Survival of dormant organisms after long-term exposure to the space environment

The RF SRC—Institute of Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, developed Biorisk hardware to study the effects of long-term exposure of dormant forms of various organisms to outer space and used it to complete a series of experiments on the Russian Module (RM) of the International Space Station (ISS).The experiments were performed using prokaryotes (Bacillus bacteria) and eukaryotes (Penicillium, Aspergillus, and Cladosporium fungi), as well as spores, dormant forms of higher plants, insects, lower crustaceans, and vertebrates. The biological samples were housed in two containers that were exposed to outer space for 13 or 18 months. The results of the 18-month experiment showed that, in spite of harsher temperature than in the first study, most specimens remained viable.These experiments provided evidence that not only bacterial and fungal spores but also dormant forms of organisms that reached higher levels of evolutionary development had the capability to survive a long-term exposure to outer space. This observation suggests that they can be transferred on outer walls of space platforms during interplanetary missions.     

Onboard trajectory equipment measurements

In past years, the onboard trajectory measurements complex (OTMC) was found in flight tests of flight vehicles (FV). The quick-release small-sized complex makes registration of the information of onboard systems, definition of trajectory parameters of FV, the information synchronization of onboard systems, and trajectory parameters. OTMC is used for the solution of the whole set of different tasks on estimation of the characteristics of FV and its onboard equipment. With the help OTMC in flight tests there solved the tasks of estimation: operation and accuracy characteristics of air navigation computing systems, inertial navigational systems, integrated navigational systems; SNS receivers, landing radio engineering systems, accuracy of flights under the standard takeoff patterns and landing, take-off and landing characteristics, accuracy characteristics of radars, corrections of high-altitude, fast-track parameters, systems of early warning of ground proximity etc     

Testing and evaluation of a method for locating potentially hazardous sites of eventual microdestruction and detecting marks of ISS RS hull leakage

In 2008, two experiments – BAR and EXPERT – were performed on the Russian segment (ISS RS) during ISS missions 16 and 17 using diagnostic equipment BAR. The experiments were aimed to enhance ISS safety by proposing means and methods of detecting leaks due to many factors including microdestruction of pressurized modules of the vehicle. The BAR experiment was designed to assess the ultraviolet background in 56 potentially dangerous locations identified by RS ISS designers and engineers. The method for locating sites carrying the risk of microdestruction of pressurized structure was verified. The study showed that the rate of microdestruction is highly affected by level of ultrasound vibrations caused by onboard equipment. The ultrasound measurements in 200 RS ISS sites were performed within the BAR experiment. The method consists of looking for surfaces with atmospheric condensate in the areas of increased levels of ultrasound vibrations. Twenty six sites were added to the nomenclature of potentially risky sites to be monitored on the regular basis. Some of these sites were contaminated by fungi and bacteria.