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NASA NTRS2006

Porous Media Approach for Modeling Closed Cell Foam

In order to minimize boil off of the liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen and to prevent the formation of ice on its exterior surface, the Space Shuttle External Tank (ET) is insulated using various low-density, closed-cell polymeric foams. Improved analysis methods for these foam materials are needed to predict the foam structural response and to help identify the foam fracture behavior in order to help minimize foam shedding occurrences. This presentation describes a continuum based approach to modeling the foam thermo-mechanical behavior that accounts for the cellular nature of the material and explicitly addresses the effect of the internal cell gas pressure. A porous media approach is implemented in a finite element frame work to model the mechanical behavior of the closed cell foam. The ABAQUS general purpose finite element program is used to simulate the continuum behavior of the foam. The soil mechanics element is implemented to account for the cell internal pressure and its effect on the stress and strain fields. The pressure variation inside the closed cells is calculated using the ideal gas laws. The soil mechanics element is compatible with an orthotropic materials model to capture the different behavior between the rise and in-plane directions of the foam. The porous media approach is applied to model the foam thermal strain and calculate the foam effective coefficient of thermal expansion. The calculated foam coefficients of thermal expansion were able to simulate the measured thermal strain during heat up from cryogenic temperature to room temperature in vacuum. The porous media approach was applied to an insulated substrate with one inch foam and compared to a simple elastic solution without pore pressure. The porous media approach is also applied to model the foam mechanical behavior during subscale laboratory experiments. In this test, a foam layer sprayed on a metal substrate is subjected to a temperature variation while the metal substrate is stretched to simulate the structural response of the tank during operation. The thermal expansion mismatch between the foam and the metal substrate and the thermal gradient in the foam layer causes high tensile stresses near the metal/foam interface that can lead to delamination.

Ghosn, Louis J.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Origins of the protein synthesis cycle

Largely derived from experiments in molecular evolution, a theory of protein synthesis cycles has been constructed. The sequence begins with ordered thermal proteins resulting from the self-sequencing of mixed amino acids. Ordered thermal proteins then aggregate to cell-like structures. When they contained proteinoids sufficiently rich in lysine, the structures were able to synthesize offspring peptides. Since lysine-rich proteinoid (LRP) also catalyzes the polymerization of nucleoside triphosphate to polynucleotides, the same microspheres containing LRP could have synthesized both original cellular proteins and cellular nucleic acids. The LRP within protocells would have provided proximity advantageous for the origin and evolution of the genetic code.

Fox, S. W.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Impact of cell size on inventory and mapping errors in a cellular geographic information system

The author has identified the following significant results. The effect of grid position was found insignificant for maps but highly significant for isolated mapping units. A modelable relationship between mapping error and cell size was observed for the map segment analyzed. Map data structure was also analyzed with an interboundary distance distribution approach. Map data structure and the impact of cell size on that structure were observed. The existence of a model allowing prediction of mapping error based on map structure was hypothesized and two generations of models were tested under simplifying assumptions.

Wehde, M. E.↗

NASA NTRS2018

Aerogel-Based Insulation Materials for Cryogenic Applications

Many different aerogel-based materials are now being used in thermal insulation systems for cryogenic applications. These materials include flexible composite blankets, bulk-fill particles, and polymer composites in both evacuated and non-evacuated environments. In ambient environments, aerogels provide superior thermal performance compared to conventional polymeric foam and cellular glass insulations while offering unique advantages in avoiding problems with weathering, moisture, and mechanical damage. Aerogels are also used as spacer materials in multilayer insulation systems. These layered systems provide combined structural-thermal capability for cryogenic systems in either vacuum-jacketed or externally-applied insulation designs. Test data (effective thermal conductivity) include a wide range of both commercial and experimental aerogel materials. Testing was performed using laboratory cryostats and standard methods including full range vacuum (from ambient pressure to high vacuum) and boundary temperatures 293 K and 78 K. Examples of aerogel-based insulation systems are given for both evacuated and non-evacuated applications.

heat transfer↗

NASA NTRS2018

Aerogel-Based Insulation Materials for Cryogenic Applications

Many different aerogel-based materials are now being used in thermal insulation systems for cryogenic applications. These materials include flexible composite blankets, bulk-fill particles, and polymer composites in both evacuated and non-evacuated environments. In ambient environments, aerogels provide superior thermal performance compared to conventional polymeric foam and cellular glass insulations while offering unique advantages in solving problems with weathering, moisture, and mechanical damage. Aerogels are also used as spacer materials in multilayer insulation systems. These layered systems provide combined structural-thermal capability for cryogenic systems in either vacuum-jacketed or externally-applied insulation designs. Test data (effective thermal conductivity) include a wide range of both commercial and experimental aerogel materials. Testing was performed using laboratory cryostats and standard methods including full range vacuum (from ambient pressure to high vacuum) and boundary temperatures 293 K and 78 K. Examples of aerogel-based insulation systems are given for both evacuated and non-evacuated applications.

aerogel layered composites↗

NASA NTRS1997

Hypergravity Alters the Susceptibility of Cells to Anoxia-Reoxygenation Injury

Gravity is a physical force, much like shear stress or mechanical stretch, and should affect organ and cellular function. Researchers have shown that gravity plays a role in ventilation and blood flow distribution, gas exchange, alveolar size and mechanical stresses within the lung. Short exposure to microgravity produced marked alterations in lung blood flow and ventilation distribution while hypergravity exaggerated the regional differences in lung structure and function resulting in reduced ventilation at the base and no ventilation of the upper half of the lung. Microgravity also decreased metabolic activity in cardiac cells, WI-38 embryonic lung cells, and human lymphocytes. Rats, in the tail-suspended head-down tilt model, experienced transient loss of lung water, contrary to an expected increase due to pooling of blood in the pulmonary vasculature. Hypergravity has also been found to increase the proliferation of several different cell lines (e.g., chick embryo fibroblasts) while decreasing cell motility and slowing liver regeneration following partial hepatectomy. These studies show that changes in the gravity environment will affect several aspects of organ and cellular function and produce major change in blood flow and tissue/organ perfusion. However, these past studies have not addressed whether ischemia-reperfusion injury will be exacerbated or ameliorated by changes in the gravity environment, e.g., space flight. Currently, nothing is known about how gravity will affect the susceptibility of different lung and vascular cells to this type of injury. We conducted studies that addressed the following question: Does the susceptibility of lung fibroblasts, vascular smooth muscle, and endothelial cells to anoxia/reoxygenation injury change following exposure to hypergravity conditions?

McCloud, Henry↗

NASA NTRS1996

Lightweight Cathodes For Nickel Batteries

Lightweight cathodes for rechargeable nickel-based electrochemical cells undergoing development. In cathodes, mats of nickel fibers are substrates providing structural support of, and electrical contact with, active cathode material. Offers specific energies greater than sintered nickel plaque cathodes. Electrodes used in rechargeable batteries for applications in which weight major concern, including laptop computers, cellular phones, flashlights, soldiers' backpacks, and electric vehicles.

Britton, Doris L.↗

NASA NTRS2003

NASA's Platform for Cross-Disciplinary Microchannel Research

A team from the Structural Biology group located at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama is developing a platform suitable for cross-disciplinary microchannel research. The original objective of this engineering development effort was to deliver a multi-user flight-certified facility for iterative investigations of protein crystal growth; that is, Iterative Biological Crystallization (IBC). However, the unique capabilities of this facility are not limited to the low-gravity structural biology research community. Microchannel-based research in a number of other areas may be greatly accelerated through use of this facility. In particular, the potential for gas-liquid flow investigations and cellular biological research utilizing the exceptional pressure control and simplified coupling to macroscale diagnostics inherent in the IBC facility will be discussed. In conclusion, the opportunities for research-specific modifications to the microchannel configuration, control, and diagnostics will be discussed.

Son, Sang Young↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Autonomous In-space Construction, Maintenance, and Reconfiguration Using Programmable Meta-Material

NASA ARC's Coded Structures Laboratory (CSL) is developing autonomous construction, maintenance, and reconfiguration technologies to meet long-duration and deep space infrastructure needs, in accordance with long-term NASA goals of "in-space reliance" and "mass-less exploration." We seek to achieve these capabilities by utilizing a "programmable meta-material" approach that integrates emerging advances in materials (mechanical meta-materials), manufacturing (cooperative mobile robotics), and autonomy (multi-agent planning algorithms). Through the ARMADAS project, we have shown assembly of high-performance engineered cellular materials using multiple cooperating mobile robotic assemblers. In this paper, we describe how such a programmable meta-material architecture may shift the paradigm of how we design, build, manufacture, and operate future space infrastructure and assets. The core of a programmable meta-material architecture consists of 3 main technology sub-areas: the structure, the assembly agents, and the assembly algorithms. We co-design these systems to ensure an adaptable system that can create and reconfigure structures from a base set of building block components. From this core technology, we can branch out and expand the capability of the system through additional secondary component types and robotic agents to perform activities such as inspections, maintenance, repair, payload installation, or perform power and communications interconnect. As these technologies mature, future designers will be able to utilize the system to rapidly integrate and operate assets in space or on planetary surfaces from a set of well-tested part library, or create their own modules to integrate into the system. A core trait to the development of this system is the automation approach. Because of the modular and functional discrete (pixel-like) nature of the structural system, a diverse set of powerful algorithms for analysis, planning, and simulation can be adapted and leveraged to optimize construction, maintenance, and dynamic reorganization (as hardware with programmable form and function). With an ability to free the design space from launch vehicle constraints and fundamentally shift how a mission is designed and conducted, we discuss the influence of a programmable meta-material architecture on mission design, build, and operations. For the "design phase", we discuss project lifecycle effects, costs, time, and performance. For the "build phase", we discuss reusability, ISRU, manufacturing, material logistics, and scalability. And for "operations", we discuss autonomy, maintenance and upgrades, reliability, and reconfiguration. Autonomy and modularity are the primary enabling traits of this system. Engineering systems that utilize a modular and reconfiguration building block approach such as digital communication and computation systems, currently lead all other areas of technology in size and complexity scalability. NASA is extending the benefits and flexibility of digital systems to hardware systems, to optimize materials lifecycle management and expand our space exploration mission capabilities.

in space assembly↗

NASA NTRS1982

Criteria for the emergence and evolution of life in the solar system

It is proposed that there are at least 25 specific conditions or requirements which have to be fulfilled in order for life to appear and evolve in a planetary system such as ours. The criteria are grouped into five major general areas: (1) Planetary criteria relate to the physical properties of the planet as it is formed and as it becomes a cosmic body with the potential to provide an abode for life. (2) Chemical criteria concern the composition, availability of effective energy sources, and chemical constraints of the environment where reactions take place for the prebiological formation of biochemical compounds. (3) Protobiological criteria relate to the prebiologically synthesized oligomeric and polymeric biomolecules, how they interact cooperatively to form protobiological structures and functions, and self-assemble to give rise to a living system. (4) Evolutionary criteria are concerned with the processes responsible for the increase in complexity of organisms by genomic multiplication, symbiotic integration, and cellular differentiation, as well as with the negentropic ability of organisms to continuously recycle all the volatile biogenic elements. (5) Stellar criteria relate to the elemental composition mass, lifetime, and other features of Main Sequence stars which may be surrounded by planetary systems similar to our own.

Oro, J.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Biotechnology Science Experiments on Mir

This paper describes the microgravity biotechnology experiments carried out on the Shuttle/Mir program. Four experiments investigated the growth of protein crystals, and three investigated cellular growth. Many hundreds of protein samples were processed using four different techniques. The objective of these experiments was to determine optimum conditions for the growth of very high quality single crystals to be used for structure determination. The Biotechnology System (BTS) was used to process the three cell growth investigations. The samples processed by these experiments were: bovine chondrocytes, human renal epithelial cells, and human breast cancer cells and endothelial cells. The objective was to determine the unique properties of cell aggregates produced in the microgravity environment.

Kroes, Roger L.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Extraterrestrial Organic Chemistry: From the Interstellar Medium to the Origins of Life

Extraterrestrially delivered organics in the origin of cellular life. Various processes leading to the emergence of cellular life from organics delivered from space to earth or other planetary bodies in the solar system will be reviewed. The focus will be on: (1) self-assembly of amphiphilic material to vesicles and other structures, such as micelles and multilayers, and its role in creating environments suitable for chemical catalysis, (2) a possible role of extraterrestrial delivery of organics in the formation of the simplest bioenergetics (3) mechanisms leading from amino acids or their precursors to simple peptides and, subsequently, to the evolution of metabolism. These issues will be discussed from two opposite points of view: (1) Which molecules could have been particularly useful in the protobiological evolution; this may provide focus for searching for these molecules in interstellar media. (2) Assuming that a considerable part of the inventory of organic matter on the early earth was delivered extraterrestrially, what does relative abundance of different organics in space tell us about the scenario leading to the origin of life.

Pohorille, Andrew↗

NASA NTRS2006

Three-dimensional Myoblast Aggregates--Effects of Modeled Microgravity

The overall objective of these studies is to elucidate the molecular and cellular alterations that contribute to muscle atrophy in astronauts caused by exposure to microgravity conditions in space. To accomplish this, a three-dimensional model test system was developed using mouse myoblast cells (C2C12). Myoblast cells were grown as three-dimensional aggregates (without scaffolding or other solid support structures) in both modeled microgravity (Rotary Cell Culture System, Synthecon, Inc.) and at unit gravity in coated Petri dishes. Evaluation of H&E stained thin sections of the aggregates revealed the absence of any necrosis. Confocal microscopy evaluations of cells stained with the Live/Dead assay (Molecular Probes) confirmed that viable cells were present throughout the aggregates with an average of only three dead cells observed per aggregate. Preliminary results from gene array analysis (Affymetrix chip U74Av2) showed that approximately 14% of the genes were down regulated (decreased more than 3 fold) and 4% were upregulated in cells exposed to modeled microgravity for 12 hours compared to unit gravity controls. Additional studies using fluorescent phallacidin revealed a decrease in F-actin in the cells exposed to modeled microgravity compared to unit gravity. Myoblast cells grown as aggregates in modeled microgravity exhibited spontaneous differentiation into syncitia while no differentiation was seen in the unit gravity controls. These studies show that 1)the model test system developed is suitable for assessing cellular and molecular alterations in myoblasts; 2) gene expression alterations occur rapidly (within 12 hours) following exposure to modeled microgravity; and 3) modeled microgravity conditions stimulated myoblast cell differentiation. Achieving a greater understanding of the molecular alterations leading to muscle atrophy will eventually enable the development of cell-based countermeasures, which may be valuable for treatment of muscle diseases on Earth and future space explorations.

Byerly, Diane↗

NASA NTRS1992

Radiobiological studies with the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetic and developmental effects of high LET radiation

The biological effects of heavy charged particle (HZE) radiation are of particular interest to travellers and planners for long-duration space flights where exposure levels represent a potential health hazard. The unique feature of HZE radiation is the structured pattern of its energy deposition in targets. There are many consequences of this feature to biological endpoints when compared with effects of ionizing photons. Dose vs response and dose-rate kinetics may be modified, DNA and cellular repair systems may be altered in their abilities to cope with damage, and the qualitative features of damage may be unique for different ions. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is being used to address these and related questions associated with exposure to radiation. HZE-induced mutation, chromosome aberration, cell inactivation and altered organogenesis are discussed along with plans for radiobiological experiments in space.

short duration↗

NASA NTRS1984

Natural convection in steady solidification - Finite element analysis of a two-phase Rayleigh-Benard problem

Galerkin finite-element approximations and Newton's method for solving free boundary problems are combined with computer-implemented techniques from nonlinear perturbation analysis to study solidification problems with natural convection in the melt. The Newton method gives rapid convergence to steady state velocity, temperature and pressure fields and melt-solid interface shapes, and forms the basis for algebraic methods for detecting multiple steady flows and assessing their stability. The power of this combination is demonstrated for a two-phase Rayleigh-Benard problem composed of melt and solid in a veritical cylinder with the thermal boundary conditions arranged so that a static melt with a flat melt-solid interface is always a solution. Multiple cellular flows bifurcating from the static state are detected and followed as Rayleigh number is varied. Changing the boundary conditions to approach those appropriate for the vertical Bridgman solidification system causes imperfections that eliminate the static state. The flow structure in the Bridgman system is related to those for the Rayleigh-Benard system by a continuous evolution of the boundary conditions.

Chang, C. J.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Tracks to therapy

Studies of the structure of particle tracks have led to models of track effects based on radial dose and radiobiological target theory that have been very successful in describing and predicting track effects in physical, chemical, and biological systems. For describing mammalian cellular inactivation two inactivation modes are required, called gamma-kill and ion-kill, the first due to synergistic effects of delta rays from adjacent ion paths thus resembling the effects from gamma rays, and the second to the effects of single ion transits through a cell nucleus. The ion-kill effect is more severe, where the fraction of cells experiencing ion kill is responsible for a decrease in the oxygen enhancement ratio, and an increase in relative biological effectiveness, but these are accompanied by loss of repair, hence to a reduction in the efficiency of fractionation in high LET therapy, as shown by our calculations for radiobiological effects in the "spread out Bragg Peak".

Review, Tutorial↗

NASA NTRS2014

Ground Testing of the EMCS Seed Cassette for Biocompatibility with the Cellular Slime Mold, Dictyostelium Discoideum

The European Modular Cultivation System, EMCS, was developed by ESA for plant experiments. To expand the use of flight verified hardware for various model organisms, we performed ground experiments to determine whether ARC EMCS Seed Cassettes could be adapted for use with cellular slime mold for future space flight experiments. Dictyostelium is a cellular slime mold that can exist both as a single-celled independent organism and as a part of a multicellular colony which functions as a unit (pseudoplasmodium). Under certain stress conditions, individual amoebae will aggregate to form multicellular structures. Developmental pathways are very similar to those found in Eukaryotic organisms, making this a uniquely interesting organism for use in genetic studies. Dictyostelium has been used as a genetic model organism for prior space flight experiments. Due to the formation of spores that are resistant to unfavorable conditions such as desiccation, Dictyostelium is also a good candidate for use in the EMCS Seed Cassettes. The growth substratum in the cassettes is a gridded polyether sulfone (PES) membrane. A blotter beneath the PES membranes contains dried growth medium. The goals of this study were to (1) verify that Dictyostelium are capable of normal growth and development on PES membranes, (2) develop a method for dehydration of Dictyostelium spores with successful recovery and development after rehydration, and (3) successful mock rehydration experiments in cassettes. Our results show normal developmental progression in two strains of Dictyostelium discoideum on PES membranes with a bacterial food source. We have successfully performed a mock rehydration of spores with developmental progression from aggregation to slug formation, and production of morphologically normal spores within 9 days of rehydration. Our results indicate that experiments on the ISS using the slime mold, Dictyostelium discoideum could potentially be performed in the flight verified hardware of the EMCS ARC Seed Cassettes.

biocompatibility↗

NASA NTRS1985

Microgravity changes in heart structure and cyclic-AMP metabolism

The effects of microgravity on cardiac ultrastructure and cyclic AMP metabolism in tissues of rats flown on Spacelab 3 are reported. Light and electron microscope studies of cell structure, measurements of low and high Km phosphodiesterase activity, cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase activity, and regulatory subunit compartmentation show significant deviations in flight animals when compared to ground controls. The results indicate that some changes have occurred in cellular responses associated with catecholamine receptor interactions and intracellular signal processing.

Philpott, D. E.↗