Future investigations onboard Soviet biosatellites of the Cosmos series.

Many rat experiments onboard Cosmos biosatellites have furnished information concerning the effects of weightlessness, artificial gravity, and ionizing radiation combined with weightlessness on structural and biochemical parameters of the animal body. The necessity to expand the scope of physiological investigations has led to the project of flight primate studies. It is planned to carry out the first primate experiments onboard the Cosmos biosatellite in 1982. At present investigations of weightlessness effects on the cardiovascular and vestibular systems, higher nervous activity, skeletal muscles and biorhythms of two rhesus monkeys are being developed and tested. It is also planned to conduct a study of weightlessness effects on embryogenesis of rats and bioenergetics of living systems onboard the same biosatellite. Further experiments onboard Cosmos biosatellites are planned.     

Microbial utilisation of natural organic wastes

The waste management strategy for the future should meet the benefits of humanity safety, respect principals of planet ecology, and compatibility with other habitability systems. For these purpose the waste management technologies, relevant to application of the biodegradation properties of bacteria are of great value. The biological treatment method is based upon the biodegradation of organic substances by various microorganisms. The advantage of the biodegradation waste management in general: it allows to diminish the volume of organic wastes, the biological hazard of the wastes is controlled, and this system may be compatible with the other systems. The objectives of our study were: to evaluate effectiveness of microbial biodegradation of non-pretreated substrate, to construct phneumoautomatic digester for organic wastes biodegradation, and to study microbial characteristics of active sludge samples used as inoculi in biodegradation experiment. The technology of vegetable wastes treatment was elaborated in IBMP and BMSTU. For this purpose the special unit was created where the degradation process is activated by enforced reinvention of portions of elaborated biogas into digester. This technology allows to save energy normally used for electromechanical agitation and to create optimal environment for anaerobic bacteria growth. The investigations were performed on waste simulator, which imitates physical and chemical content of food wastes calculated basing on the data on food wastes of moderate Russian city. The volume of created experimental sample of digester is 40 l. The basic system elements of device are digesters, gas receiver, remover of drops and valve monitoring and thermal control system. In our testing we used natural food wastes to measure basic parameters and time of biodegradation process. The diminution rate of organic gained 76% from initial mass taking part within 9 days of fermentation. The biogas production achieved 46 l per 1 kg of substrate. The microbial studies of biodegradation process revealed following peculiarities: (i) gradual quantitative increasing of Lactobacillus sp. (from 10(3) to 10(5) colony forming units (CFU) per ml), (ii) activation of Clostridia sp. (from 10(2) to 10(4)CFU/ml), (iii) elimination of aerobic conventional pathogens (Enterobacteriaceae sp., Protea sp., staphylococci). The obtained results allow to evaluate effectiveness of proposed technology and to determine the leading role of lactobacilli and clostridia in process of natural wastes biodegradation. Our further investigations shall further be concentrated on creation of artificial inoculi for launching of food wastes biodegradation. These inoculi will include active and adapted strains of clostridia and lactobacilli.     

Study of physiological effects of weightlessness and artificial gravity in the flight of the biosatellite Cosmos-936.

In the 18.5-day flight of the Soviet biosatellite Cosmos-936 (3-22, August 1977) com-parative investigations of the physiological effects of prolonged weightlessness (20 rats) and artificial gravity of 1 g (10 rats) were carried out. Throughout the flight artificial gravity was generated by means of animal rotation in two centrifuges with a radius of 320mm. Postflight examination of animals and treatment of the flight data were performed by Soviet scientists in collaboration with the specialists from Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Hungary, Poland, Rumania, France and the U.S.A. During the flight the total motor activity of the weightless rats was higher and their body temperature was lower than those of the centrifuged animals. Postflight examination of the weightless rats showed a greater percentage of errors during maze an increase in water intake and a decrease in diuresis; a fall of the resistance of peripheral red cells; an increase in the conditionally pathogenic microflora in the mouth; a decrease of oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide production and energy expenditures; a drop in the static physical endurance; a decline in the capacity to keep balance on the rail; an increase in the latent period of the lifting reflex, etc. The centrifugal animals displayed lesser or no change of the above type. These findings together with the biochemical and morphological data give evidence that during and after flight adaptive processes in the centrifuged rats developed better.     

Non-cultural methods of human microflora evaluation for the benefit of crew medical control in confined habitat

Current control of human microflora is a great problem not only for the space medicine but also for practical health care. Due to many reasons its realization by classical bacteriological method is difficult in practical application or cannot be done.To evaluate non-cultural methods of microbial control of crews in a confined habitat we evaluated two different methods.The first method is based on digital treatment of microbial visual images, appearing after gram staining of microbial material from natural sample. This way the rate between gram-positive and gram-negative microbe could be gained as well as differentiation of rods and cocci could be attained, which is necessary for primary evaluation of human microbial cenosis in remote confined habitats.The other non-culture method of human microflora evaluation is gas chromatomass spectrometry (gcms) analysis of swabs gathered from different body sites. Gc-ms testing of swabs allows one to validate quantitative and special microflora based on specific lipid markers analysis.     

Summary of experiments onboard Soviet biosatellites.

Physiological, morphological and biochemical studies of mammals flown onboard biosatellites of the series Cosmos revealed changes in their cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, endocrine and vestibular systems. Space flight resulted in moderate stress reactions, intralabyrinthine conflict information during movements and changes in fluid-electrolyte metabolism. Exposure to artificial gravity (1 g) decreased the level of myocardial, musculoskeletal and excretory changes, but disturbed the function of equilibrium. Studies with combined weightlessness and ionizing radiation demonstrated that weightlessness did not produce a significant modifying effect on radiation damage and postradiation recovery. Consistent changes in certain systems of animals and humans in weightlessness confirm the practical importance of biosatellite studies, which also contribute to the solution of general biology, problems associated with gravity effects on life processes.     

Study of methanogenesis during bioutilization of plant residuals

The waste management strategy for the future should meet the benefits of human safety, respect principles of planet ecology, and compatibility with other habitability systems. For these purposes waste management technologies relevant to application of the biodegradation properties of bacteria are of great value. Biological treatment method is based on the biodegradation of organic substances by various microorganisms.The objectives of our study were: to evaluate the effectiveness of microbial biodegradation of vegetable non-edible residual, using artificial inoculum, and to study the peculiarities of biogas, and possibilities of optimizing or reducing the share of methane. The diminution rate of organic gained 76% from initial mass within 9 days of fermentation. The biogas production achieved 46 l/kg of substrate. The microbial studies of biodegradation process revealed the following peculiarities: (i) gradual quantitative increase of Lactobacillus sp. (from 10(3) to 10(5) colony-forming units (CFU) per ml); (ii) activation of Clostridia sp. (from 10(2) to 10(4) CFU/ml); and (iii) elimination of aerobic conventional pathogens (Enterobacteriaceae, Protea sp., Staphylococci). Chromatography analysis revealed the constant presence of carbon dioxide (up to 90.9%). The methane content measures revealed traces 0.1-0.4%. However, when we optimized the methane production in "boiling layer" using methanogenic granules, the amount of methane in biogas reached 80-90%. Based on the results obtained the artificial inoculum was created which was capable of initiating biodegradation of vegetable wastes. This inoculum consisted of active sludge adapted to wastes mixed with excretea of insects which consume plant wastes. Using this inoculum the biodegradation process takes less time than that using active sludge. Regulation of methane concentration from traces to 90% may be achieved by adding methane reactor to the plant digester.     

The application of space imagery to geology and mineral exploration in the USSR — A case history

A short history of the application of space images to geology and mineral exploration in the U.S.S.R. is given with special emphasis to circular features observed on small scale and low-resolution pictures within the Precambrian terrain. These features are believed to correspond to the oldest basins of volcano-sedimentary deposition or, in other words, to primary cells of basic proto-crust. Metallogenic significance of circular features is also discussed. Remote sensing in oil-gas field exploration and in the study of recent tectonics are also dealt with.     

The problems of microbial safety in regenerative life support systems exploration

The hazards of microbial contamination in life support systems onboard spacecraft during long duration missions are presented. Tables present information about microbial characteristics of moisture-containing substrates and wastes submitted to and passing the regeneration system; the content of microflora on different types of polymers typically used in regenerative systems; and medical risks associated with microflora isolated from space object construction materials in spacecraft. Priorities for decontamination are total decontamination, localization of decontaminating equipment before and after regeneration, and physical methods of decontamination.     

Microbiological status of cosmonauts during orbital spaceflights on Salyut and Mir orbital stations

The main feature of the human–microorganism eco-system forming in the environment of manned space vehicles is the periodic accumulation of the potential for pathogenicity. This process is characterized by the activation of opportunistic pathogens, representatives of which grow in large number within the system, settle in various niches, and demonstrate expansion, intruding into microbiocenoses of open biotopes of humans who, until contamination, have been clean of these microorganisms. Clones (similar to hospital strains) arising out of these populations exhibit the ability to spread “epidemically” within isolated teams.     

Investigations onboard the biosatellite Cosmos-1667

The program of the 7-day flight of the biosatellite Cosmos-1667 launched in July 1985 included experiments on two rhesus monkeys, ten Wistar SPF rats, ten newts, Drosophila flies, maize seedlings, lettuce sprouts, and unicellular organisms - Tetrahymena. The primate study demonstrated that transition to orbital flight was accompanied by a greater excitability of the vestibular apparatus and an increased linear blood flow velocity in the common carotid artery. The rat studies showed that atrophy of antigravity muscles and osteoporosis of limb bones developed even during short-term exposure to microgravity. The experiments on other living systems revealed no microgravity effects on the cell division rate, proliferative activity of cells of regenerating tissues and organs, energy metabolism of developing insects, structure or chemical composition of higher plant seedlings.