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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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NASA NTRS2004

Microtechnology in Space: NASA's Lab-on-a-Chip Applications Development Program

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) Lab on a Chip Application Development LOCAD) team has worked with microfluidic technology for the past few years in an effort to support NASA's Mission. In that time, such microfluidic based Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC) systems have become common technology in clinical and diagnostic laboratories. The approach is most attractive due to its highly miniaturized platform and ability to perform reagent handling (i-e., dilution, mixing, separation) and diagnostics for multiple reactions in an integrated fashion. LOCAD, along with Caliper Life Sciences has successfully developed the first LOC device for macromolecular crystallization using a workstation acquired specifically for designing custom chips, the Caliper 42. LOCAD uses this, along with a novel MSFC-designed and built workstation for microfluidic development. The team has a cadre of LOC devices that can be used to perform initial feasibility testing to determine the efficacy of the LOC approach for a specific application. Once applicability has been established, the LOCAD team, along with the Army's Aviation and Missile Command microfabrication facility, can then begin to custom design and fabricate a device per the user's specifications. This presentation will highlight the LOCAD team's proven and unique expertise that has been utilized to provide end to end capabilities associated with applying microfluidics for applications that include robotic life detection instrumentation, crew health monitoring and microbial and environmental monitoring for human Exploration.

Monaco, Lisa↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Taming the Untamable: Making An Enceladus-Like Plume by Hypervelocity Oblique Impacts at the NASA Ames Vertical Gun Range (AVGR) Facility

Enceladus’ plume was extensively investigated by the Cassini-Huygens mission [1-4], giving information about the icy moon interior, and the existence of a plausibly inhabited global ocean. The plume is a mixture of gas, sub-micrometer to micrometer ice, and non-ice particles, expanding into space from vents in the Tiger Stripes region [5]. Collecting plume’s ice particles for signs of Life is a fundamental objective of future fly-by missions to Enceladus, and other icy moons, e.g., Europa, where icy plumes could exist. However, understanding particle collection on high-speed flybys through a plume environment is a challenging task. To address the above, in collaboration with the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), we have been testing the collection of impact-generated ice grains from simulated ice plumes at the NASA Ames Vertical GunRange (AVGR) facility [e.g., 6-7].Of particular interest is the alteration of organic material in the particles during the high-speed collection process. Any such alteration could degrade the ability of instruments to detect biomarkers in the samples collected. An experimental and theoretical understanding of the organic alteration as a function of collection speed could be used to unravel these effects. Methods: Plumes of -170°C ice particles traveling at an initial speed of 2 – 3 km/s were created by shooting 3-mm hollow Aluminum (Al) projectiles (up to 6 km/s) at liquid-nitrogen-cooled ice targets of synthetic seawater (SSW). An Al witness foil is positioned to determine particle size, and ice particle impact speed is determined by high-speed video. The ice particles smash and sublimate on impact leaving salt residue, dents, and pits on the Al witness foil. We characterized Ice grains type, abundance, density, shape, and distribution caliper (Ferret)diameter via image pattern recognition analysis (ImageJ Software) of still camera photographs of the Al target. Results: Our hyper-velocity impact experiments generated an Enceladus plume analog with an ice particle mean diameter within the particle size distribution (i.e., 2 micrometers to 50 micrometers) as determined by Cassini’s multiple instruments [8]. Simulated impact speed ranged0.2 km/s to 1-2 km/s. The continued experimental production of high-velocity, micrometer-sized ice grains is underway at the AVGR. The relevance of ice particle generation is multifold, so are its applications. These include testing for fragmentation of molecular organics to interpret Cassini’s data (e.g., Cassini Data Analysis Program) and studies of forwarding contamination (a planetary protection issue).

Rosalba Bonaccorsi↗