Formation of bioorganic compounds in simulated planetary atmospheres by high energy particles or photons.

Various types of organic compounds have been detected in Jupiter, Titan, and cometary coma. It is probable that organic compounds were formed in primitive Earth and Mars atmospheres. Cosmic rays and solar UV are believed to be two major energy sources for organic formation in space. We examined energetics of organic formation in simulated planetary atmospheres. Gas mixtures including a C-source (carbon monoxide or methane) and a N-source (nitrogen or ammonia) was irradiated with the followings: High energy protons or electrons from accelerators, gamma-rays from 60Co, UV light from a deuterium lamp, and soft X-rays or UV light from an electron synchrotron. Amino acids were detected in the products of particles, gamma-rays and soft X-rays irradiation from each gas mixture examined. UV light gave, however, no amino acid precursors in the gas mixture of carbon monoxide, nitrogen and nitrogen. It gave only a trace of them in the gas mixture of carbon monoxide, ammonia and water or that of methane, nitrogen and water. Yield of amino acid precursors by photons greatly depended on their wavelength. These results suggest that nitrogen-containing organic compounds like amino acid precursors were formed chiefly with high energy particles, not UV photons, in Titan or primitive Earth/Mars atmospheres where ammonia is not available as a predominant N-source.     

Reconnection during substorms and solar flares

The patterns of reconnection in the Earth magnetotail and in the solar corona above the active region are presented. The electric field and field-aligned currents (FAC) generation in the current sheet are discussed.     

Use of planetary soils within CELSS: the plant viewpoint.

The major functions of soil relative to plant growth include retention and supply of water and minerals, provision of anchorage and support for the root, and provision of an otherwise adequate physical and chemical environment to ensure an extensive, functioning root system. The physical and chemical nature of the solid matrix constituting a soil interacts with the soil confinement configuration, the growing environment, and plant requirements to determine the soil's suitability for plant growth. A wide range of natural and manufactured terrestrial materials have proven adequate soils provided they are not chemically harmful to plants (or animals eating the plants), are suitably prepared for the specific use, and are used in a compatible confinement system. It is presumed this same rationale can be applied to planetary soils for growing plants within any controlled environment life support system (CELSS). The basic concepts of soil and soil-plant interactions are reviewed relative to using soils constituted from local planetary materials for growing plants.     

Infrared spectrometer PFS for the Mars 94 orbiter

Thin films containing a mixture of aliphatic (glycine) and aromatic (tryptophan or tyrosine) amino acids were exposed to a vacuum ultraviolet radiation (VUV) with wavelenghts 100–200 nm. Dipeptides (glycyl-tryptophan and glycyl-tyrosine) were synthesized in these conditions. We compared the actions of VUV and γ-radiation. Polymerization is an essential step in prebiological evolution and we have shown that this stage probably occured over an early Solar system history.     

Manipulating light and temperature to minimize environmental stress in the plant component of bioregenerative life support systems.

Our experiments examined enhancing tolerance of the photosynthesizing component to possible deviations in thermal or illumination conditions inside a bioregenerative life support system (BLSS). In the event of one parameter getting beyond its optimum, the values of other parameters may ensure minimal damage to the plant component during the period of environmental stress. With wheat plants (one of key elements of the plant component) as an example the work considers whether it is possible to enhance thermal tolerance by varying light intensity. Increase of air temperature to 35 degrees C or 45 degrees C with light intensity of 60 W/m2 PAR has been shown to substantially inhibit the photosynthesis processes; at 150 W/m2 PAR photosynthesis decreases from 50% to 100%, respectively; when light intensity is increased to 240 W/m2 PAR photosynthesis increased more than 70% at 35 degrees C and decreased at 45 degrees C by only 20%. Thus, light intensity can be increased to avoid or decrease the inhibiting effect of high temperatures. On the other hand, tolerance of wheat plants to prolonged absence of light can be substantially enhanced by decreasing during this period air temperature to temperatures close to 0 degrees C.     

Evolution of the Martian water cycle.

The current Martian water cycle is extremely asymmetric, with large amounts of vapor subliming off a permanent north polar water ice cap in northern summer, but with no apparent major source of water vapor in the southern hemisphere. Detailed simulations of this process with a three-dimensional circulation model indicate that the summertime interhemispheric exchange (Hadley cell) is very much stronger than transport by eddies in other seasons. As a result, water ice would be distributed globally were it not for the buffering action of regolith soil adsorption which limits the net flux of water vapor off the north polar cap to amounts that are insignificant even on the scale of thousands of years. It has been suggested that the polar layered deposits are the result of exchange on these long time scales, driven by changes in Martian orbital parameters. We therefore are conducting simulations to test the effect of varied orbital parameters on the Martian water cycle. We find that when the perihelion summer pole is charged with a polar water ice cap, large quantities of water are quickly transfered to the aphelion summer pole, setting up an annual cycle that resembles the present one. Thus, the adsorptivity of the Martian regolith may be in the narrow range where it can limit net transport from the aphelion but not the perihelion pole.     

Light microscopic analysis of the gravireceptor in Xenopus larvae developed in hypogravity.

The paper describes an investigation of the influence of gravity on the early differentiation of gravity receptors in Xenopus embryos and larvae. There is evidence that the expression of crystals in the saccus endolymphaticus was statistically greater when the embryos developed in near weightlessness (hypogravity) than on earth. The function of these crystals is unknown but they may contribute to the functioning of the vestibular apparatus.     

Free radicals induced in solid DNA by heavy ion bombardment.

Free radical formation after heavy-ion bombardment was studied in solid, polycristalline pellets of DNA-constituents by analysing the dose-yield curves and the spectra obtained by ESR-spectroscopy at low (< 100 K) and ambient temperatures. The dose-yield curves were found to correlate with those found after X-irradiation but shifted to higher doses and lower saturation concentrations. The corresponding radical yields (per 100 eV) exhibit values which are one to two orders of magnitudes lower. The structural aspects as revealed from powder ESR-spectra gave a complex inter-relation between substance, LET, dose and irradiation temperature, which is discussed in terms of mechanistic models.     

Galactic cosmic ray transport methods: past, present, and future.

The development of the theory of high charge and energy (HZE) ion transport is reviewed. The basic solution behavior and approximation techniques will be described. An overview of the HZE transport codes currently available at the Langley Research Center will be given. The near term goal of the Langley program is to produce a complete set of one-dimensional transport codes. The ultimate goal is to produce a set of complete three-dimensional codes which have been validated in the laboratory and can be applied in the engineering design environment. Recent progress toward completing these goals is discussed.     

Cognitive deficits induced by 56Fe radiation exposure.

Exposing rats to particles of high energy and charge (e.g., 56Fe) disrupts neuronal systems and the behaviors mediated by them; these adverse behavioral and neuronal effects are similar to those seen in aged animals. Because cognition declines with age, and our previous study showed that radiation disrupted Morris water maze spatial learning and memory performance, the present study used an 8-arm radial maze (RAM) to further test the cognitive behavioral consequences of radiation exposure. Control rats or rats exposed to whole-body irradiation with 1.0 Gy of 1 GeV/n high-energy 56Fe particles (delivered at the alternating gradient synchrotron at Brookhaven National Laboratory) were tested nine months following exposure. Radiation adversely affected RAM performance, and the changes seen parallel those of aging. Irradiated animals entered baited arms during the first 4 choices significantly less than did controls, produced their first error sooner, and also tended to make more errors as measured by re-entries into non-baited arms. These results show that irradiation with high-energy particles produces age-like decrements in cognitive behavior that may impair the ability of astronauts to perform critical tasks during long-term space travel beyond the magnetosphere.