The BioSentinel mission was selected as one of the secondary payloads, to fly on the first launch of the Space Launch System rocket for the Artemis I missionThe primary objective of BioSentinel is to develop a biosensor instrument to detect and measure the impact of space radiation on living organisms over long durations beyond low-Earth Orbit (LEO).

Introduction

BioSentinel will address strategic knowledge gaps related to the biological effects of space radiation, and will provide an adaptable platform to perform human- relevant measurements in multiple space environments in the future. The BioSentinel biosensor utilizes the budding yeast to query the biological response to ambient deep space radiation, including DNA damageGrowth and metabolic activity of the yeast cells will be measured using a 3-color LED detection system and the metabolic indicator.

Science Goals Of Mission

Yeast is the ideal organism for this mission because of its spaceflight heritage, well-characterized genetic tools, and its capacity to survive long period space radiation. Most Importantly, yeast’s DNA damage repair processes are highly similar to that of humans. The biosensor contains two genetically engineered yeast strains: a wild type strain that serves as a control for yeast health and “normal” DNA damage repair, and a rad51 deletion strain, which is defective for DNA damage repair.

Why Yeast?? 

The BioSentinel mission is funded by the Advanced Exploration Systems program within the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters.Partner organizations include NASA Ames Research Center for the development of BioSentinel, and NASA Johnson Space Center for the LET spectrometer.

Partners & Funding

A biology experiment on a small, deep-space satellite will study radiation exposure to help NASA prepare to send humans farther than they’ve ever gone before.

What is BioSentinel?

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) can see deeper into the Universe than its predecessor, the Hubble. Tuesday, 12 July 2022, will be remembered by many as the date when NASA's JWST released its first full-colour images and spectroscopic data. The images and data from JWST show distant galaxies, the death of stars, and insights into how our Universe began.

The James Webb Space Telescope

The first image shared, called Webb's First Deep Field, shows the SMACS 0723 galaxy cluster. The cluster in the image is as it was 4.6 billion years ago. Astronomer Matt Bothwell excitedly states that "the telescope is quite literally a massive step forward in a quest, thousands of years old, to understand our place in the Universe. A step forward this big only happens a few times per century,

JWST can peer back in time

Pointed towards the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, the telescope's spectrograph revealed the chemical composition of a galaxy located 13.1 billion light-years away. Scientists found oxygen, hydrogen, and neon in this distant galaxy. According to astronomy author Colin Stuart, the spectra show that hydrogen and oxygen, the key ingredients for life, were already around 700 million years after the Big Bang.

Galaxy cluster image revealed key ingredients for life

The JWST images show how spectacular the telescope is. The NGC 3132, the Southern Ring, shows a level of detail and finesse that is astonishing, especially when compared with what came before. The visual beauty of this image shows the Southern Ring Nebula, where gas and dust are expelled by a dying star.

Southern Ring Nebula demonstrates the stunning beauty of the Universe

The image of five galaxies, called Stephan's Quintet, is the largest of JWST's subjects to date, covering about a fifth of our Moon's diameter. There is much going on in this cluster of colliding galaxies, from individual bright young stars, the blazing light emitted by hydrogen falling onto a black hole in one galaxy to the faint glow of dust between the interacting systems. In the corners of the image are countless other smaller and more distant galaxies.

Stephan's Quintet has let us watch faraway galaxies interact

The telescope is expected to run for the next 20 years. So young astronomers, students and children watching these images will work on JWST data in the future. Future astronomers will need to know a lot about physics and chemistry and become experts in computer simulations. "Back in the 1990s, the glorious images from Hubble captivated the world, and the JWST's images will be higher resolution, look deeper, and will look into regions that Hubble could never see", said Ezzy Pearson, astrophysicist and author.

Bringing people along on the journey

The James Webb Space Telescope can see deeper into the Universe than its predecessor Hubble, opening up a new era of cosmology.

Stashed ideas

What's so special about the James Webb Space Telescope's new images? We asked the experts | BBC Science Focus Magazine

When a spacecraft built for humans ventures into deep space, it requires an array of features to keep it and a crew inside safe.

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify"> As humans travel farther from Earth for longer missions, the systems that keep them alive must be highly reliable while taking up minimal mass and volume. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">Even small systems have to function reliably to support life in space, from a working toilet to an automated fire suppression system or exercise equipment that helps astronauts stay in shape to counteract the zero-gravity environment in space </li></ul>

Systems to Live and Breathe

<ul><li>The farther into space a vehicle ventures, the more capable its propulsion systems need to be to maintain its course on the journey with precision and ensure its crew can get home.</li></ul>

Proper Propulsion

<ul><li>Going to the Moon is no easy task, and it’s only half the journey. The farther a spacecraft travels in space, the more heat it will generate as it returns to Earth. Getting back safely requires technologies that can help a spacecraft endure speeds 30 times the speed of sound and heat twice as hot as molten lava or half as hot as the sun.</li></ul>

The Ability to Hold Off the Heat

<ul><li>As a spacecraft travels on missions beyond the protection of Earth’s magnetic field, it will be exposed to a harsher radiation environment than in low-Earth orbit with greater amounts of radiation from charged particles and solar storms that can cause disruptions to critical computers, avionics and other equipment.</li><li>Humans exposed to large amounts of radiation can experience both acute and chronic health problems ranging from near-term radiation sickness to the potential of developing cancer in the long-term.</li></ul>

Radiation Protection

<ul><li>Spacecraft venturing far from home go beyond the Global Positioning System (GPS) in space and above communication satellites in Earth orbit. To talk with mission control in Houston, Orion will use all three of NASA’s space communications networks.As it rises from the launch pad and into cislunar space, Orion will switch from the Near Earth Network to the Space Network, made possible by the Tracking and Data Relay Satellites, and finally to the Deep Space Network that provides communications for some of NASA’s most distant spacecraft. </li></ul>

Constant Communication and Navigation

As humans travel farther from Earth for longer missions, the systems that keep them alive must be highly reliable while taking up minimal mass and volume.

My Posts

Top Five Technologies Needed for a Spacecraft to Survive Deep Space

Jan Ingenhousz published the research on photosynthesis in 1779.<ul><li>He placed plants into a transparent container and submerged them in water</li><li>Small bubbles appeared on the bottom of the plants</li><li>The bubbles only appeared on the green parts</li><li>He found that the bubbles stopped producing when they were taken out of sunlight</li></ul>

How was photosynthesis discovered?

Until recently, blue-green algae were thought to be the first organisms to photosynthesize, about 2.7 billion years ago.In a 2018 study, scientists found out that ancient microbes have been photosynthesizing 1 billion years earlier than thought.<ul><li>complex life would have been able to evolve earlier</li></ul>

When did photosynthesis first appear in nature?

Researchers have uncovered a bacteria that uses stolen technology.<ul><li>The bacterium stole photosynthesis-related genes from a different bacteria</li><li>This bacteria now has a central reaction center, an inner sunlight-capturing ring, but it also has a new type of outer ring</li><li>This study shows that this species independently evolved its own solar-energy trapping technology</li></ul>

Bacteria with stolen photosynthesis

Would chlorophyll's green pigment still be the best? or would plants be a different color?New research published uses numerical models of chemistry and physics of photosynthesis to find the optimal wavelengths of light.

What if a star emits a different color of light?

The earth's surface is covered with green plants and bacteria, which absorb a lot of red light and reflect a lot of visible and infrared light from the sun.This leads to this really cool feature of life on earth: the red edge.<ul><li>satellites around earth use this to trace vegetation growth</li><li>astrobiologists may be able to look for this feature to find a sign of life</li></ul>

The red edge

It might be blue, or not even visible light.The researchers' goal was to figure out where future telescopes should look for a red edge, or whatever color it is.These findings could help scientists find vegetation on other planets in the next few decades.

What if the edge is not red?

A very interesting podcast about plants, tried to start small, so here's how photosynthesis was discovered, when it first appeared, a bacteria that uses stolen technology and how photosynthesis can be used to find alien life. 🛰️🔎🌿

Learn how photosynthesis was uncovered by scientists, how this amazing set of biochemical reactions might help find aliens, and meet a cunning species of bacteria that's evolved with stolen photosynthesizing technology.

Plants and nature

Photosynthesis: Fast Flora Facts

Temperature would be nice up there, Just don't fall...

Floating In Venus's Clouds

Elon Musk's favorite ideaJust a bit cold ❄️Beware of the gigantic duststorms tho...

Exploring Mars's Red Surface

Damn Jupiter is BigThat great red spot looks violent 😯Is there really an ocean under europa's surface?

Watching Jupiter Through Icy Europa

Put on some fake wings and u can flyTitan's atmosphere is thick enough 😆Those rings of Saturn look really bright

Feeling Like A Bird On Titan

Neptune's moon will be perfect for that, Some chances of finding life too, be safe 👽

Watch The Sunset From Neptune

Dwarf planet? So what, it has 5 moonsGood to see while camping Don't forget your winter clothes tho ❄️

Camp On Pluto

We must become Interstellar species someday, don't u wanna experience hanging out on Olympus Mons, the tallest mountain in the solar system 😆Hopefully the day comes before we die 🚀

One Day It Will Be Reality

Wanna travel around the solar system in the future? Here's a checklist you should see 🚀

What is BioSentinel?

What's so special about the James Webb Space Telescope's new images? We asked the experts | BBC Science Focus Magazine

Top Five Technologies Needed for a Spacecraft to Survive Deep Space

Photosynthesis: Fast Flora Facts

Solar System Travel Checklist

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