Formation of amino acid precursors in cometary ice environments by cosmic radiation.

Cometary ices are believed to contain water, carbon monoxide, methane and ammonia, and are possible sites for the formation and preservation of organic compounds relating to the origin of life. Cosmic rays, together with ultraviolet light, are among the most effective energy sources for the formation of organic compounds in space. In order to study the possibility of the formation of amino acids in comets or their precursory bodies (interstellar dust grains), several types of ice mixtures made in a cryostat at 10 K ("simulated cometary ices") were irradiated with high energy protons. After irradiation, the volatile products were analyzed with a quadrupole mass spectrometer, while temperature of the cryostat was raised to room temperature. The non-volatile products remaining in the cryostat at room temperature were collected with water. They were acid-hydrolyzed, and analyzed by ion-exchange chromatography. When an ice mixture of carbon monoxide (or methane), ammonia and water was irradiated, some hydrocarbons were formed, and amino acids such as glycine and alanine were detected in the hydrolyzate. These results suggest the possible formation of "amino acid precursors" (compounds yielding amino acids after hydrolysis) in interstellar dust grains by cosmic radiation. We previously reported that amino acid precursors were formed when simulated primitive planetary atmospheres were irradiated with cosmic ray particles. It will be of great interest to compare the amount of bioorganic compounds that were formed in the primitive earth and that brought by comets to the earth.     

Metabolic changes in rats subjected to space flight for 18.5 days in the biosatellite Cosmos 936

From an investigation of the activity of six glucocorticoid dependent liver enzymes, the existence of chronic, transient, stress-induced hypercorticosteronaemia during flight is probable. This hypercorticosteronaemia arises from weightlessness and induces gluconeogenesis. Weightlessness also caused substantial increases in liver glycogen level. The increased lipolytic activity and that of lipoprotein lipase in several groups of animals could be interpreted as enhancement of fat mobilization and utilization under the influence of stress. As this latter enhancement was also found in ground-based controls, it may have been due to the stress of handling rather than to space flight per se.     

Survival in extreme dryness and DNA-single-strand breaks.

A wide variety of organisms (the so-called "anhydrobiotes') is able to survive long periods of time in a state of utmost dehydration and can thus survive in extremely dry environments including artificially imposed or space vacuum. Known strategies of survival include the accumulation of certain polyols, especially disaccharides, which help prevent damage to membranes and proteins. Here we report that DNA in vacuum-dried spores is damaged to a very substantial degree by processes leading to DNA strand breaks. Most of these lesions are obviously repaired during germination, but extensive damage to DNA and enzymes after long exposure times (months to years) finally diminish the chances of survival.     

Biosphere 2 Test Module: a ground-based sunlight-driven prototype of a closed ecological life support system.

Constructed in 1986, the Biosphere 2 Test Module has been used since the end of that year for closed ecological systems experiments. It is the largest closed ecological facility ever built, with a sealed variable volume of some 480 cubic meters. It is built with a skin of steel spaceframes with double-laminated glass panels admitting about 65 percent Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR). The floor is of welded steel and there is an underground atmospheric connection via an air duct to a variable volume chamber ("lung") permitting expansion and contraction of the Test Module's air volume caused by changes in temperature and barometric pressure, which causes a slight positive pressure from inside the closed system to the outside thereby insuring that the very small leakage rate is outward. Several series of closed ecological system investigations have been carried out in this facility. One series of experiments investigated the dynamics of higher plants and associated soils with the atmosphere under varying light and temperature conditions. Another series of experiments included one human in the closed system for three, five and twenty-one days. During these experiments the Test Module had subsystems which completely recycled its water and atmosphere; all the human dietary needs were produced within the facility, and all wastes were recycled using a marsh plant/microbe system. Other experiments have examined the capability of individual component systems used, such as the soil bed reactors, to eliminate experimentally introduced trace gases. Analytic systems developed for these experiments include continuous monitors of eleven atmospheric gases in addition to the complete gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) examinations of potable, waste system and irrigation water quality.     

Chemistry of the interstellar medium--an evolutionary dead end?

An analysis of the experimental data available and of the present theoretical concepts shows that even the initial physicochemical chemical precellular stages of biological evolution are impossible in the interstellar medium, while biomonomers possibly formed on asteroids and comets might have participated after transportation to the Earth in the final stages of the origin of the first precellular biological structures and then in the first living cells.     

An approach to the detection of microbe life in planetary environments through charge-coupled devices

The use of charge-coupled devices is suggested as a means for detecting growth of micro-organism colonies. The accuracy of the method is determined by channel width and the sensitivity by the signal/noise ratio. The method was tested on a dense nutrient medium, which is to be considered more suitable to micro-organisms of the dry Martian soil than the water solution of nutrients employed in the Viking's strategy.     

Optical design and testing of a fast,large aperture,infrared space telescope

An optical design study for a next generation infrared space telescope has been performed. The concept is that of a passively cooled telescope of minium aperture 2.5 metre with an F/1.2 primary and wavelength coverage from = 2 to at least 40 m, and possibly to 100 m. Compactness, low thermal emission from the optics and structure, diffraction limited imaging at = 2 m, and sensitivity to misalignment aberrations and manufacturing errors were the main considerations for this study. Ray tracing results are presented showing the characteristics of the various designs considered. A preliminary investigation of stray light properties is also given. Special emphasis has been placed on the testing of such a fast primary, and optical systems using a lateral shearing interferometer are described for testing both the primary and the primary/secondary combination.     

The plasma instrumentation for the Galileo Mission

The plasma instrumentation (PLS) for the Galileo Mission comprises a nested set of four spherical-plate electrostatic analyzers and three miniature, magnetic mass spectrometers. The three-dimensional velocity distributions of positive ions and electrons, separately, are determined for the energy-per-unit charge (E/Q) range of 0.9 V to 52 kV. A large fraction of the 4-steradian solid angle for charged particle velocity vectors is sampled by means of the fan-shaped field-of-view of 160°, multiple sensors, and the rotation of the spacecraft spinning section. The fields-of-view of the three mass spectrometers are respectively directed perpendicular and nearly parallel and anti-parallel to the spin axis of the spacecraft. These mass spectrometers are used to identify the composition of the positive ion plasmas, e.g., H⁺, O⁺, Na⁺, and S⁺, in the Jovian magnetosphere. The energy range of these three mass spectrometers is dependent upon the species. The maximum temporal resolutions of the instrument for determining the energy (E/Q) spectra of charged particles and mass (M/Q) composition of positive ion plasmas are 0.5 s. Three-dimensional velocity distributions of electrons and positive ions require a minimum sampling time of 20 s, which is slightly longer than the spacecraft rotation period. The two instrument microprocessors provide the capability of inflight implementation of operational modes by ground-command that are tailored for specific plasma regimes, e.g., magnetosheath, plasma sheet, cold and hot tori, and satellite wakes, and that can be improved upon as acquired knowledge increases during the tour of the Jovian magnetosphere. Because the instrument is specifically designed for measurements in the environs of Jupiter with the advantages of previous surveys with the Voyager spacecraft, first determinations of many plasma phenomena can be expected. These observational objectives include field-aligned currents, three-dimensional ion bulk flows, pickup ions from the Galilean satellites, the spatial distribution of plasmas throughout most of the magnetosphere and including the magnetotail, and ion and electron flows to and from the Jovian ionosphere.     

The Lightning And Radio Emission Detector (LRD) instrument

The Lightning and Radio Emission Detector (LRD) instrument will be carried by the Galileo Probe into Jupiter's atmosphere. The LRD will verify the existence of lightning in the atmosphere and will determine the details of many of its basic characteristics. The instrument, operated in its magnetospheric mode at distances of about 5, 4, 3, and 2 planetary radii from Jupiter's center, will also measure the radio frequency (RF) noise spectrum in Jupiter's magnetosphere. The LRD instrument is composed of a ferritecore radio frequency antenna ( 100 Hz to 100 kHz) and two photodiodes mounted behind individual fisheye lenses. The output of the RF antenna is analyzed both separately and in coincidence with the optical signals from the photodiodes. The RF antenna provides data both in the frequency domain (with three narrow-band channels, primarily for deducing the physical properties of distant lightning) and in the time domain with a priority scheme (primarily for determining from individual RF waveforms the physical properties of closeby-lightning).