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NASA NTRS2008

Pulmonary Toxicity Studies of Lunar Dusts in Rodents

NASA will build an outpost on the lunar surface for long-duration human habitation and research. The surface of the Moon is covered by a layer of fine, reactive dust, and the living quarters in the lunar outpost are expected to be contaminated by lunar dust. NASA established the Lunar Airborne Dust Toxicity Advisory Group (LADTAG) to evaluate the risk of exposure to the dust and to establish safe exposure limits for astronauts working in the lunar habitat. Because the toxicity of lunar dust is not known, LADTAG has recommended investigating its toxicity in the lungs of laboratory animals. After receiving this recommendation, NASA directed the JSC Toxicology Laboratory to determine the pulmonary toxicity of lunar dust in exposed rodents. The rodent pulmonary toxicity studies proposed here are the same as those proposed by the LADTAG. Studies of the pulmonary toxicity of a dust are generally done first in rodents by intratracheal instillation (ITI). This toxicity screening test is then followed by an inhalation study, which requires much more of the test dust and is labor intensive. We succeeded in completing an ITI study on JSC-1 lunar dust simulant in mice (Lam et al., Inhalation Toxicology 14:901-916, 2002, and Inhalation Toxicology 14: 917-928, 2002), and have conducted a pilot ITI study to examine the acute toxicity of an Apollo lunar (highland) dust sample. Preliminary results obtained by examining lung lavage fluid from dust-treated mice show that lunar dust was somewhat toxic (more toxic than TiO2, but less than quartz dust). More extensive studies have been planned to further examine lung lavage fluid for biomarkers of toxicity and lung tissues for histopathological lesions in rodents exposed to aged and activated lunar dust samples. In these studies, reference dusts (TiO2 and quartz) of known toxicities and have industrial exposure limits will be studied in parallel so the relative toxicity of lunar dust can be determined. The ITI results will also be useful for choosing an exposure concentration for the animal inhalation study on a selected lunar dust sample, which is included as a part of this proposal. The animal inhalation exposure will be conducted with lunar dust simulant prior to the study with the lunar dust. The simulant exposure will ensure that the study techniques used with actual lunar dust will be successful. The results of ITI and inhalation studies will reveal the toxicological risk of exposures and are essential for setting exposure limits on lunar dust for astronauts living in the lunar habitat.

Lam, Chiu-wing↗

NASA NTRS2009

Pulmonary Toxicity Studies of Lunar Dusts in Rodents

NASA will build an outpost on the Moon for prolonged human habitation and research. The lunar surface is covered by a layer of fine, reactive dust. Astronauts on the Moon will go in and out of the base for various activities, and will inevitably bring some dust into the living quarters. Depressurizing the airlock so that astronauts can exit for outdoor activities could also bring dust inside the airlock to the habitable area. Concerned about the potential health effects on astronauts exposed to airborne lunar dust, NASA directed the JSC Toxicology Laboratory to determine the pulmonary toxicity of lunar dust. The toxicity data also will be needed by toxicologists to establish safe exposure limits for astronauts residing in the lunar habitat and by environmental engineers to design an appropriate dust mitigation strategy. We conducted a study to examine biomarkers of toxicity (inflammation and cytotoxicity) in lung lavage fluids from mice intrapharyngeally instilled with lunar dust samples; we also collected lung tissue from the mice for histopathological examination 3 months after the dust instillation. Reference dusts (TiO2 and quartz) having known toxicities and industrial exposure limits were studied in parallel with lunar dust so that the relative toxicity of lunar dust can be determined. A 6-month histopathology study has been planned. These instillation experiments will be followed by inhalation studies, which are more labor intensive and technologically difficult. The animal inhalation studies will be conducted first with an appropriate lunar dust simulant to ensure that the exposure techniques to be used with actual lunar dust will be successful. The results of these studies collectively will reveal the toxicological risk of exposures and enable us to establish exposure limits on lunar dust for astronauts living in the lunar habitat.

Lam, C.-W.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Toxicity of Lunar Dust in Lungs Assessed by Examining Biomarkers in Exposed Mice

NASA plans to build an outpost on the Moon for prolonged human habitation and research. The lunar surface is covered by a layer of soil, of which the finest portion is highly reactive dust. NASA has invited NIOSH to collaboratively investigate the toxicity of lunar dust. Dust samples of respirable sizes were aerodynamically isolated from two lunar soil samples of different maturities (cosmic exposure ages) collected during the Apollo 16 mission. The lunar dust samples, titanium dioxide, or quartz, suspended in normal saline or in Survanta (a bovine lung surfactant), were given to groups of 5 mice (C-57 male) by intrapharyngeal aspiration at 1, 0.3, or 0.1 mg/mouse. The mice were euthanized 7 or 30 days later, and their lungs were lavaged to assess the toxicity biomarkers in bronchioalveolar lavage fluids. The acellular fractions were assayed for total proteins, lactate dehydrogenase activities, and cytokines; the cellular portions were assessed for total cell counts and cell differentials. Results from the high-dose groups showed that lunar dust, suspended in saline, was more toxic than TiO 2, but less toxic than quartz. Lunar dust particles aggregate and settle out rapidly in water or saline, but not in Survanta. Lunar dust suspended in Survanta manifested greater toxicity than lunar dust in saline. The increase in toxicity presumably was due to that Survanta gave a better particle dispersion in the lungs. The two lunar dust samples showed similar toxicity. The overall results showed that lunar dust is more toxic than TiO 2 but less toxic than quartz.

Lam, C.-W.↗

NASA NTRS2009

Pulmonary Toxicity Studies of Lunar Dusts in Rodents

NASA will build an outpost on the lunar surface for long-duration human habitation and research. The surface of the Moon is covered by a layer of fine, reactive dust, and the living quarters in the lunar outpost are expected to be contaminated by lunar dust. Because the toxicity of lunar dust is not known, NASA has tasked its toxicology laboratory to evaluate the risk of exposure to the dust and to establish safe exposure limits for astronauts working in the lunar habitat. Studies of the pulmonary toxicity of a dust are generally done first in rodents by intratracheal/intrapharyngeal instillation. This toxicity screening test is then followed by an inhalation study, which requires much more of the test dust and is labor intensive. Preliminary results obtained by examining lung lavage fluid from dust-treated mice show that lunar dust was somewhat toxic (more toxic than TiO2, but less than quartz dust). More extensive studies are in progress to further examine lung lavage fluid for biomarkers of toxicity and lung tissues for histopathological lesions in rodents exposed to aged and activated (ground) lunar dust samples. In these studies, reference dusts (TiO2 and quartz) of known toxicities and have industrial exposure limits will be studied in parallel so the relative toxicity of lunar dust can be determined. The results from the instillation studies will be useful for choosing exposure concentrations for the animal inhalation study. The animal inhalation exposure will be conducted with lunar dust simulant prior to the study with the lunar dust. The experiment with the simulate will ensure that the study techniques used with actual lunar dust will be successful. The results of instillation and inhalation studies will reveal the toxicological risk of exposures and are essential for setting exposure limits on lunar dust for astronauts living in the lunar habitat.

Lam, Chiu-wing↗

NASA NTRS2009

Geohazards on the Moon and the Importance of the International Lunar Network

Seven of the 28 shallow seismic events recorded by the Apollo passive seismic experiment (PSE) network released energy equivalent to earthquakes with magnitudes of 5 or greater. On Earth, such quakes can cause extensive damage to structures near the epicenter. Unexpected structural damage to a lunar habitat could have devastating results and thus, lunar seismicity may present a significant geohazard to long-term human habitation.

Cohen, Barbara A.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Toxicity of Lunar Dust in Lungs Assessed by Examining Biomarkers in Exposed Mice

NASA is contemplating to build an outpost on the Moon for prolonged human habitation and research. The lunar surface is covered by a layer of soil, of which the finest portion is highly reactive dust. Dust samples of respirable sizes were aerodynamically isolated from two lunar soil samples of different maturities (cosmic exposure ages) collected during the Apollo 16 mission. The lunar dust samples, TiO2, or quartz, suspended in normal saline were given to groups of 5 C57 male mice by intrapharyngeal aspiration at 0. 1, 0.3, or 1.0 mg/mouse. Because lunar dust aggregates rapidly in aqueous media, some tests were conducted with dusts suspended in Survanta/saline (1:1). The mice were euthanized 7 or 30 days later, and their lungs were lavaged to assess the presence of toxicity biomarkers in bronchioalveolar lavage fluids. The overall results showed that the two lunar dust samples were similar in toxicity, they were more toxic than T102 , but less toxic than quartz. This preliminary study is a part of the large study to obtain data for setting exposure limits for astronauts living on the Moon

Lam, C.-W.↗

NASA NTRS2008

Structural, Physical, and Compositional Analysis of Lunar Simulants and Regolith

Relative to the prior manned Apollo and unmanned robotic missions, planned Lunar initiatives are comparatively complex and longer in duration. Individual crew rotations are envisioned to span several months, and various surface systems must function in the Lunar environment for periods of years. As a consequence, an increased understanding of the surface environment is required to engineer and test the associated materials, components, and systems necessary to sustain human habitation and surface operations. The effort described here concerns the analysis of existing simulant materials, with application to Lunar return samples. The interplay between these analyses fulfills the objective of ascertaining the critical properties of regolith itself, and the parallel objective of developing suitable stimulant materials for a variety of engineering applications. Presented here are measurements of the basic physical attributes, i.e. particle size distributions and general shape factors. Also discussed are structural and chemical properties, as determined through a variety of techniques, such as optical microscopy, SEM and TEM microscopy, Mossbauer Spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Raman microspectroscopy, inductively coupled argon plasma emission spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence mapping. A comparative description of currently available stimulant materials is discussed, with implications for more detailed analyses, as well as the requirements for continued refinement of methods for simulant production.

Greenberg, Paul↗

NASA NTRS2012

Mars Aqueous Processing System

The goal of the Mars Aqueous Processing System (MAPS) is to establish a flexible process that generates multiple products that are useful for human habitation. Selectively extracting useful components into an aqueous solution, and then sequentially recovering individual constituents, can obtain a suite of refined or semi-refined products. Similarities in the bulk composition (although not necessarily of the mineralogy) of Martian and Lunar soils potentially make MAPS widely applicable. Similar process steps can be conducted on both Mars and Lunar soils while tailoring the reaction extents and recoveries to the specifics of each location. The MAPS closed-loop process selectively extracts, and then recovers, constituents from soils using acids and bases. The emphasis on Mars involves the production of useful materials such as iron, silica, alumina, magnesia, and concrete with recovery of oxygen as a byproduct. On the Moon, similar chemistry is applied with emphasis on oxygen production. This innovation has been demonstrated to produce high-grade materials, such as metallic iron, aluminum oxide, magnesium oxide, and calcium oxide, from lunar and Martian soil simulants. Most of the target products exhibited purities of 80 to 90 percent or more, allowing direct use for many potential applications. Up to one-fourth of the feed soil mass was converted to metal, metal oxide, and oxygen products. The soil residue contained elevated silica content, allowing for potential additional refining and extraction for recovery of materials needed for photovoltaic, semiconductor, and glass applications. A high-grade iron oxide concentrate derived from lunar soil simulant was used to produce a metallic iron component using a novel, combined hydrogen reduction/metal sintering technique. The part was subsequently machined and found to be structurally sound. The behavior of the lunar-simulant-derived iron product was very similar to that produced using the same methods on a Michigan iron ore concentrate, which demonstrates that lunar-derived material can be used in a manner similar to conventional terrestrial iron. Metallic iron was also produced from the Mars soil simulant. The aluminum and magnesium oxide products produced by MAPS from lunar and Mars soil simulants exhibited excellent thermal stability, and were shown to be capable of use for refractory oxide structural materials, or insulation at temperatures far in excess of what could be achieved using unrefined soils. These materials exhibited the refractory characteristics needed to support iron casting and forming operations, as well as other thermal processing needs. Extraction residue samples contained up to 79 percent silica. Such samples were successfully fused into a glass that exhibited high light transmittance.

Berggren, Mark↗

NASA NTRS2012

Radial Internal Material Handling System (RIMS) for Circular Habitat Volumes

A Radial Internal Material Handling System (RIMS) has been developed to service a circular floor area in variable gravity. On planetary surfaces, pressurized human habitable volumes will require a means to carry heavy equipment between various locations within the volume of the habitat, regardless of the partial gravity (Earth, moon, Mars, etc). On the NASA Habitat Demonstration Unit (HDU), a vertical cylindrical volume, it was determined that a variety of heavy items would need to be carried back and forth from deployed locations to the General Maintenance Work Station (GMWS) when in need of repair, and other equipment may need to be carried inside for repairs, such as rover parts and other external equipment. The vertical cylindrical volume of the HDU lent itself to a circular overhead track and hoist system that allows lifting of heavy objects from anywhere in the habitat to any other point in the habitat interior. In addition, the system is able to hand off lifted items to other material handling systems through the side hatches, such as through an airlock. This paper describes the RIMS system which is scalable for application in a variety of circular habitat volumes.

deep space habitats↗

NASA NTRS2013

Future In-Space Operations (FISO): A Working Group and Community Engagement

Long-duration human capabilities beyond low Earth orbit (LEO), either in support of or as an alternative to lunar surface operations, have been assessed at least since the late 1960s. Over the next few months, we will present short histories of concepts for long-duration, free-space human habitation beyond LEO from the end of the Apollo program to the Decadal Planning Team (DPT)/NASA Exploration Team (NExT), which was active in 1999 2000 (see Forging a vision: NASA s Decadal Planning Team and the origins of the Vision for Space Exploration , The Space Review, December 19, 2005). Here we summarize the brief existence of the Future In-Space Operations (FISO) working group in 2005 2006 and its successor, a telecon-based colloquium series, which we co-moderate.

Thronson, Harley↗

NASA NTRS2013

Radial Internal Material Handling System (RIMS) for Circular Habitat Volumes

On planetary surfaces, pressurized human habitable volumes will require a means to carry equipment around within the volume of the habitat, regardless of the partial gravity (Earth, Moon, Mars, etc.). On the NASA Habitat Demonstration Unit (HDU), a vertical cylindrical volume, it was determined that a variety of heavy items would need to be carried back and forth from deployed locations to the General Maintenance Work Station (GMWS) when in need of repair, and other equipment may need to be carried inside for repairs, such as rover parts and other external equipment. The vertical cylindrical volume of the HDU lent itself to a circular overhead track and hoist system that allows lifting of heavy objects from anywhere in the habitat to any other point in the habitat interior. In addition, the system is able to hand-off lifted items to other material handling systems through the side hatches, such as through an airlock. The overhead system consists of two concentric circle tracks that have a movable beam between them. The beam has a hoist carriage that can move back and forth on the beam. Therefore, the entire system acts like a bridge crane curved around to meet itself in a circle. The novelty of the system is in its configuration, and how it interfaces with the volume of the HDU habitat. Similar to how a bridge crane allows coverage for an entire rectangular volume, the RIMS system covers a circular volume. The RIMS system is the first generation of what may be applied to future planetary surface vertical cylinder habitats on the Moon or on Mars.

Howe, Alan S.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Taurus Littrow Pyroclastic Deposit-An Optimum Feedstock for Lunar Oxygen

Future human habitation of the Moon will likely require the use of locally derived materials because of the high cost of transportation from Earth. Oxygen, extracted from oxides and silicates, is a potentially abundant lunar resource vital for life support and spacecraft propulsion. The anticipated costs of supplying all oxygen needs for a lunar base from Earth are high enough to warrant serious study of oxygen production from local resources. Over 20 different processes have been proposed for oxygen production on the Moon. Among the simplest and best studied of these processes is the reduction of oxides in lunar minerals and glass using hydrogen gas. Oxygen can be extracted from lunar soils and pyroclastic glass beads by exposing the samples to flowing hydrogen at subsolidus temperatures (approx. 1050 C). Total oxygen yield is directly correlated to the sample's abundance of FeO, but is not correlated to the abundance of any other oxide. Oxygen is extracted predominantly from FeO, with lesser contributions from TiO2 and SiO2. Oxygen yield is independent of soil maturity. All major FeO-bearing phases contribute oxygen, with extraction from ilmenite and glass significantly more efficient than from olivine and pyroxene. This study demonstrates that the optimum location for a lunar resources demonstration mission can be identified, and that the oxygen yield can be predicted, using a combination of high-resolution imaging and thermal-infrared data. A mission to Taurus Littrow will encounter a deposit at least 10 m in depth with few landing hazards, a uniform composition, and a predicted oxygen yield of approximately 3 wt. %, among the highest values on the Moon.

Allen, Carlton C.↗

NASA NTRS2013

Evidence for Water Ie on the Moon: Results for Anomalous Polar Craters from the LRO Mini-RF Imaging Radar

The Mini-RF radar instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft mapped both lunar poles in two different RF wavelengths (complete mapping at 12.6 cm S-band and partial mapping at 4.2 cm X-band) in two look directions, removing much of the ambiguity of previous Earth- and spacecraft-based radar mapping of the Moon's polar regions. The poles are typical highland terrain, showing expected values of radar cross section (albedo) and circular polarization ratio (CPR). Most fresh craters display high values of CPR in and outside the crater rim; the pattern of these CPR distributions is consistent with high levels of wavelength-scale surface roughness associated with the presence of block fields, impact melt flows, and fallback breccia. A different class of polar crater exhibits high CPR only in their interiors, interiors that are both permanently dark and very cold (less than 100 K). Application of scattering models developed previously suggests that these anomalously high-CPR deposits exhibit behavior consistent with the presence of water ice. If this interpretation is correct, then both poles may contain several hundred million tons of water in the form of relatively "clean" ice, all within the upper couple of meters of the lunar surface. The existence of significant water ice deposits enables both long-term human habitation of the Moon and the creation of a permanent cislunar space transportation system based upon the harvest and use of lunar propellant.

polar↗

NASA NTRS2013

Evidence for Water Ice on the Moon: Results for Anomalous Polar Craters from the LRO Mini-RF Imaging Radar

Mini-RF radar↗

NASA NTRS2015

Taurus Littrow Pyroclastic Deposit: High-Yield Feedstock for Lunar Oxygen

Allen, Carlton C.↗

NASA NTRS2015

NASA Lighting Research, Test, & Analysis

The Habitability and Human Factors Branch, at Johnson Space Center, in Houston, TX, provides technical guidance for the development of spaceflight lighting requirements, verification of light system performance, analysis of integrated environmental lighting systems, and research of lighting-related human performance issues. The Habitability & Human Factors Lighting Team maintains two physical facilities that are integrated to provide support. The Lighting Environment Test Facility (LETF) provides a controlled darkroom environment for physical verification of lighting systems with photometric and spetrographic measurement systems. The Graphics Research & Analysis Facility (GRAF) maintains the capability for computer-based analysis of operational lighting environments. The combined capabilities of the Lighting Team at Johnson Space Center have been used for a wide range of lighting-related issues.

Clark, Toni↗

NASA NTRS2015

Human System Risk Management for Space Flight

This brief abstract reviews the development of the current day approach to human system risk management for space flight and the development of the critical components of this process over the past few years. The human system risk management process now provides a comprehensive assessment of each human system risk by design reference mission (DRM) and is evaluated not only for mission success but also for long‐term health impacts for the astronauts. The discipline of bioastronautics is the study of the biological and medical effects of space flight on humans. In 1997, the Space Life Sciences Directorate (SLSD) initiated the Bioastronautics Roadmap (Roadmap) as the "Critical Path Roadmap", and in 1998 participation in the roadmap was expanded to include the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) and the external community. A total of 55 risks and 250 questions were identified and prioritized and in 2000, the Roadmap was base-lined and put under configuration control. The Roadmap took into account several major advisory committee reviews including the Institute of Medicine (IOM) "Safe Passage: Astronaut care for Exploration Missions", 2001. Subsequently, three collaborating organizations at NASA HQ (Chief Health and Medical Officer, Office of Space Flight and Office of Biological & Physical Research), published the Bioastronautics Strategy in 2003, that identified the human as a "critical subsystem of space flight" and noted that "tolerance limits and safe operating bands must be established" to enable human space flight. These offices also requested a review by the IOM of the Roadmap and that review was published in October 2005 as "A Risk Reduction Strategy for Human Exploration of Space: A Review of NASA's Bioastronautics Roadmap", that noted several strengths and weaknesses of the Roadmap and made several recommendations. In parallel with the development of the Roadmap, the Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer (OCHMO) began a process in 2004 of evaluating the tolerance limits and safe operating bands called for in the Bioastronautics Strategy. Over the next several years, the concept of the "operating bands" were turned into Space Flight Human System Standards (SFHSS), developed by the technical resources of the SLSD at the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). These standards were developed and reviewed at the SLSD and then presented to the OCHMO for acceptance. The first set of standards was published in 2007 as the NASA‐STD‐3001, Volume 1, Crew Health that elaborated standards for several physiological areas such as cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, radiation exposure and nutrition. Volume 2, Human Factors, Habitability and Human Health was published in 2011, along with development guidance in the Human Integration Design Handbook (HIDH). Taken together, the SFHSS Volumes 1 and 2, and the HIDH replaced the NASA‐STD‐3000 with new standards and revisions of the older document. Three other changes were also taking place that facilitated the development of the human system risk management approach. In 2005, the life sciences research and development portfolio underwent a comprehensive review through the Exploration Systems Architecture Study (ESAS) that resulted in the reformulation of the Bioastronautics Program into Human Research Program (HRP) that was focused on appropriate mitigation results for high priority human health risks. The baseline HRP budget was established in August 2005. In addition, the OCHMO formulated the Health and Medical Technical Authority (HMTA) in 2006 that established the position of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) at the NASA JSC along with other key technical disciplines, and the OCHMO became the responsible office for the SFHSS as noted above. The final change was the establishment in 2008 of the Human System Risk Board (HSRB), chaired by the CMO with representation from the HRP, SLSD management and technical experts. The HSRB then began to review all human system risks, established a comprehensive risk management and configuration management plan and data sharing policy. These major developments of standards, the HRP, the HMTA and a forum for review of human system risks (HSRB) facilitated the integration of human research, medical operations, systems engineering and many other disciplines in the comprehensive review of human system risks. The HSRB began a comprehensive review of all potential inflight medical conditions and events and over the course of several reviews consolidated the number of human system risks to 30 where the greatest emphasis is placed for investing program dollars for risk mitigation. The HSRB considers all available evidence from human research, medical operations and occupational surveillance in assessing the risks for appropriate mitigation and future work. All applicable DRMs (low earth orbit 6 and 12 months, deep space sortie for 30 days and 1 year, a one year lunar mission, and a planetary mission for 3 years) are considered as human system risks are modified by the hazards associated with space flight such as microgravity, exposure to radiation, distance from the earth, isolation and a closed environment. Each risk has a summary assessment representing the state of knowledge/evidence base for that risk, the available risk mitigations, traceability to the SFHSS and program requirements, and future work required. These data then can drive coordinated budgets across the HRP, the International Space Station, Crew Health and Safety and Advanced Exploration System budgets. These risk assessments were completed for 6 DRMs in December of 2014 and serve as the baseline for which subsequent research and technology development and crew health care portfolios can be assessed. The HSRB will review each risk at least annually and especially when new information is available that must be considered for effective risk mitigation. The current status of each risk can be reported to program management for operations, budget reviews and general oversight of the human system risk management program.

Davis, Jeffrey↗

NASA NTRS2017

Developmental Research in Space: Predicting Adult Neurobehavioral Phenotypes via Metabolomic Imaging

As human habitation and eventual colonization of space becomes an inevitable reality, there is a necessity to understand how organisms develop over the life span in the space environment. Microgravity, altered CO2, radiation and psychological stress are some of the key factors that could affect mammalian reproduction and development in space, however there is a paucity of information on this topic. Here we combine early (neonatal) in vivo spectroscopic imaging with an adult emotionality assay following a common obstetric complication (prenatal asphyxia) likely to occur during gestation in space. The neural metabolome is sensitive to alteration by degenerative changes and developmental disorders, thus we hypothesized that that early neonatal neurometabolite profiles can predict adult response to novelty. Late gestation fetal rats were exposed to moderate asphyxia by occluding the blood supply feeding one of the rats pair uterine horns for 15min. Blood supply to the opposite horn was not occluded (within-litter cesarean control). Further comparisons were made with vaginal (natural) birth controls. In one-week old neonates, we measured neurometabolites in three brain areas (i.e., striatum, prefrontal cortex, and hippocampus). Adult perinatally-asphyxiated offspring exhibited greater anxiety-like behavioral phenotypes (as measured the composite neurobehavioral assay involving open field activity, responses to novel object, quantification of fecal droppings, and resident-intruder tests of social behavior). Further, early neurometabolite profiles predicted adult responses. Non-invasive MRS screening of mammalian offspring is likely to advance ground-based space analogue studies informing mammalian reproduction in space, and achieving high-priority multigenerational research that will enable studies of the first truly space-developed mammals.

Schorn, Julia M.↗