, physics, earth science, environmental science, biology, psychology, and medicine. Data from 1986 to the present may be searched using DIALOG. The procedures and classification codes for searching PASCAL are presented. Examples of citations retrieved from the data base are given and suggestions are made concerning when to use PASCAL.
Providing research experiences for undergraduate students in Earth Systems Science (ESS) poses several challenges at smaller academic institutions that might lack dedicated resources for this area of study. This paper describes the development of an innovative model that involves students with majors in diverse scientific disciplines in authentic ESS research. In studying global climate change, experts typically use scientific visualization techniques applied to remote sensing data collected by satellites. In particular, many problems related to environmental phenomena can be quantitatively addressed by investigations based on datasets related to the scientific endeavours such as the Earth Radiation Budget Experiment (ERBE). Working with data products stored at NASA's Distributed Active Archive Centers, visualization software specifically designed for students and an advanced, immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environment, students engage in guided research projects during a structured 6-week summer program. Over the 5-year span, this program has afforded the opportunity for students majoring in biology, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, physics, engineering and science education to work collaboratively in teams on research projects that emphasize the use of scientific visualization in studying the environment. Recently, a hands-on component has been added through science student partnerships with school-teachers in data collection and reporting for the GLOBE Program (GLobal Observations to Benefit the Environment).
Accessible surfaces of the most likely astrobiological habitats (Mars, Europa, Titan) in the solar system beyond Earth are exposed to various chemical and hydrologic weathering processes directly or indirectly induced by interaction with the overlying space environment. These processes can be both beneficial, through provision of chemical compounds and energy, and destructive, through chemical dissociation or burial, to detectable presence of biosignatures. Orbital, suborbital, and surface platforms carrying astrobiological instrumentation must survive, and preferably exploit, space environment interactions to reach these habitats and search for evidence of life or its precursors. Experience from Mars suggests that any detection of biosignatures must be accompanied by characterization of the local chemical environment and energy sources including irradiation by solar ultraviolet photons and energetic particles from the space environment. Orbital and suborbital surveys of surface chemistry and astrobiological potential in the context of the space environment should precede targeted in-situ measurements to maximize probability of biosignature detection through site selection. The Space Physics of Life (SPOL) investigation has recently been proposed to the NASA Astrobiology Institute and is briefly described in this presentation. SPOL is the astrobiologically relevant study of the interactions and relationships of potentially? or previously inhabited, bodies of the solar system with the surrounding environments. This requires an interdisciplinary effort in space physics, planetary science, and radiation biology. The proposed investigation addresses the search for habitable environments, chemical resources to support life, and techniques for detection of organic and inorganic signs of life in the context of the space environment.
The Space Radiation Element part of NASA Human Research Program initiated a virtual, annual space radiation curriculum. The SHINE space radiation curriculum aims to educate participants not only in the scientific aspects of space radiation but also in the agency’s risk management strategies. SHINE combines weekly seminars by speakers from NASA, other government agencies, academia, and industry, with networking sessions designed to foster collaboration between participants and interactions with NASA scientists. A total of 59 applications were received from which 25 participants were selected. The 25 participants, with citizenship from a total of 8 countries, are composed of 5 graduate students, 4 postdocs, 11 scientists and 5 professors/medical doctors. Participants have a wide range of expertise including molecular and cellular biology, microbiology, botany, physiology, engineering, physics, aerospace medicine, planetary science, biostatistics, and modeling. The inaugural course ran weekly from February 2023 to August 2023 and was comprised of lectures, less formal coffee hours and office hours. The topics covered ranged from space environments to health effects to granting opportunities. The second annual SHINE training program is scheduled from February to August 2024. In addition, a separate competitive practicum session, to allow participants to gain hands-on radiation experience, will be held Fall 2024 at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL).
The Space Radiation Element of the NASA Human Research Program initiated a virtual, annual space radiation curriculum. The Space Health Impacts for the NASA Experience (SHINE) space radiation didactic curriculum aims to educate participants not only in the scientific aspects of space radiation but also in the agency’s risk management strategies. SHINE combines weekly seminars by speakers from NASA, other government agencies, academia, and industry, with networking sessions designed to foster collaboration between participants and interactions with NASA scientists and HRP funded investigators. The inaugural course ran weekly from February 2023 to August 2023 and was comprised of lectures, less formal coffee hours and office hours. The SHINE topics ranged from space environments to health effects and countermeasure to granting opportunities. Participants developed beam time proposals for real, proposed, or potential experiments at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. For the 2023 course, a total of 59 applications were received from which 25 participants were selected. Selected participants were citizens from 8 countries and comprised 5 graduate students, 4 postdocs, 11 scientists and 5 professors/medical doctors. Participants had a wide range of expertise including molecular and cellular biology, microbiology, botany, physiology, engineering, physics, aerospace medicine, planetary science, biostatistics, and modeling. The second annual SHINE training program is scheduled from February to August 2024. In addition, a separate SHINE space radiation practicum session, to allow participants to gain hands-on radiation experience, will be held Fall 2024 at the NSRL.
The Space Radiation Element part of NASA Human Research Program initiated a virtual, annual space radiation curriculum. The SHINE space radiation curriculum aims to educate participants not only in the scientific aspects of space radiation but also in the agency’s risk management strategies. SHINE combines weekly seminars by speakers from NASA, other government agencies, academia, and industry, with networking sessions designed to foster collaboration between participants and interactions with NASA scientists. A total of 59 applications were received from which 25 participants were selected. The 25 participants, with citizenship from a total of 8 countries, are composed of 5 graduate students, 4 postdocs, 11 scientists and 5 professors/medical doctors. Participants have a wide range of expertise including molecular and cellular biology, microbiology, botany, physiology, engineering, physics, aerospace medicine, planetary science, biostatistics, and modeling. The inaugural course ran weekly from February 2023 to August 2023 and was comprised of lectures, less formal coffee hours and office hours. The topics covered ranged from space environments to health effects to granting opportunities. The second annual SHINE training program is scheduled from February to August 2024. In addition, a separate competitive practicum session, to allow participants to gain hands-on radiation experience, will be held Fall 2024 at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL).
In February 2023, the Space Radiation Element of the NASA Human Research Program initiated a virtual, annual space radiation curriculum. The Space Health Impacts for the NASA Experience (SHINE) Space Radiation Didactic Curriculum aims to educate participants not only in the scientific aspects of space radiation but also in the agency’s risk management strategies. SHINE Space Radiation Didactic Curriculum combined weekly seminars by speakers from NASA, other government agencies, academia, and industry, with networking sessions designed to foster collaboration between the competitively selected participants as well as interactions with NASA scientists and HRP funded investigators. The inaugural course ran weekly from February 2023 to August 2023 and was comprised of lectures, less formal coffee hours, and office hours. Each two-hour seminar sessions hosted 1-3 presentations on topics which ranged from the space radiation environment to health effects and countermeasure to granting opportunities. All lectures were recorded and will be published on the THREE (The Health Risks of Extraterrestrial Environments) website for public access (https://three.jsc.nasa.gov/). As a course requirement, participants developed individual or collaborative beam time proposals for real, proposed, or potential experiments at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. For the 2023 course, 25 participants were selected from a total of 59 applicants. Selected participants were citizens from 8 countries and comprised 5 graduate students, 4 postdocs, 11 scientists and 5 professors/medical doctors. Participants had a wide range of expertise including molecular and cellular biology, microbiology, botany, physiology, engineering, physics, aerospace medicine, planetary science, biostatistics, and modeling. The second annual SHINE training program is scheduled from February to August 2024. In addition, a separate SHINE Space Radiation Practicum session will be held in Fall 2024 at the NSRL. The SHINE Space Radiation Practicum is a unique opportunity that has not been available to the public since the closure of the NASA Space Radiation Summer School in 2017 and will allow a small cohort of participants competitively selected in Fall 2023 to gain hands-on radiation experience.
In various biological processes such as endocytosis and caveolae formation, the cell membrane is locally deformed into curved morphologies. Previous models to study membrane morphologies resulting from locally induced curvature often only consider the possibility of axisymmetric shapes-an indeed unphysical constraint. Past studies predict that the cell membrane buds at low resting tensions and stalls at a flat pit at high resting tensions. In this work, we lift the restriction to axisymmetry to study all possible membrane morphologies. Only if the resting tension of the membrane is low, we reproduce axisymmetric membrane morphologies. When the resting tension is moderate to high, we show that 1) axisymmetric membrane pits are unstable and 2) nonaxisymmetric ridge-shaped structures are energetically favorable. Furthermore, we find the interplay between intramembrane viscous flow and the rate of induced curvature affects the membrane's ability to transition into nonaxisymmetric ridges and axisymmetric buds. In particular, we show that axisymmetric buds are favored when the induced curvature is rapidly increased, whereas nonaxisymmetric ridges are favored when the curvature is slowly increased. Overall, our results hold relevant implications for biological processes such as endocytosis and physical phenomena like phase separation in lipid bilayers.
Requirements for spaceflight experments which involve higher plants were determined. The plants are studied for use in controlled ecological life support systems (CELSS). Two categories of research requirements are discussed: (1) the physical needs which include nutrient, water and gas exchange requirements; (2) the biological and physiological functions which affect plants in zero gravity environments. Physical problems studies are given the priority since they affect all biological experiments.
Current approaches to analyzing metabolomic data often rely on matching MS/MS fragmentation data to sparse libraries or databases. This approach results in limited identification of features, often with less than 10% of the dataset being annotated. A complementary approach is to assign molecular formula to features based on accurate mass measurements, but the platforms commonly used for metabolomics do not have the needed accuracy or resolving power to do this robustly, particularly for larger molecules. Using our newly modified analysis tool, CoreMS, we generated a library of molecular formula from pooled samples analyzed with LC-21T FT-ICR MS. This library successfully annotated approximately 53.2% of features identified from the exometabolome of marine diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum – a nearly ten-fold increase over the 5.9% annotation rate achieved using a conventional MS/MS library matching approach. Using this FT-ICR MS library approach, we were able to differentiate differences in the exometabolome of P. tricornutum in iron replete and iron limited conditions, with 668 metabolites being differentially expressed (p < 0.05, 2 x intensity difference) under these conditions. The traditional MS/MS fragmentation-based annotation approach only annotated 61 of these metabolites, while our novel pipeline annotated 450 metabolites and revealed 12 metabolites that were significantly more abundant under low iron conditions. Our results demonstrate the utility of ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry for generating more comprehensive and confident molecular annotations.
Scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) provides spectroscopic imaging from molecular to quantum materials with few nanometer deep subdiffraction limited spatial resolution. However, in its conventional implementation s-SNOM is slow to effectively acquire a series of spatio-spectral images, especially with large fields of view. This problem is further exacerbated for weak resonance contrast or when using light sources with limited spectral irradiance. Indeed, the generally limited signal-to-noise ratio prevents sampling a weak signal at the Nyquist sampling rate. Here, we demonstrate how acquisition time and sampling rate can be significantly reduced by using compressed sampling, matrix completion, and adaptive random sampling, while maintaining or even enhancing the physical or chemical image content. We use fully sampled real data sets of molecular, biological, and quantum materials as ground-truth physical data and show how deep under-sampling with a corresponding reduction of acquisition time by 1 order of magnitude or more retains the core s-SNOM image information. We demonstrate that a sampling rate of up to 6× smaller than the Nyquist criterion can be applied, which would provide a 30-fold reduction in the data required under typical experimental conditions. Furthermore, our smart s-SNOM approach is generally applicable and provides systematic full spatio-spectral s-SNOM imaging with a large field of view at high spectral resolution and reduced acquisition time.
Cells can sense changes in their extracellular environment and subsequently adapt their biomass composition. Nutrient abundance defines the capability of the cell to produce biomass components. Under nutrient-limited conditions, resource allocation dramatically shifts to carbon-rich molecules. Here, we used dynamic biomass composition data to predict changes in growth and reaction flux distributions using the available genome-scale metabolic models of five eukaryotic organisms (three heterotrophs and two phototrophs). We identified temporal profiles of metabolic fluxes that indicate long-term trends in pathway and organelle function in response to nitrogen depletion. Surprisingly, our calculations of model sensitivity and biosynthetic cost showed that free energy of biomass metabolites is the main driver of biosynthetic cost and not molecular weight, thus explaining the high costs of arginine and histidine. We demonstrated how metabolic models can accurately predict the complexity of interwoven mechanisms in response to stress over the course of growth.
De-esterification of homogalacturonan (HG) is thought to stiffen pectin gels and primary cell walls by increasing calcium cross-linking between HG chains. Contrary to this idea, recent studies found that HG de-esterification correlated with reduced stiffness of living tissues, measured by surface indentation. The physical basis of such apparent wall softening is unclear, but possibly involves complex biological responses to HG modification. To assess the direct physical consequences of HG de-esterification on wall mechanics without such complications, we treated isolated onion (Allium cepa) epidermal walls with pectin methylesterase (PME) and assessed wall biomechanics with indentation and tensile tests. In nanoindentation assays, PME action softened the wall (reduced the indentation modulus). In tensile force/extension assays, PME increased plasticity, but not elasticity. These softening effects are attributed, at least in part, to increased electrostatic repulsion and swelling of the wall after PME treatment. Despite softening and swelling upon HG de-esterification, PME treatment alone failed to induce cell wall creep. Instead, acid-induced creep, mediated by endogenous α-expansin, was reduced. We conclude that HG de-esterification physically softens the onion wall, yet reduces expansin-mediated wall extensibility.
The living biological cell is not a sack of Newtonian fluid containing systems of chemical reactions at equilibrium. It is a kinetically driven system, not a thermodynamically driven system. While the cell as a whole might be considered isothermal, at the scale of individual macromolecular events there is heat generated, and presumably sharp thermal gradients exist at the submicron level. Basic physical phenomena to be considered when exploring the cell's response to inertial acceleration include particle sedimentation, solutal convection, motility electrokinetics, cytoskeletal work, and hydrostatic pressure. Protein crystal growth experiments, for example, illustrate the profound effects of convection currents on macromolecular assembly. Reaction kinetics in the cell vary all the way from diffusion-limited to life-time limited. Transport processes vary from free diffusion, to facilitated and active transmembrane transport, to contractile-protein-driven motility, to crystalline immobilization. At least four physical states of matter exist in the cell: aqueous, non-aqueous, immiscible-aqueous, and solid. Levels of order vary from crystalline to free solution. The relative volumes of these states profoundly influence the cell's response to inertial acceleration. Such subcellular phenomena as stretch-receptor activation, microtubule re-assembly, synaptic junction formation, chemotactic receptor activation, and statolith sedimentation were studied recently with respect to both their basic mechanisms and their responsiveness to inertial acceleration. From such studies a widespread role of cytoskeletal organization is becoming apparent.
Understanding biological impacts from spaceflight hazards and the subsequent development of countermeasures are a high priority to enable humanity to venture back to the Moon, and then to Mars and beyond. Experiments have been conducted with model organisms flown to space and analogous investigations terrestrially, to identify biological mechanistic impacts from spaceflight hazards and to develop mitigation countermeasures, thus contributing towards basic and applied science goals. However, sending organisms into space is a costly endeavor. To maximize scientific return, all biospecimens not required by spaceflight-relevant Principal Investigators are harvested, preserved, and archived in the NASA Biological Institutional Scientific Collection (NBISC). Biospecimens are collected and preserved according to well-established standard operating procedures to maintain scientific quality and are available on-request by the international scientific community. NBISC currently stores over 32,000 biospecimens from Shuttle, International Space Station, and ground-based space analog investigations. Tissue sharing has resulted in at least 33 publications since 2011 and 51 requests since 2016. Many requests for NBISC biospecimens come from first-time investigators who subsequently submit grants as their point-of-entry into the field of spaceflight biology and health. The NBISC biorepository is part of the NASA ‘Open Science for Life in Space’ collaborative group of projects, which includes NASA Genelab, the Space Biology Program’s Biospecimen Sharing Program, Physical Sciences Informatics, and the Ames Life Sciences Data Archive. NBISC biospecimens have been awarded to NASA Genelab, who then generated various open access science ‘omics datasets through the GeneLab Sample Processing laboratory, with resulting data widely used for biological study. Other NBISC biospecimen awards have led to studies on fecal microbiome analysis, DNA damage analysis using single-cell DNA sequencing, enzymatic-pathway identification involved in spaceflight muscle atrophy, and characterization of ocular morphological changes. Of note, NBISC is expanded to include a new Space Microbial Culture Collection (SMCC) for the collection, identification, documentation, long-term preservation, and distribution of space-related microbial isolates.