nasa facts biosatellite ii

8/7/2019 NASA Facts Biosatellite II

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A S Hi 1 ^U ^ ' T -AN EDUCATIONAL PUBLICATION OF THE

NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION

NF -3/10-680B i o s a t e n i t e n

UNDER STANDING OF LIFE PROCF` ' ; S INCREASEDNASA's Biosatellite II experiment has added an-

other dimension to man's understanding of lifeprocesses. The experiment is part of the Biosatelliteprogram which is designed to study the effects onl iving things of such p henomena as weightlessness,weightlessness combined with radiation, and re-moval from the diurnal (day-night) cycle on earth.

The information acquired through the pr:,gram isexpected not only to throw new light on the funda-mental processes of life but also to contribute toplanning for manned spac e flights of long duration.

Biosatellite II carried frog eggs, microorganisms.plants, and insects on an orbital flight that lastedabout two days. The living cargo was subjectedduring the flight to weightlessness alone and toweightlessness combined w i th radiation artificially

Technicians read-Y Biosatellite II for launch.

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applied from a source on the spacecraft.NASA and participating university and industryscientists studied for several months the impact ofthe flight on the living things. Among the revealing

new information derived from the studies are thefollowing: Weightlessness can spur radiation-induced muta-tions and other cell damage. On the other hand,weightlessness appeared to slow the growth andmetabolism (energy conversion; i.e., conversion offood or nutrients to bodily processes) of injuredcells, giving them an opportunity to repair damagedue to radiation. Earth's gravity controls plant growth to a greaterdegree than previously realized.0 Bacteria seem to multiply more readily in spacethan on earth. But we ightlessness appears to inhibitthe relative grow th of viruses.t .l ust as on earth, young an d rapidly dividing cellsin a weightless environment are more severely af-

sfected by radiation than mature slowly growing cells. Plan' life reacts far more to weightlessness thananimal life.

Since living things have much in common, theresults are contributing to understanding of lifeprocesses. To biologists studying such diseases ascancer where mutant cells compete with normalcells, for example, the fact that lowered or absentgravity can slow down the activity of damagedmutant cells may be significant. Much more experi-mentation and study will be required, of course,before its significance ca n be asce rtained.Scientists also caution that Biosatellite II experi-ments w ere with relatively simple organisms and thefindings cannot be transferred directly to man. Forexample, forty-five hours of weightless flight forsome o f these organisms is the equivalent of yearsto a hum an being. B ut the Biosatellite II experimentsand others to fol low are adding a new dimension toman's knowledge about life.

View of Biosatellite II just before mid -air recovery by United States Air Force plane.

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T rMr 7. 7 W 11.Biosate! l ite I , launched D ecem ber 14, 1966,c o u l d n o t b e b r o u g h t d o w n as scheduled :ib e c a u s e o f r e t r o r o c k e t fa i lu r e . Efforts tolocate the craft during its anticipated normalreentry on February - eu n s u c c e s s f u l .

I A R O R I ,'Y IN SPAiNA SA launche d Biosate l li te I I f rom Cape Kenne dy,Flo r i d a , o n S e p te m be r 7 , 1 967. A bo u t tw o d a ysla ter , ground co nt ro l lers ordere d the sa te l l ite to fi rere t ro roc ke ts , s low ing i t so tha t it fe l l ou t o f o rb i ttoward ear th . As i t parachuted do wn over the P aci f icOce an ne ar Hawai i , the space craf t was ret r ieved inthe a i r by a Uni ted Sta tes A i r Force p lane .During 45 ho urs o f weight less f l ight , par t o f thel iv ing cargo aboard B iosa te l li te I I was su b jec ted tom e a s u r e d d o s e s o f g a m m a r a d ia t io n f r o m a n o n -b oa r d 85 S t r on t ium package . O the r l iv i ng t h ingsw er e no t ex posed t o r ad ia t ion . T hus , i n f o r ma t i oncou ld be a cqu i red about t he e f fec t s o f we igh t less -ness a lone and the e f fec ts o f we igh t lessne ss andrad ia t ion com bined . A con t ro l g roup o f o rgan ism swas sub jec ted to t he sam e con d i ti ons as the f l y inggroup , exce p t tha t it was in labora to r ies on e a r th .Af ter Biosa te l li te I I was recov ered. i t was rushe dto Hawai i for quick look s tudies of the exper im enta lspecim ens. They were then t ransfer red to the !abor-a to r ies o f the pa r t i c ipa t ing sc ien t i s ts fo r co n t inuedobservation and extens ive s tudy.Plans ca l l f o r ad d i t iona l B iosa te l li te f l igh ts . In apa i r o f m on th - long o rb i ta l f ligh ts , tra ined m onkeyswi ll be use d to learn how pro longe d weight lessn essm ay af fec t body p rocesse s in h igher li fe forms .Th is N ASA Fac ts p resen ts some h igh ligh ts o f theBiosa te ! li te I I expe r imen ts . The s tep-by-s tep in fo r -m a t io n a b o u t g ro w t h o f c e r ta i n s p e c i m e n s w a sobta ined by ha l t ing , o r f i xing , the i r dev e lopm ent a t

p lanne d i n t e r va l s du r i ng f li gh t . T h i s w as acc om -p l ished b y t rea t i ng the o r gan i sms w it h chem ica lsthat ar res t growth at cer ta in s tages.POPULATION FYPLOSION

Ba cter ia f lown on Biosa te l li te I I appa rent ly foundw e igh t lessn ess i dea l f o r l if e as t hey knew i t. F o re v e r y 1 0 ,000 N A S A se n t u p . a b il li o n r e tu r n e d .Exper ime n te rs theo r ize tha t w i thou t the res t ra in tso f g r a v i t y , th e ba c te r i a f o u n d i t e a s i e r t o t a ke i nnut r ient and give of f waste, thus a l lowing a grea ter

p a r t o f th e i r m e ta bo l ism to be d e v o te d to r e p r o -duct ion.B a c t e r ia a re o n e o f t h e m a jo r c la sse s o f m i c ro -o r gan i sm s . Ano the r i s ca l l ed p r o tozoa . B io log is t sco n s i d e r ba c te r i a a f o r m o f p la n t l if e ; p r o to z o a ,anim al l i fe .There i s ano the r g roup o f m ic robes tha t has sof a r de f i ed c lass i f ica t i on even as a l iv i ng t h ing .This i s t he v i rus . A l l t h ree t ype s rod e in B iosa te l l it e

1 1 Two d i f fe ren t bacte r ia , Salmonel la a n d Escher i -ch ia c ol i, were aboard B iosatel li te 11. In many labora-tory experiments on earth, these bacteria arei n fec ted w ith a v i rus an d then i r rad ia ted . The v i rusm ul t ip l i es rap id l y , even tua l ly l ys ing , o r bu rs t ing ,the one-ce l led creatures. The bacter ia thus becam eknown a s l ysogen ic ( rup tu r ing) bac te r ia .The we igh t less con d i ti on o f space p roduce d s ig-n i f ican t d i ff e rence s in e f fec ts on the bac te r ia . Thevi ruses per bacter ium fa i led to reproduc e as wel l asthey do o n ea r th . As a resu l t , t he num ber o f ir rad i -ated in fec ted lyso gen ic bacter ia that burs t in spacew a s a bo u t 25 p e r ce n t f e w e r t h a n e a r th co n t r o ls .Scient is ts cannot ye t expla in th is .The lysogen ic bacte r ia a lso to le ra ted rad ia t ionbetter (in addition to reproducing substantiallyfaster ) than d id s imi la r bacter ia on ear th . The space -borne v i ruses were no t as bad ly dama ged by rad iat ion as thei r counterp ar ts with in microb n g r o u n dlaborator ies.A n o th e r i n te r e s t i n g r e su l t w a s th a t i r r a d i a te dbacte r ia mu l tip l ied m ore rap id ly unde r we igh tlesscon d i t ions tha n no n- i r rad ia ted bac te r ia . I rrad ia tedSalmonel la aboard Biosatel l i te 11 totaled 48 percentm or e t han t hos e i n i den t ic a l ty pes o f c ham b er s onthe groun d. No n- ir rad ia ted Salmonel la produced 19percen t m ore i n we igh t lessness than on the g round .I n ne ighbor ing cha m bers o f B iosa te l l it e 11 rodetw o types o f p r o tozoa . O ne i s t he am oeb a ca l l edPelomyxa caro l inens is . This little creature is afavor i te subjec t in c lassroom laborator ies.

The je l ly- l ike microorgan ism was able to m ain ta ini ts ex te r na l shap e w h i l e w e igh t less . T w o day s o fwei,a h t le ssn e ss re su l te d i n n o a m o e ba p o p u la t io nex p l r .on . Ac tua l ly , t hey r ep r od uce d a t ab ou t t hesam e ra te as the i r coun te rpar t s on ear th .However , amoebae d id feed som ewhat more andd iv ided som ewhat less f reque nt l y i n space. Dur ingreent ry , when the fo rces on the spa cec ra f t ' s occu-p a n ts w e r e se v e r a l t im e s th a t o f e a r th 's g r a v i ty ,am oebae fed less and d iv ided m ore f requentl y thanthe i r ear th-bound c ounterpar ts.3


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Ore of six tadpolesthat hatched from eggs

flown aboard Biosatellite II.

The amoeba performs most of the functions ofmany celled animals. It resembles man's white bloodcells most in structure and behavior.

Another kind of protozoan sent into space wasthe spore of the fungus called orange bread mold.The spore is called Neurospora. T ests on the result-ant fungi revealed no effects that could be entirelyattributed to either weightlessness or weightlessnesscombined with radiation.fRUG EMBRYO GRUVYfHUNAFFECTED BY WEIGHTLESSNESS

Cells range in size from the microscopic bacteriaand protozoa to easily visible eggs. Once fertilized,however, egg cells start dividing.

Scientists have observed that gravity affects thegrowth of embryos in frog eggs. Frog eggs haveheavy ends and lighter ends. After the frog eggs are

fertilized, their heavy Inds move downward.Laboratory experiments that have prevented frog

eggs from pointing their hea p ends g own haveresulted in the hatching of abnormal' dpoles. Someof these tadpoles have even had two heads.

Cell division of earth-fe r tilized frog eggs flown inthe Biosatellite II experiment was apparently un-affected by weightlessness. This confirmed a similarfinding during the manned Gemini XII flight ofNovember 11 to 15, 1966. Actually, the Geminiflight provided about double the weightless hours ofBiosatellite II.

An assumption, therefore, is that frog eggs mustbe oriented properly where gravity or similar forcesare present. The absence of gravity, however, doesnot significantly affect the normal development ofresultant offspring, after the first cell division hastaken place.

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Effect of weightlessnesson developing wheat seedlings.

Ground control-normal

Ground control-cl inostat

Biosatell i te II 45 h ours

EXPERIMENT CROWNS CENTUR YOF PLANT STUDIES

This is not so, however, with plants. The Bio-satellite II experiment confirmed that plant leaves.stems, and roots depend upon continuous gravityfor orientation. WithoLt gravity, leaves, stems, androots of plants grow in unexpected directions.

While circling earth in Biosatellite Il, the roots ofwheat seedlings curved upward and to the siderather than in the opposite direction relative to thestem. The leaves of pepper plants twisted and curleddownward. Generally, the leaves of healthy pepperplants grow almost horizontally relative to theearth's surface or to the side relative to the plant'ss te m.

The Biosatellite II experiment thus crowned nearlya hundred years of earth experiments on the roleof gravity in plant growth. The phenomena notedduring the weightless flight in Biosatellite II hadbeen suspected because of clinostat experiments onearth.

A clinostat rotates growing plants slowly withtheir stems horizontal to earth. It simulates themore obvious effects of weightlessness by keepingthe pull on the plant from being exclusively in onedirection.

The helter skeeter plant growth is attributed tounbalanced distribution of enzymes and othergrowth regulators because of the absence of uni-directional gravity. Apparently, normal distributionof growth regulators depends upon signals of asingle force like earth's gravity in roughly the sameway that a pilot flying in fog follows a radar beamto an airport.

The knowledge gained opens interesting possi-bilities for artificial cortrol of plant growth. Sci-entists are considering enzyme medication andmanipulation of the direction and intensity of gravi-tational-like influences as means toward this end.

Some structural and chemical differences be-tween the flight plants and those on the ground wereobserved. Among them were an increase of sucroseand decrease of stored starch in the pepper plantsand longer shoots in proportion to roots in the wheatseedlings.

Studies on the effects of radiation in a weightlessenvironment were carried out with Tradescant ia .This is a native American wildflower found frequentlyalong roadsides. It is known to develop pink streakson its normally blue petals when exposed toradiation.

Its relatively small number of large chromosomes5


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EARTH CONTROL ERECT TO GRAVITY

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_rE A R T H C O N T R O L C L IN O S T A T 1i^ Fe ' " t^ o JI I I(12) makes Tradescantia a good subject for studiesof genetic injury and mutation due to radiation.Another consideration is that the Tradescantia genethat determines flower petal colo r is about as sensi-tive to radiation as genes of mammalian cells.

Weightlessness had no apparent effect on theflower petal color gene. Nor did the gene show anyreaction to radiation different from which it wouldshow when similarly irradiated on the ground. How-ever, other plant cells were more severely damagedby radiation than identical cells of plants on theground.

Effect of weightlessness on the anatomy of wheat seedlingsPARTICLE DISTRIBUTION IN CELLS

C A P O F P R I M A R Y R O O Tr--TIP OF SHOOT1JON ORBIT

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AMPN vf tbk%16,Reaction of Pepper Plantto Weightlessness.

Before launch.TI4 hours and 40 minutes of weightlessness.

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12 hours and29 minutes ofweightlessness.

17 hours and40 minutes ofweightlessness,

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Adult from normal egg (ground)

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VESTIGIAL WING

MISSING WING

1 1 0 O C C rR R E N C I N O R M A L I rAdult f rom egg In Blosatelhte I IRadiat ion and weightlessness effects

Effects of radiationand weightlessness on thevinegar gnat (Drosophi la).

INSECT MUTATIONS DUE TO RADIATIONSPI IRRFD BY W FIGHTI FS S NFS SThree types of insects f lown on Biosatell i te 11were m ore severely af fected by radiation whenwelghtiess than if they were un der norm al gravity.Insects studied include vinegar gnats (Drosophi larnelanogaster) , flour beetles (Tr ibol ium), and para-sit ic wasps (Habrobracon).Vinegar gnat larvae were disturbed even byweightlessness alone. There was abnormal chromosom e transfer in dividing cells. This has no t beenseen in gn at la rvae on ea r th . Ir rad ia t ion un derweightlessness worsened their situation. When thelarvae grew to adulthood, they were weak er and hadshorter l i fe spans than larvae that had stayed onearth.M ale vinegar gnats suf fered more damage than

fema les. Scien t ists think that this is linked to thefact that females have two X chromosom es whi lemales have an X chromosome and a Y chromosom e.Thus, the loss of an X chromoso me could affect a

Effects of weightlessness

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Adult fromBiosatelliteirradiated pupawith split wings

male more seve sly than a femals.In another expenm, i l t, irradiated flour beetle(Tr ibol iurn) pupae flown on Blosatelllte II showed a

50 percent Increase In radiation-induced wing ab-normalities as compared to pupae similarly exposedon earth. Also, twice as many of the offispring ofthose sent into space failed to survive as comparedto their earthbound counterparts.WEIGHTLESSNESS APPEARSTO AID HEALINGOF P,ADIATION DAMA11,F

The eggs of the parasitic wasp (H?brnbracon)suffered considerable damage during Irradiation inspace but partially recovered. In fact, not only didthe eggs recover more rapidly in a weight l ess en-vironment but also the wasps that hatched from theeggs showed less genatic damage than waspshatched from simil- ly irradiated eggs in the groundlaboratory. Weightlessness also seemed to reducethe death rate of embryos from irradiated eggs.

All of the latched embryos In this experimentwere produced from unfertilized eggs, These par-thenogenically (no male parent) produced organ-isms are experimentally advantageous because theydisplay all the effects of any genetic damage. Otherorganisms usually take more than one generationto reveal all effects of genetic damage. Because ofthis attribute, genetic information about Hab rob ra -con is the most complete of any organism.

Scientists attribute cell recovery to the fact thatcell division and metabolism are apparently sloweddown In a weightless environment. This slowdownmay enable the cell to repair the damage caused byradiation.

Another result lent additinnal evidc T i ,_e to preliminary inclj=,uns that weightlessness affectsactively dividing cells more than slowly growingcells. Male Hab r o b r a c o n sperm cells, which areproduced early and remain in so-called suspendedanimation, were affected by radiation while in spacein the same way as similar cells were affected onearth.


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J Thrust-augmentedDel ta (TAD) launchesBiosatell to II.

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SPAU RAFT ANDLAWVFHICLE DESCRIPTIONS

At launch, the 955-pound Biosatellite II con-sisted of four major sections. These are the adaptersect ion, the thrust cone assem bly, the forebody.aid the experiments capsule.The a dapter is a 400-pound 5-foot long taper ingcyl inder with a maximum diameter of nearly 5 feet.I t contains equipm ent for satel l ite or ientat ion andfo r com m unica t ion w i th ear th . I t Is cas t adr i f t inspace wh en the other sect ions are being preparedfor return to earth.The thrust cone assem bly, the forebody, and the

Effects of weight lessnessacct radiat ion on H abrobracon.r

dateLemon color PIPj4 0Earth contromutant with(normal)sma l l ey esSecond generation male offspringof flight irradiated males

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ExperimentsCapsule Assembly

Entry Vehicle

fapter Section

Exploded view showingprincipal B osatelliteII parts

Forebody Assembly

Thermal Cover

I^Thrust Cone Assembly

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experiments capsule are referred to collectively asthe entry vehicle. The entry vehicle is also shapedlike a cylinder with a maximum dia-neter of 43/4feet and an over-all length of about 4 feet. Itweighs 515 pounds.

The thrust cone assembly provides the retro-rocket and other equipment needed to slow thevehicle down for return from orbit. The thrust coneassembly is then separated from the rest of theentry vehicle.

During entry into the atmosphere, the forebodyfunctions as a heat shield to enable the experimentscapsule that it encloses to survive the blisteringheat. The experiments capsule is a sealed self-contained laboratory providing all requirements forcarrying out experiments. The capsule also carriesthe parachute system for slowing down the entryvehicle in the atmosphere and a radio beacon to

help in pinpointing its location. A thermal cover overthe back end of the experiments capsule Isejectedat an altitude of about 80,000 feet activating para-chute deployment.

The launch of B!osatelhte II marked the 48thsuccess in 51 attempts for NASA's Delta rocketvehicle. The capabilities of this particular vehiclecan be augmented by three small solid rockets thatare strapped to its first stage. With the solid rockets,the vehicle is referred to as a Thrust-AugmentedDelta (TAD).

TAD has a total lift-off thrust of 328.000 pounds.It is 92 feet high including the shroud or nose conethat protects Its payload.

TAD can be employed with a single or two upperstages. When used with a single upper stage, as inthe Biosatellite II experiment, it can place a 1,450-pound spacecraft into orbit.

View of interior of Blosatellite II experiments capsule.

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