Establishment of a rearing system of the extremotolerant tardigrade Ramazzottius varieornatus: a new model animal for astrobiology

Studies on the ability of multicellular organisms to tolerate specific environmental extremes are relatively rare compared to those of unicellular microorganisms in extreme environments. Tardigrades are extremotolerant animals that can enter an ametabolic dry state called anhydrobiosis and have high tolerance to a variety of extreme environmental conditions, particularly while in anhydrobiosis. Although tardigrades have been expected to be a potential model animal for astrobiological studies due to their excellent anhydrobiotic and extremotolerant abilities, few studies of tolerance with cultured tardigrades have been reported, possibly due to the absence of a model species that can be easily maintained under rearing conditions. We report the successful rearing of the herbivorous tardigrade, Ramazzottius varieornatus, by supplying the green alga Chlorella vulgaris as food. The life span was 35 +/- 16.4 d, deposited eggs required 5.7 +/- 1.1 d to hatch, and animals began to deposit eggs 9 d after hatching. The reared individuals of this species had an anhydrobiotic capacity throughout their life cycle in egg, juvenile, and adult stages. Furthermore, the reared adults in an anhydrobiotic state were tolerant of temperatures of 90 degrees C and -196 degrees C, and exposure to 99.8% acetonitrile or irradiation with 4000 Gy (4)He ions. Based on their life history traits and tolerance to extreme stresses, R. varieornatus may be a suitable model for astrobiological studies of multicellular organisms.     

A balloon-borne very long baseline interferometry experiment in the stratosphere: Systems design and developments

The balloon-borne very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) experiment is a technical feasibility study for performing radio interferometry in the stratosphere. The flight model has been developed. A balloon-borne VLBI station will be launched to establish interferometric fringes with ground-based VLBI stations distributed over the Japanese islands at an observing frequency of approximately 20?GHz as the first step. This paper describes the system design and development of a series of observing instruments and bus systems. In addition to the advantages of avoiding the atmospheric effects of absorption and fluctuation in high frequency radio observation, the mobility of a station can improve the sampling coverage (“uv-coverage”) by increasing the number of baselines by the number of ground-based counterparts for each observation day. This benefit cannot be obtained with conventional arrays that solely comprise ground-based stations. The balloon-borne VLBI can contribute to a future progress of research fields such as black holes by direct imaging.     

Surge and Noise Generation in a Forward DC-to-DC Converter

Switching surge and noise voltages are analyzed under the common-mode condition in a forward dc-to-dc converter. The analysis is performed by partitioning the switching time into several states and introducing the high-frequency equivalent circuits. The equivalent circuits include not only inductive and capacitive parameters, but also the parameters related to the switching speed of the transistor and the recovery characteristics of the diode. As a result, the effects of these various parameters on the surge and noise generation are made clear quantitatively.     

Tolerance of anhydrobiotic eggs of the Tardigrade Ramazzottius varieornatus to extreme environments

Tardigrades are tiny (less than 1?mm in length) invertebrate animals that have the potential to survive travel to other planets because of their tolerance to extreme environmental conditions by means of a dry ametabolic state called anhydrobiosis. While the tolerance of adult tardigrades to extreme environments has been reported, there are few reports on the tolerance of their eggs. We examined the ability of hydrated and anhydrobiotic eggs of the tardigrade Ramazzottius varieornatus to hatch after exposure to ionizing irradiation (helium ions), extremely low and high temperatures, and high vacuum. We previously reported that there was a similar pattern of tolerance against ionizing radiation between hydrated and anhydrobiotic adults. In contrast, anhydrobiotic eggs (50% lethal dose; 1690 Gy) were substantially more radioresistant than hydrated ones (50% lethal dose; 509 Gy). Anhydrobiotic eggs also have a broader temperature resistance compared with hydrated ones. Over 70% of the anhydrobiotic eggs treated at either -196°C or +50°C hatched successfully, but all the hydrated eggs failed to hatch. After exposure to high-vacuum conditions (5.3×10(-4) Pa to 6.2×10(-5) Pa), the hatchability of the anhydrobiotic eggs was comparable to that of untreated control eggs.