Control of Lunar and Martian dust--experimental insights from artificial and natural cyanobacterial and algal crusts in the desert of Inner Mongolia, China

Studies on the colonization of environmentally extreme ground surfaces were conducted in a Mars-like desert area of Inner Mongolia, People's Republic of China, with microalgae and cyanobacteria. We collected and mass-cultured cyanobacterial strains from these regions and investigated their ability to form desert crusts artificially. These crusts had the capacity to resist sand wind erosion after just 15 days of growth. Similar to the surface of some Chinese deserts, the surface of Mars is characterized by a layer of fine dust, which will challenge future human exploration activities, particularly in confined spaces that will include greenhouses and habitats. We discuss the use of such crusts for the local control of desert sands in enclosed spaces on Mars. These experiments suggest innovative new directions in the applied use of microbe-mineral interactions to advance the human exploration and settlement of space.     

Chemi-acoustic instability structure in irreversibly reacting systems

A basic understanding of the structure of the interactions between chemical and acoustic instabilities and the effects derived therefrom is sought for a medium undergoing one-step irreversible chemical reaction. Detailed examination of the acoustic-chemical system after the completion of the reaction shows the distinct presence of the chemical, acoustic, and mixed modes of instability. The chemical mode appears as a stationary yet spatially inhomogeneous entropy distribution, even though the medium initially (before reaction) is homogeneous throughout. The acoustic mode appears as a composite of both right- and left-travelling pressure or velocity waves, even though the initial acoustic wave is only right-travelling. The left-travelling wave is generated due to partial reflection or scattering as the right-travelling wave propagates in a spatially inhomogenous medium during the chemical reaction and is sustained even after the reaction is completed. The mixed modes of density and temperature fluctuations apparently retain to some degree the characteristics of both the acoustic and the chemical modes and may, under certain conditions, be dominated by either one of the modes of behavior. This is determined largely by the parameter Ω, the ratio of chemical to acoustic time scales.During reaction, it is found that the observed complicated behavior can be interpreted fruitfully in terms of the mode concept developed for the post-reaction behavior. It is observed that the temporal development of the physical fluctuating variables is dependent upon spatial position (the effect being stronger as Ω is reduced). Further, it is found that at specific values of Ω, the following effects are maximized: (a) acoustic amplification; (b) wave reflection; (c) reaction evolution enhancement.The energy contained in the fluctuations is found to be composed of an acoustic and a chemical part. The latter dominates during reaction. However, after reaction, the chemical part exactly balances any change in the acoustic part which occurs during reaction, thus resulting in no net change in the fluctuation energy. The chemical part seems to represent the loss (or gain) of mean thermal energy which was diverted by chemi-acoustic interactions into the increased (or decreased) acoustic energy of the system.     

Effects of a simulated martian UV flux on the cyanobacterium, Chroococcidiopsis sp. 029

Dried monolayers of Chroococcidiopsis sp. 029, a desiccation-tolerant, endolithic cyanobacterium, were exposed to a simulated martian-surface UV and visible light flux, which may also approximate to the worst-case scenario for the Archean Earth. After 5 min, there was a 99% loss of cell viability, and there were no survivors after 30 min. However, this survival was approximately 10 times higher than that previously reported for Bacillus subtilis. We show that under 1 mm of rock, Chroococcidiopsis sp. could survive (and potentially grow) under the high martian UV flux if water and nutrient requirements for growth were met. In isolated cells, phycobilisomes and esterases remained intact hours after viability was lost. Esterase activity was reduced by 99% after a 1-h exposure, while 99% loss of autofluorescence required a 4-h exposure. However, cell morphology was not changed, and DNA was still detectable by 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining after an 8-h exposure (equivalent to approximately 1 day on Mars at the equator). Under 1 mm of simulant martian soil or gneiss, the effect of UV radiation could not be detected on esterase activity or autofluorescence after 4 h. These results show that under the intense martian UV flux the morphological signatures of life can persist even after viability, enzymatic activity, and pigmentation have been destroyed. Finally, the global dispersal of viable, isolated cells of even this desiccation-tolerant, ionizing-radiation-resistant microorganism on Mars is unlikely as they are killed quickly by unattenuated UV radiation when in a desiccated state. These findings have implications for the survival of diverse microbial contaminants dispersed during the course of human exploratory class missions on the surface of Mars.     

Some Technical Issues of an Optically Focused Small Space Debris Tracking and Cataloging System

Congressional language in the 1998 US Senate Armed Services Committee authorization bill directed ... the Secretary of the (United States) Air Force to undertake a design study of a system that could catalog and track debris down to one centimeter in size out to 1000kilometer in altitude. The US Air Force Research Laboratory, in conjunction with other US National Laboratories and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducted a study that examined what technical systems and operations would be required to perform such a mission. This paper outlines the study process, details the findings, draws conclusions, and makes recommendations as to what would be needed to develop an optically based system capable of cataloging and tracking small debris in low Earth orbit.     

Finding a second sample of life on earth

If life emerges readily under Earth-like conditions, the possibility arises of multiple terrestrial genesis events. We seek to quantify the probability of this scenario using estimates of the Archean bombardment rate and the fact that life established itself fairly rapidly on Earth once conditions became favorable. We find a significant likelihood that at least one more sample of life, referred to here as alien life, may have emerged on Earth, and could have coexisted with known life. Indeed, it is difficult to rule out the possibility of extant alien life. We offer some suggestions for how an alternative sample of life might be detected.     

Object-based representations of spatial images

Object based representations of image data enable new content-related functionalities while facilitating management of large image databases. Developing such representations for multi-date and multi-spectral images is one of the objectives of the second phase of the Alexandria Digital Library (ADL) project at UCSB. Image segmentation and image registration are two of the main issues that are to be addressed in creating localized image representations. We present in this paper some of the recent and current work by the ADL's image processing group on robust image segmentation, registration, and the use of image texture for content representation. Built upon these technologies are techniques for managing large repositories of data. A texture thesaurus assists in creating a semantic classification of image regions. An object-based representation is proposed to facilitate data storage, retrieval, analysis, and navigation.     

Effects of CW Interference on Narrow-Band Second-Order Phase-Lock Loops

This paper describes an experimental study of the effect of continuous wave (CW) interference and white noise on a second-order phase-lock loop. The reciprocal of the loop mean-square phase error is used as an index of performance, and the effect of interference levels that do not cause cycle skipping or loss of lock is described in terms of this index. Loop thresholds are determined by measurement of cycle-skipping rates. Stationary or slowly-sweeping CW interference caused a degradation in loop threshold of roughly 3 dB for every 6 dB of interference power above the noise power level. The effective loop signal-to-noise ratio was decreased approximately 1 dB at interference-to-noise power ratios of -3 dB. Interference levels equal to the signal level consistently caused loss of lock, regardless of the loop signal-to-noise ratio.     

Damage escape and repair in dried Chroococcidiopsis spp. from hot and cold deserts exposed to simulated space and martian conditions

The cyanobacterium Chroococcidiopsis, overlain by 3?mm of Antarctic sandstone, was exposed as dried multilayers to simulated space and martian conditions. Ground-based experiments were conducted in the context of Lichens and Fungi Experiments (EXPOSE-E mission, European Space Agency), which were performed to evaluate, after 1.5 years on the International Space Station, the survival of cyanobacteria (Chroococcidiopsis), lichens, and fungi colonized on Antarctic rock. The survival potential and the role played by protection and repair mechanisms in the response of dried Chroococcidiopsis cells to ground-based experiments were both investigated. Different methods were employed, including evaluation of the colony-forming ability, single-cell analysis of subcellular integrities based on membrane integrity molecular and redox probes, evaluation of the photosynthetic pigment autofluorescence, and assessment of the genomic DNA integrity with a PCR-based assay. Desiccation survivors of strain CCMEE 123 (coastal desert, Chile) were better suited than CCMEE 134 (Beacon Valley, Antarctica) to withstand cellular damage imposed by simulated space and martian conditions. Exposed dried cells of strain CCMEE 123 formed colonies, maintained subcellular integrities, and, depending on the exposure conditions, also escaped DNA damage or repaired the induced damage upon rewetting.     

The O/OREOS mission: first science data from the Space Environment Survivability of Living Organisms (SESLO) payload

We report the first telemetered spaceflight science results from the orbiting Space Environment Survivability of Living Organisms (SESLO) experiment, executed by one of the two 10?cm cube-format payloads aboard the 5.5?kg Organism/Organic Exposure to Orbital Stresses (O/OREOS) free-flying nanosatellite. The O/OREOS spacecraft was launched successfully to a 72° inclination, 650?km Earth orbit on 19 November 2010. This satellite provides access to the radiation environment of space in relatively weak regions of Earth's protective magnetosphere as it passes close to the north and south magnetic poles; the total dose rate is about 15 times that in the orbit of the International Space Station. The SESLO experiment measures the long-term survival, germination, and growth responses, including metabolic activity, of Bacillus subtilis spores exposed to the microgravity, ionizing radiation, and heavy-ion bombardment of its high-inclination orbit. Six microwells containing wild-type (168) and six more containing radiation-sensitive mutant (WN1087) strains of dried B. subtilis spores were rehydrated with nutrient medium after 14 days in space to allow the spores to germinate and grow. Similarly, the same distribution of organisms in a different set of microwells was rehydrated with nutrient medium after 97 days in space. The nutrient medium included the redox dye Alamar blue, which changes color in response to cellular metabolic activity. Three-color transmitted intensity measurements of all microwells were telemetered to Earth within days of each of the 48?h growth experiments. We report here on the evaluation and interpretation of these spaceflight data in comparison to delayed-synchronous laboratory ground control experiments.